165
votes
Words with "bi-" prefix that no longer mean "two"
billion comes from bi- + million, as it originally meant the product of two millions - in other words, a million million. This usage persists in Europe (see long scale), but in America a billion ...
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131
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Words with "bi-" prefix that no longer mean "two"
One is biscuit / biscotti, which literally means "twice cooked". Although the prefix here is "bis", it does start with "bi", so...
from Oxford Living Dictionary:
Origin
Middle English: from ...
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81
votes
Words with "bi-" prefix that no longer mean "two"
The example given by the OP isn't too far off the mark.
Rather than bicycle consider the shortened version "bike" where it may be used as part of another word e.g. quad-bike. In this case it is being ...
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55
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Is “I am getting married with my sister” ambiguous?
I would definitely agree there's a difference between getting married "to" someone and getting married "with" someone, but for the latter case, a native speaker might think you just misspoke. Marriage ...
- 15.2k
54
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Words with "bi-" prefix that no longer mean "two"
Might be a bit of a stretch, but...
Bivouac
a temporary encampment with few facilities, as used by soldiers, mountaineers, etc
verb -acs, -acking or -acked
(intr) to make such an encampment
...
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47
votes
Words with "bi-" prefix that no longer mean "two"
While bigamy technically means the act of taking a second spouse while still legally married to a first (in cultures that enforce marital monogamy), in practice it also refers to people who have a ...
- 2,776
41
votes
Accepted
Does "mislead" imply intent?
I would argue for no: mislead doesn't imply intent, though it's certainly compatible with it.
When I tell someone "Sorry if I misled you", I'm not admitting an act of deception; I'm saying that I ...
- 15.5k
41
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Accepted
Is "swabbed in dirty robes" a valid expression?
I'm guessing that the intended word was "swathed", which (in my idiolect, at least) rhymes with "swabbed".
to bind, wrap, or swaddle with or as if with a bandage
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36
votes
Accepted
Is “I am getting married with my sister” ambiguous?
In this situation the object of to refers almost exclusively to who the subject is married to.
A Corpus of Contemporary American English search turns up 5778 collocations of "married to," ...
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35
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Words with "bi-" prefix that no longer mean "two"
My pet peeve: bimonthly, which means every 2 months, but also every 1/2 a month. The latter meeting your criteria.
Edit: I'm relieved that other people find this as odd as me. Yes bimonthly means ...
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31
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Words with "bi-" prefix that no longer mean "two"
If you can forgive the transformation of bi- to ba- over time, a barouche is a luxurious, four-wheeled carriage drawn by horses. The word ultimately comes from Latin birotus (bi- "two" + rotus "wheel")...
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31
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Is “I am getting married with my sister” ambiguous?
On hearing the second sentence, I would assume the speaker meant married to and made a mistake.
The reason for thinking that is that there are countless possibilities of expressing being married at ...
- 7,228
30
votes
Accepted
Is there a word that describes this particular sneaky play on words?
You're asking for a term to describe the situation where someone does exactly what you asked, but still managed to avoid doing what you wanted.
It sounds like he's obeying the letter of the law but ...
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25
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Words with "bi-" prefix that no longer mean "two"
Perhaps bifurcation is an example? At least the mathematical sense given in Wiktionary,
The change in the qualitative or topological structure of a given family as decribed by bifurcation theory.
...
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24
votes
Accepted
You won't catch the train if you don't/won't leave in time
As implied in the comments, the specific meaning of the two are slightly different (albeit both grammatically correct). It helps to break down the contractions.
You will not catch the train if you ...
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23
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Is there a word that describes this particular sneaky play on words?
Technicality
1 A point of law or a small detail of a set of rules, as contrasted with the intent or purpose of the rules.
https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/technicality
Much like @...
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23
votes
Accepted
What is it called when "I don't like X" is used to mean "I positively *dislike* X", or "We do not recommend Xing" is used for "We *discourage* Xing"?
Adapted from another answer of mine
The Cambridge Grammar of the English Language have a subchapter covering the more general phenomenon laid out in the body of the question. It is titled "...
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22
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Is there a word that describes this particular sneaky play on words?
Equivocation
Oxford Dictionaries Online defines equivocate as 'Use ambiguous language so as to conceal the truth or avoid committing oneself.'
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Is “I am getting married with my sister” ambiguous?
The correct phrasing for the “with my sister” variant is “I am having a double wedding with my sister”, and the past tense would be “I had a double wedding with my sister”.
Married with sister is ...
- 1,285
21
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Your will be done or Your will will be done
The 'will' in "Your will be done" is a noun.
One's intention or decision; someone's orders or commands.
And the 'be' is the imperative form of the verb 'to be'.
So, taken together, "Your will be ...
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20
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Does "overwhelming" equate to "majority"?
"Overwhelming majority" is indeed not redundant, but for the opposite reason that you seem to think. "Overwhelming majority" means more than just "majority". 51% is a ...
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18
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Words with "bi-" prefix that no longer mean "two"
"Bicarbonate" and "bisulfate", maybe; these are (in chemistry) older, discouraged (but still in somewhat common use, especially "bicarbonate") names for the hydrogencarbonate and hydrogensulfate ...
- 380
16
votes
Accepted
What is the historical origin for the naming of the word 'function' in its mathematical context?
This is what OED has to say about the origin:
This use of the Latin functio is due to Leibniz and his associates. A paper in the Acta Eruditorum for 1692, pp. 169–170, signed ‘O.V.E.’, but probably ...
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16
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Words with "bi-" prefix that no longer mean "two"
Binary seems like a good fit for OP's conditions.
Computers. binary code.
Computers. an executable file stored in binary format.
The use of "binary" in computer science originally meant a ...
- 405
14
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Words with "bi-" prefix that no longer mean "two"
I've several times heard the word bilingual used to mean "Spanish- and English-speaking," without regard to how many other languages a person may know. For example, a person who knows Spanish, English ...
- 930
13
votes
Accepted
Meaning of word "pillory"
A pillory (n.) was a device of wood or metal into which an offender's hands, head, and sometimes feet, were fixed, where they could be pelted with insults — or rotting vegetables. As you can see, ...
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13
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Issue vs Children
Such people occupy a formal position in society. Some or all of their children are their issue. issues are something else, such as problems or difficulties with finance, personal relationships, ...
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