4 ms·

It's because "inflammable" is a loan word, not a conjugate, and "in-" in French, whence comes the word, means what "en-" means here. Like with most loan words,

It's because "inflammable" is a loan word, not a conjugate, and "in-" in French, whence comes the word, means what "en-" means here. Like with most loan words, it's best to just stick to the native word - which is not "flammable" as Merriam tried to invent 200 years ago, but rather "combustible"

timthorn 9y ago
But combustible has a very different implication to flammable, which usually means that the substance would catch fire very easily, rather than just being able to self-sustain burning.
Angostura 9y ago
Combustible is another French/Latin word.