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An unpaired word is one that, according to the usual rules of the language, would appear to have a related word but does not. [1] Such words usually have a prefix or suffix that would imply that there is an antonym, with the prefix or suffix being absent or opposite. If the prefix or suffix is negative, such as 'dis-' or -'less', the word can ...
Many words introduced into the English from the Latin start with the prefix in-. While often, it is a privative, it is not always so. Even if it is a privative, the meaning may be unclear to those who are not familiar with the word. [2] The following three examples illustrate that: inexcusable
As with cognate objects, these constructions are not redundant because the repeated words or derivatives cannot be removed without removing meaning or even destroying the sentence, though in most cases they could be replaced with non-related synonyms at the cost of style (e.g., compare "The only thing we have to fear is terror".)
The English language has a number of words that denote specific or approximate quantities that are themselves not numbers. [1] Along with numerals, and special-purpose words like some, any, much, more, every, and all, they are Quantifiers. Quantifiers are a kind of determiner and occur in many constructions with other determiners, like articles ...
Bisect means "to cut into two"; dissect means "to cut apart", both literally and figuratively. Disect is an archaic word meaning "to separate by cutting", but has not been in common use since the 17th century. Standard: The Americas are bisected by the Panama canal. Standard: She dissected Smith's dissertation, pointing out scores of errors.
In a scene from the 1964 film A Hard Day's Night, George Harrison has to explain the meaning and origin of the word; the impression is given that it was then considered modern slang, known only to trendy youngsters (this is no longer the case). George Harrison would have been familiar with the word as well-established Liverpool slang. [90]
Examples of words created or changed through folk etymology include the English dialectal form sparrowgrass, originally from Greek ἀσπάραγος ("asparagus") remade by analogy to the more familiar words sparrow and grass. [8] When the alteration of an unfamiliar word is limited to a single person, it is known as an eggcorn.
The usage to mean a single large building was common in the Western US until the early 20th century. bloody: expletive attributive used to express anger ("bloody car") or shock ("bloody hell"), or for emphasis ("not bloody likely") (slang, today only mildly vulgar) *(similar US: damn ("damn car")) having, covered with or accompanied by blood