Questions tagged [roots]
The roots tag has no usage guidance.
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Is there a commonly used root for "Inclusion" and "Exclusion", or some way to specify the status of being "Included" or "Excluded"? [duplicate]
"Inclusion" means for something to be part of a group
"Exclusion" means for something to not be part of a group
Whether something is in the group or out of the group is obviously ...
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Why are things "infectious" but not "infectionate", but you can be "affectionate" but not "affectious"? [closed]
Seems inconsistent, I guess it's because something something Latin?
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What is the difference between the root "hemi", the root "semi", and the root "demi"?
What is the difference between the root "hemi", the root "semi", and the root "demi"? For instance, one would say "hemisphere" or "semicircle" but one ...
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Is "fallace" a word representative of "fallacy," or some variant spelling? [closed]
Is there a form of the word fallacy as such: something along the lines of erroneous, or at fault, some version of the word fallacy without the 'y'. Otherwise what are some good suggestions that ring ...
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Prefixed words in English whose abbreviations skip the prefixes
I was writing an article about certain abbreviations in German. Two of the terms being abbreviated were Verschmelzungsfunktion and Vertauschungsfunktion. Abbreviating both of them as V would have ...
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what does to word 'crete' mean in English? [closed]
In my native language, words are created using 'Root Words' + 'Prefixes/suffixes'.
Also the root words make sense for us.
Is English the same?
For example I think the word 'crete' is the root and 'dis,...
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What roots does the word 'paradice' have, and why has it been changed to 'paradise' and since when?
What roots does the word paradice have?
Why has it been changed to paradise and since when?
Are there any other English words that had such a transformation?
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Word or intuitive neologism for "(unhealthy) infatuation with gold"
The easy picks:
greed
avarice
They get the message across, but are too general. I want a word that narrows the meaning to only gold -- not just desire for wealth / material gain.
I tried a neologism:...
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Why is it called hypochondria instead of hyperchondria? [closed]
If hyper essentially means excessive and hypo means the opposite then how does this word make and sense?
It seems like some people decided to improperly make a word out of Greek terminology but ...
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Why do some words with similar meanings sound similar as well?
I just noticed while writing a few examples of similar words that uncannily sound like each other phonetically.
Examples:
An example is the similar words: “gleaming”, “glittering”, “glinting”, and “...
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Differentiate between different types of...: is it acceptable in written English?
Would be acceptable in written (academic paper) English to write "Differentiate between different types of ...". I once was harshly criticized when I wrote in the paper: "Participants experienced the ...
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How are sophomoric and sophisticated related? [closed]
How are sophomoric and sophisticated related? I suspect they come from the Greek Sophia for wisdom.
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Do 'gaunt' and 'gauntlet' have something in common?
This two words 'gaunt' and 'gauntlet' sound similar and have a common root. But their meanings are unrelated. Can it be that gauntlet is somehow derived from gaunt? If yes, then I want to know ...
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Can one get away with using the root "surl" from the adjective "surly" in a sentence?
It always strikes me as odd when an adjective that ends in y doesn't have a dictionary defined root noun (funny≈fun; angry≈anger; silly≠sill; etc).
More specifically, I'm trying to write a lyric, and ...
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Why do Oppress, Suppress and Depress have the same last syllable? [closed]
I usually get confused between those words, when I want to use them while speaking. They are very close to each other, yet they have completely different meaning (at least from my mother tongue ...
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What is the root ? It seems like it is all suffixes and prefixes?
What is the root of the word:
Conversation
I think it is "Converse" but I am not sure.
Thank you
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Pronouncing "collacon"
What might be the correct pronunciation of the word collacon: KOL.a.kon or KOL.a.son? A collacon being a compilation of brief details related to a subject. Seemingly coined (collection + laconia = ...
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Contentious vs Contentment - same root but different meaning [closed]
I am having trouble in figuring it out why there is a difference between their meaning as i think that the root "content" is shared by both the words
content + ious ; content + ment
where contentment ...
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Why are Centennials called that?
People of Generation Y have the nickname millennials, because many of them graduated around the year 2000, the millenium.
People of Generation Z are sometimes called centennials. "Centennial" means "...
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Etymology of "fairy"
All the standard dictionaries--with the notable exception of the OED--seem to trace the etymology of fairy through Old French fae to Latin fata, meaning "the fates" or "the goddess of fate". As a ...
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Why is "irreparable" spelled without an "i"?
Pretty simple question, I think. Where does the "i" in "repair" go when spelling "reparable" or "irreparable" ? Is this just a "color"/"colour" type situation, or some deeper conspiracy?
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Do ordinary native English speakers know the meaning of "plasmid"? [closed]
Plasmid is a biological word, so I guess most people don't know about the word, but I also heard ( I can be wrong ) native English speakers can presume a word's meaning by the roots.
As the roots of ...
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How does the latin root of "egregious" relate to its English definition?
The latin root of the word egregious is grex meaning flock which is also the root of many other English words that deal with groups or "flocks" (usually of people): aggregate, congregate, segregate, ...
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Podiatrist vs. pedometer vs. pedophile?
I was just discussing oddities of English with a friend, and I realized something that neither of us could explain.
A podiatrist is a foot doctor.
A podium is something you stand behind when giving ...
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Do "empirical" and "imperial" share a common etymology? [closed]
Nothing more to my question, really. I just wonder if the words share an etymological root. Thanks.
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Root word homo in homosexual? Is there a word like misandry specifically for gay men? [closed]
I'm confused why homosexual is used to refer to gay people. From my understanding homo means human? As in homosapien.
Also is there a term like misandry specifically for gay men?
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On words related to commone root: awe [duplicate]
My question is: How come the three words "awesome," "awe," and "awe-inspiring" denote positivism with the root awe, they are virtuous too,but the 4th word "awful" denotes negativity.
Even the spelling ...
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I need a word for my obscure phobia for hard, smooth structures
If I let myself, I become upset and a bit terrified by smooth hard structures. A good example is the most perfect sphere in the world, seen here. It's a polished sphere of solid silicon-28.
The metal ...
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The proper usage of 'compeer'; and is it a root word?
Compeer has a definition:
A person of equal rank, status or ability
What I am asking is what context is this word typically used? And equally important - is it valid to use the words compeering and ...
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On the right track -> to distract
It sounds that distracting and being on the right track are related not only by meaning but also by common roots. Is the track that we see in distracting related etymologically to the track in the ...
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What's a term for words that occur in different parts of speech?
For example:
Strategy, (n); Strategic, (adj); Strategise, (v); Strategically, (adv); or
Context, Contextual, Contextualise; or
Analysis, Analytical, Analyse.
These words, that occur as different ...
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If we have a "second" of time, what's "first"? [closed]
The word second can refer to ordinal #2 (that which comes after first), or a unit of time, 1/60 of a minute. Ordinarily you might think that this is just a coincidence, but in Spanish, the word ...
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Why are there two Rs in "arrhythmic"?
It seems to me combining "a-"and "rhythmic" would intuitively be spelled "arhythmic".
Is there a rule or some other practical reason that it's spelled arrhythmic?
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What word sounds similar to "magnanimous" but means "impressively large"?
A friend of mine often uses the word "magnanimous" to mean "large and impressive in a positive way". Examples: "Look at this magnanimous snow!" "He had a magnanimous, bushy eyebrows."
I understand ...
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"No less than" idiom root
I know that "No less than somebody/something" means that this somebody/something is important.
What I don't understand is why this idiom means so!!
What I literally understand is that "No less than" ...
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Words in Sequence Sharing the Same Root
I am trying to figure out what to call these phenomena. For example, a sentence containing the words "specific specifications" or "participants participate", etc. Is there a word to describe this in ...
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Is "omni" a prefix or a root word? [closed]
I always thought it was a prefix, but then doing a google search confused me. I need to explain why a word like "omnipotent" is often mispronounced. If "omni" is a root word, it would be easy to ...
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What is the opposite of an epiphany?
I think of an epiphany as a "eureka moment" as in a goldminer crying out, "Eureka!" upon discovering a vein of gold (I'm a native Californian (and former resident of Eureka), so that example comes ...
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"Exigent" derivation
I'm working through a book in which I'm to define words using their prefixes, suffixes, and roots, and I ran across "exigent."
adjective \ˈek-sə-jənt\
: requiring immediate attention : needing ...
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"Rogative" root (as in prerogative, derogative, interrogative)
Prerogative, derogative, and interrogative all seem to have the root "rogative" (or perhaps it's not a root at all) and I'm wondering what it means. I was having trouble seeing a connection between ...
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Does "eff" mean to describe in words?
If one dissects the word "ineffable", there are three main roots
in - not
able - able to be done
eff
The meaning of the root able implies that some part of the word before it must refer to an action....
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Is there any dictionary that decomposes an English word into prefix, root, and suffix?
Is there any dictionary that shows the decomposition of each word into these three parts, if application at all? For instance, "incapable" is divided into prefix "in", root "cap", and suffix "able". ...
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"Thou" or "You"? This is the problem!
In some eastern Indo-European languages like Persian specially in its northern accent Gilaki, the words "thou", "thee", "thy",... have a same meaning and pronunciation as English. But there is a ...
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People eighty years and up
Is there a word for people in the 80+ age group? I know octogenarian means 80-to-89-year-olds. Is there a word for people in their 80s, 90s, 100s, etc., inclusive?
Supraoctogenarian?
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How to understand "-metr-", as a root?
-Metr-, as a root, from http://www.prefixsuffix.com/rootchart.php:
metr: admeasure, apportion. E.g., metrics, asymmetric, parametric, telemetry
"Admeasure, apportion" means distribution. So I can'...
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Words inherited from other languages
What do we call the words which are inherited from other languages (like avatar,yoga etc)? Is there a single word for the class containing these words? As for example, in hindi, some words are ...
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absent/abscond - what etymology do they share? [closed]
I was doing some writing today, and during the final editing process I came across a typo: I had misspelled "absent" as "abscent". I couldn't help but think of the word abscond. I wonder if it's true ...
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Justice as a title ... where does it come from?
In the US supreme court judges, among others, are called "justice [name]". Where is this use rooted?
Obviously the term comes from Latin "justitia" originally, but that means justice as in the the ...
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Pterodactyl and Archeopteryx: Silent P vs Voiced P
These words share the Greek root πτέρυξ (pteryx), meaning feather/wing, but the P in pterodactyl is silent (in the initial position), while the P in archeopteryx (in the middle of the word) is voiced.
...
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Usage of the word "vi"
In the game League of Legends, the character Vi is known for her violent, aggressive, fight-loving nature, and isn't shy about expressing it. When asked what her name is short for, she has a ...
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