A prefix is an affix which is placed before the stem of a word
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1answer
56 views
How did “replace” come to mean “put something in the place of”?
Replace has several meanings, but a common one is "to put something in the place of," as in, "After drinking your cola, I replaced it with a beer."
The way in which replace, which seems to most ...
3
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1answer
80 views
Any connection between akimbo, askance and atremble?
I came across akimbo and askance today and wondered if they were related, with the opening 'a' signifying something. Apparently not:
Akimbo — to stand "with hands on hips and elbows projecting ...
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2answers
103 views
dis an un prefixes for the word interest
For the word interest we can say:
I am disinterested* in that topic.
And it is correct. To be correct again we must use the prefix "un" if we choose to structure the sentence this way:
That ...
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1answer
39 views
Sub edge, sub-edge or subedge?
In fields like geometry and numerical methods for solving differential equations we often use words like sub-face and sub-edge, referring to parts of a geometrical object. For instance, a cube has 6 ...
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3answers
109 views
Why does no dictionary carry the word 'non-affair', though all carry 'nonevent'?
I came across the word “non-affair” in Jeffery Archer’s novel Kane and Abel, which I just finished reading yesterday. The word appears in the following sentence (p. 544):
“She couldn’t recall ...
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3answers
225 views
In English, is there an established prefix for “mostly”?
For half, I could use semi, demi, or hemi. While semi does mean "half", it sometimes has a connotation of "some". Demi is often found with French roots. According to this link, hemi is the least ...
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3answers
387 views
What is the difference between a “prefix” and a “combining form”?
According to ODO, mini- is classified as a combining form. How exactly is this different from a prefix (or an affix, in general)? Can combining forms also be prefixes?
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6answers
142 views
Synonyms for “extra-”
I'm looking for prefixes similar to extra- in the sense of 'outside of'. I'm attaching it to "mathematical" and in its context "extra-mathematical" or "extramathematical" can be misread as "very ...
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1answer
160 views
Difference between “antisymmetric” and “nonsymmetric” [closed]
What is the difference between antisymmetric and nonsymmetric?
I only know the meaning of asymmetric.
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5answers
232 views
“pre-” and “post-”, but what about “suf-”?
Is there a prefix related to “suf-” the way “pre-” is related to “post-”?
In my opinion, “pre-” seems to mean leading, “post-” means bringing up the rear (like a post script). “suf-” would seem to ...
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0answers
13 views
Difference among “dis-”, “de-”, & “un-” [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
Is there a general rule for the prefixation of “un-” and “de-” to words?
Origins of negative prefixes like in-, un-, il-, ir-, dis-, a-
What is the difference between ...
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2answers
289 views
Is “dispreferred” a mainstream word in English?
I just recently came across the word dispreferred in a linguistic document. I have never heard the word used before, rather I generally hear something like "preferred something else" in everyday ...
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0answers
27 views
Pre-design, design and post-design [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
If ‘pre’ is previous, ‘post’ is after, what is current?
Pre-design, design and post-design.
What is the right word that describes during the design (design that is ...
5
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3answers
189 views
What is the correct Latinate prefix for honey-eaters?
In English, a vegetarian who eats eggs and dairy products can be referred to as an ovo-lacto vegetarian. By the same token, could a person who eats honey but is otherwise vegan be meaningfully called ...
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1answer
127 views
Is “catenate” used in IT parlance?
When I was doing my IT degree in the 80s we learned that, in programming terms, concatenation was the act of joining two strings together.
Recently I was reading a technical manual and came across ...
2
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1answer
396 views
When adding prefixes to noun phrases, should you hyphenate? [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
When is it necessary to use a hyphen in writing a compound word?
Using “non-” to prefix a two-word phrase
When adding a prefix to a noun, I've been taught to usually ...
2
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4answers
432 views
What is the difference between “dewatering” and “unwatering”
This report on the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy refers to the process of removing water as unwatering. However, I always thought that this process was called dewatering. What, if any, is the ...
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3answers
100 views
Why is it that denuding something means you strip it rather than dress it?
When we denude something we strip it, like the branches of a tree. That seems a bit inverted to me, shouldn't it be to nude-something?
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4answers
784 views
How productive is the prefix “un-”?
Is it possible to use un- with new words such as sit, sleep, sad? I'm currently seeing many words (in programming) which use "un-" in the meaning of undoing something.
For example, is it possible to ...
2
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2answers
287 views
Hyphens after the prefixes “non-” and “anti-” in mathematics
Is there a convention when to attach the prefixes non- and anti- to mathematical terms using a hyphen and when without?
One uses non-zero but also noncommutative.
Likewise for anti-. I no longer ...
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7answers
430 views
What is a prefix that means near?
For instance, if I were to describe someone as being *near-*carnivorous, I'm have the goal of depicting them as being a heavy meat eater that includes very few forms of non-meat based food in their ...
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5answers
2k views
Which is higher — “hyper-”, “ultra-” or “super-”? [closed]
According to OED,
hyper-:
over, beyond, over much, above measure
ultra-:
beyond
super-:
over, above, higher than
They all have the meaning "higher than", but what is the order of ...
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4answers
141 views
To either revive or kill something
I'm wondering if there's a word out there for me. I think that a clever use of a prefix would do as well.
So, to revive means to make alive, and to kill means to make dead. Is there a word that means ...
5
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2answers
630 views
Hyphens in verb construction containing prefix such as “re”
In semi-formal business writing in the United States, I often observe that writers tend to add a hyphen between a prefix and the root infinitive of verbs. In many of the cases, the resulting verb ...
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2answers
458 views
Non-lexical words
I like suffixes and prefixes. I am wondering if I can use new nonlexical words such as:
Javasmith (-smith)
Javamaniac (-maniac) (just like shoemania!!)
Javaster (-ster)
The main ...
5
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2answers
891 views
Words having two prefixes incorporated
There are prefixes of time and order (pre-, post-), of location (sub-, super-), for expressing the reversing of an action (de-, dis-), and go on.
English words may take prefixes from one or two of ...
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3answers
621 views
Word for a person who knows two or three languages
A polyglot is a person who is fluent in many languages, but what do we call a person who is fluent in only two or three languages?
Is bi-glot a proper term for this?
I don't think the words ...
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2answers
153 views
“bigamy” and “digamy”
bi‑ from Latin with the meaning of two.
di‑ is the Greek counterpart of bi‑, with the same meaning of two.
Are bigamy and digamy words with the same meaning. If not, why?
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2answers
132 views
How can you omit repetition of words with prefixes, e.g. “inputs and outputs”? [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
Use of hyphens when writing repeated compound words that has common parts
I am looking for a general way of shortening the repetition of words with prefixes like upwards ...
8
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3answers
507 views
Using “non-” to prefix a two-word phrase
Does "non-" prefixed to a two word phrase permit another hyphen before the second word?
If I want to refer to an entity which is defined as the negation of another entity by attaching "non-" it seems ...
14
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3answers
1k views
“Instable” or “unstable”?
From my experience, it seems that although unstable is more commonly used, instable is often preferred in engineering and scientific contexts, e.g. "aircraft instability", "instable algorithm".
Are ...
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3answers
3k views
What is the difference between “Hept-” and “Sept-” prefixes?
As I understand it, both the prefixes "Hept-" and "Sept-" are used to indicate seven of something.
We have examples of English words that use both:
e.g.
Heptathalon, Heptagon, Heptane
vs
...
3
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2answers
713 views
“Reset” or “re-set”?
As far as I know there are two different meanings of the word "reset":
to restore an object/value to a previous/initial state - that's the most widely use of the word;
to set the value/state a ...
6
votes
2answers
209 views
Difference between “pangalactic” and “transgalactic”?
I am building a game and trying to give some fancy names to some objectives in my game.
So, I was wondering about the difference between the words pangalactic and transgalactic?
Does any of them ...
6
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2answers
684 views
in-able ? un-able?
Suffix -able adds meaning "being able" to a word. I know that.
Prefix in- and un- mean "not" or some negative meaning. I know that.
However, when it comes to mixing of these, I am confused.
...
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1answer
100 views
Prefixing a two-word technical term with “sub-”
I have the term "verification code" and need a term for a particular code that is part of it. Normally, if the term were only "code", I'd use "subcode". How would I correctly prefix "verification ...
6
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1answer
560 views
intro- vs. intra-
I recently found out that “extrovert” is a misspelling and that it’s actually written extravert. That makes sense, because other words use the same prefix, e.g. extraordinary, extradite, etc., but ...
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2answers
168 views
Is a prefix any set of letters that could be the beginning of a word?
For example, is it accurate to say that unac is a prefix of unacceptable, or is un the only valid prefix?
If it is not a prefix is there a word for what unac would be in the above case?
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3answers
325 views
Two cultures — “bicultural”, one culture —?
I am looking for a word that means that somebody only has one culture. For example, somebody immigrating from Country 1 to Country 2 would be bicultural. What is someone who has only one culture. I ...
5
votes
1answer
129 views
What are the correct spelling and regional distribution of “X, schmX” to indicate dismissiveness (e.g., “evidence, schmevidence”)?
There is a curious construct in American English in which a word is stated and then repeated with the prefix "schm-" or "shm-" in order to indicate the speaker's dismissive attitude toward a concern ...
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3answers
429 views
Is there a prefix for “infinite”?
I was looking for a prefix I could prepend to a word to mean an infinite amount of the thing the word describes. I eventually found someone with the same question, and since there were no answers, I ...
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7answers
1k views
Logical meaning of the word “understand”
To understand something means to be aquainted with it, to know it very well, know how it "ticks". This is one of the basic words that has a direct "meaning" in mind.
However, if we "dissect" it, is ...
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2answers
951 views
Using the prefix “be-”?
I read somewhere that the prefix be- can be used as a causative and this got me thinking. Does this mean that because means to cause to cause or to make cause?
6
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2answers
302 views
What comes in between predecessor and successor?
I'd like a good word for "current item in a succession of items".
Let's say I am looking ahead, towards my successor.
Back behind me, I can also see my predecessor.
What am I?
I'd hate to use the ...
4
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0answers
359 views
I was wondering why there are multiple prefixes for the same meaning [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
Why “unequal” but “inequality”?
Origins of negative prefixes like in-, un-, il-, ir-, dis-, a-
There are a lot of prefixes for meaning ...
3
votes
1answer
126 views
Connection between 'proxy', 'pronumeral' and 'pronoun'?
I was thinking about the words pronumeral and pronoun; I realized they both share a prefix, and are both proxies for numerals and nouns. I was wondering if there is any connection between the words ...
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1answer
1k views
Is the 're' in 'return' and 'repeat' a prefix?
Can anybody tell me whether the 're' in 'return'and 'repeat' is a prefix?
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1answer
2k views
Prefix di- and bi-
I was wondering if there are differences between the cases of using di- and the cases of using bi-?
For example,
why carbon dioxide instead of carbon bioxide?
Why binoculars instead of dinoculars?
...
5
votes
2answers
699 views
Why does “pre-” change the meaning of “dominantly” to mean “for the most part; mainly”?
Consider the following two sentences:
People in North America are predominantly English speakers.
People in North America are dominantly English speakers.
Merriam-Webster defines ...
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5answers
1k views
Is there a prefix that indicates that an event recurs four times a year?
"Semi-annually" describes an event that recurs every 6 months. Is there a similar term for an event that recurs every 3 months? (I'm guessing that "semi-semi-annually" isn't the correct answer.)
More ...
