76
votes
Accepted
Why is there an extra "t" in Lemmatization?
"Lemma" is from a Greek word that had t in some of its forms
Etymologically, the t in lemmatize comes from the stem of the Greek word λῆμμα, which is the source of the English word lemma. ...
- 84k
40
votes
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The "old switcheroo": Where did the "-eroo" suffix come from?
Michael Quinion, Ologies and Isms: Word Beginnings and endings (2002) has this entry for the suffix -eroo:
-eroo Also -aroo, -aroonie, and -eroonie. An informal and often humorous intensifier of ...
- 167k
35
votes
Why do people say 'topless' but not 'topful'?
Kenneth Holmqvist and Jarosław Płuciennik discuss this in Conceptualised Deviations from Expected Normalties: A Semantic Comparison Between Lexical Terms Ending in -ful and -less. This is more of a ...
- 8,638
34
votes
Accepted
Is "skills-wise" correct English?
It is a perfectly idiomatic (natural) and productive pattern used in informal English but not common in formal writing.
The parachute deployed at the last moment, a successful trial drama-wise.
'...
- 72k
26
votes
The "old switcheroo": Where did the "-eroo" suffix come from?
The suffix -eroo appears to be an analoguous post-formation derived, in the view of many, from the Spanish vaquero - a cowboy.
Julian Mason (in American Speech, Feb. 1960, pp. 51-55 - available ...
- 5,526
24
votes
Why is there an extra "t" in Lemmatization?
Etymonline states:
1560s, in mathematics, from Greek lemma (plural lemmata) "something received or taken; an argument; something taken for granted,"
(emphasis mine)
This is where the 'T' comes ...
- 7,841
24
votes
Is -ist a gender-neutral ending?
Yes, these are gender-neutral. Check the definitions for a few of the professions ending in -ist, and there won't be any indication of gender:
dentist: a person qualified to treat the diseases and ...
- 8,638
23
votes
Accepted
Why do some ---ify verbs have a different noun ending?
Crucify originally had a distinct etymology from the others
Crucify comes from Latin crucifīgō with the present infinitive crucifīgere and the supine crucifixum. It means "to fix to a cross" not "to ...
- 84k
22
votes
Why did English borrow verbs ending in -ish?
There are a number of verbs ending -ir in modern French, where the corresponding English forms end with -ish. Some of them are établir, finir, nourrir, polir, punir. These are all conjugated the same ...
- 89.6k
21
votes
Why do people say 'topless' but not 'topful'?
Why, I'm not quite sure, but women can be topless but not men, unless it's said facetiously.
When a man doesn't wear a shirt, he's "bare chested" or "shirtless". Likewise when a ...
- 92.3k
20
votes
Irregular verbs: the history of the suffix “-en” in the past participle
Did more past participles use to end with -n?
Yes. In Old English, strong verbs took the "-en" suffix in order to form the past participle:
The past participle was formed using a dental suffix for ...
- 67.1k
20
votes
Accepted
Why is "-ber" the suffix of the last four months of the year?
From Etymonline:
The -ber in four Latin month names is probably from -bris, an adjectival suffix. Tucker thinks that the first five months were named for their positions in the agricultural cycle, ...
- 7,841
19
votes
Accepted
How did "oxen" (plural of "ox") survive as the only plural form with the Old English plural ending -en?
Old English oxan, plural of oxa, was very common, appearing in the psalter, the bible, and laws, among other places, although the spelling oxen is attested in only one place, in a document relating to ...
- 2,999
18
votes
Accepted
-able & -ability usage: Why can't "searchability" be a word? (Or can it?)
"Searchability" is correctly formed, although not common. The Google Ngram Viewer shows some minor usage in recent years (the rate of increase seems to grow a bit with the advent of search ...
- 84k
16
votes
How did "oxen" (plural of "ox") survive as the only plural form with the Old English plural ending -en?
I don't know of any satisfying reason for it.
Note that when the OED says "Old English– oxen (rare)", it means that the specific spelling O-X-E-N was rare in Old English. It doesn't say that ...
- 84k
15
votes
Accepted
Obsessed or Obsessive?
Cambridge may have oversimplified the matter somewhat. The difference is in the suffixes, which both operated upon the root word obsess.
obsess To excessively preoccupy the thoughts or feelings of; ...
- 4,551
15
votes
Accepted
Irregular verbs: the history of the suffix “-en” in the past participle
Once upon a time, there were six regular classes of "strong" Germanic verb that formed their four principal parts by a — mostly predictable — vowel change in the stem. This at least ...
- 28.2k
14
votes
Accepted
Origin of colloquializing suffix -o
Here is what the Oxford English Dictionary (OED) says about that the suffix -o.
It originates from three separate sources.
First, in some cases it comes from the final syllable of words that come from ...
- 12.6k
14
votes
Accepted
Suffix: must be X
No, there isn't any general suffix meaning "required to be..." in English that is productive (can be applied to any verb) to make adjectives or nouns.
The words you have come across like ...
- 256
13
votes
"Updatable" vs. "Updateable": which is correct?
Updatable vs updateable:
Both of them are correct and acceptable.
Google Ngram shows that updatable is more prevalent than updateable.
However, the plausible answer would be: if the removal of final ...
- 16.7k
13
votes
Accepted
Suffix ‘-ium’ vs. ‘-um’ in element names
I haven't found any common factor distinguishing the elements with names ending in -ium from the elements with names ending in another letter followed by -um. It seems fairly arbitrary, and in fact ...
- 84k
13
votes
Accepted
What is the Greek etymology for "-on" in words like "proton" and "neutron"?
-on, from ion, Greek present participle of ienai (go)
Electron:
coined 1891 by Irish physicist George J. Stoney (1826-1911) from electric + -on, as in ion.
ion (n.):
1834, introduced by English ...
- 67.8k
13
votes
What is the ‘‑ht vs ‑th’ grammar or spelling rule?
There isn't an ending -ht in English; rather, your first set of examples use the ending -t. The <gh> comes from the stem; in several of your examples this isn't obvious because related words (...
- 15.5k
12
votes
What is the origin and meaning of the suffix -late, as in "isolate" and "desolate"?
The suffix involved is '-ate', and it reached the English nouns (or adjectives) by two different routes. OED gives '-ate' in 'isolate' as
-ate, suffix1
....
In some words, -ate = ...
- 32.9k
12
votes
The "old switcheroo": Where did the "-eroo" suffix come from?
This answer acknowledges the circa 1931-1949++ era 'Show Biz' uses of -eroo/-aroo (see the answer by Sven Yargs); but it demonstrates that many -eroo/-aroo endings are based on the English word ...
12
votes
Why is it "argument" instead of "arguement"?
It wasn't formed within English at all. According to the OED, this is the etymology of the word:
French argument (13th cent.), < Latin argūmentum , < arguĕre (or refashioning, after this, of ...
- 67.1k
12
votes
Accepted
A question about 'reptiles and volatiles' to describe creatures
The words that you are looking for are natatile (for fish) and gressile (for land animals).
The Oxford English Dictionary (OED) has entries for both adjectives, defined as "Able to swim; swimming&...
- 84k
11
votes
What is a meaning of suffix "nip" in "Catnip"?
As @peter-shor's answer says already : nip [...] comes from Latin nepeta [...] family of herbs. Regarding the source of the nepeta genus, quoting Floral Centric [...] by William Darlington in 1826:
...
- 22.6k
11
votes
Accepted
Looking for a suffix to denote paraphernalia associated with a person
You have got to be looking for the suffix "-ana".
(SOED) -ana Forming plural nouns with the sense 'publications or other items concerning or associated with a person, place, or topic' as ...
- 23.3k
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