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And logically, flammable and inflammable mean the exact opposite, but here we are.
by cortesoft 3y ago
And logically, flammable and inflammable mean the exact opposite, but here we are.
- omneity 3y agoNot quite. "in" here as a prefix is not a negation thing but to _do_ something like "en" in "enhance" or "encapsulate". The word's actual latin root is "inflammare" which means to put something _in_ flames. The subject is the one doing the burning and it's transitive. Flammable on the hand comes from "flammare", which means for something to catch fire, and is intransitive instead, i.e. the subject is the one catching fire. The actual opposite of inflammable is uninflammable, which I reckon is only in British English at this point and mostly lost in American English.
- forty 3y agoIn French we don't have flammable, only _inflammable_ (meaning that it CAN catch fire). And the opposite is _ininflammable_ ^^ Something in flames is "enflammé" (there is the en- prefix ^^).
- gessha 3y agoAs I’ve followed the news for many years now, not many things in France are inflammable :D
- karim79 3y agoContronyms are what you're referring to. Indeed, flammable/inflammable, also sanction/sanction (permit/punish) and other examples such as fast/fast (going quickly/held in place). Still, I do find "I could care less" to be less of a contronym and more of an "Americanism". I'm quite used to it by now, and shall thereby sanction its use.