4 ms·

Affixes: The Building Blocks of English

135 points by everybodyknows 2y ago

sebmellen 2y ago
Is there anything like this just for medical terminology?
- adzm 2y ago
  I'd say it's almost a subset. In fact in the introduction it explicitly mentions medical terms as an inspiration. https://www.affixes.org/introduction.html https://www.affixes.org/introduction.html > It was in the summer of 1995, while my former business partner and I were studying the displays in a medical museum in order to advise how to improve them, that he remarked that one of the things needed to enhance visitors’ enjoyment would be an explanation of the mysteries of medical terminology: the difference, say, between an -itis and an -algia, or between words starting in haemo- and hepato-. That conversation stayed with me. Increased exposure to the complexities of technical language, and to the diversification of knowledge that has led to sub-disciplines such as palaeophytogeography and psychoneuroendocroimmunology, whose names pile element upon element, reinforced a belief that a concise work was needed that interpreted the main word-forming affixes in English. Also the theme for medical and surgery terms https://www.affixes.org/themes/medsur.html https://www.affixes.org/themes/medsur.html
- theresistor 2y ago
  My father was a Classics professor, and one of the most popular classes he taught was "Latin Terminology for Medicine and Law".
o11c 2y ago
Some entries don't seem as exhaustive as others I've seen. For example, there are only 2 entries for "a-": a-1 is for Greek "without" and a-2 is presumably supposed to combine all the various Old English senses though it only mentions one (Wiktionary, for example, mentions 5: "up", "on", "with", "of", and one without etymology). But even if we allow that mixture, we're definitely still missing the Latin ones: ex- turning into a- (blame the French) is admittedly rare so might be out of scope. ad- turning into a- however is extremely common and definitely should not be merged with the Old English derivations (even though "on" often takes a similar meaning). This is noted on the ad- page but it needs to be mentioned under a- too. ab- turning into a- is less common due to only happening before a few letters, but is not even mentioned on the ab- page.
- cjmcqueen 2y ago
  I hope you shared this comment on the site. Not saying you're doing this, but I feel we've turned into a critical culture and not a supportive culture more and more. Criticism is not as helpful as people pitching in to help build.
- euroderf 2y ago
  There's another "a-" that might not qualify as an affix. Words like askew, astride, aboard, atop, ... the list is actually quite long. It could be added so that users of the site do not incorrectly analyze certain constructions.
  - adrian_b 2y ago
    This meaning is enumerated at https://www.etymonline.com/word/a- https://www.etymonline.com/word/a- besides the homonymous prefixes of Greek and Latin origin.
    - euroderf 2y ago
      Excellent! Cheers.
- deleted 2y ago
  [deleted]
adzm 2y ago
This is a truly wonderful rabbit hole and I've found myself browsing through these. The way they are described is very readily digestible. The index of themes is a great starting point https://www.affixes.org/themes/index.html https://www.affixes.org/themes/index.html For example https://www.affixes.org/alpha/c/calci-.html https://www.affixes.org/alpha/c/calci-.html reading calci- about lime/calcium and ended up learning the origin of calculate and calculus!
linwangg 2y ago
[dead]
xnx 2y ago
Great old school content site. I bet they didn't even need a JavaScript framework. I didn't see the rare English infix listed here: https://www.affixes.org/alpha/f/index.html https://www.affixes.org/alpha/f/index.html
- dickiedyce 2y ago
  you mean the anglo-saxon one that connotes large, frightening, extraordinary, shocking, pleasurable or depressing?
  - xnx 2y ago
    Abso-f**ing-lutely
keybored 2y ago
Now we can learn the difference between “flammable” and “inflammable”.
pickpuck 2y ago
If you're searching for a physical reference guide, I'd imagine "Word Clues" from middle school still holds up. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1616203.Word_Clues_Vocabulary_Builder https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1616203.Word_Clues_Vocab...
layer8 2y ago
Wiktionary has quite comprehensive lists of those as well: https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Appendix:English_prefixes https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Appendix:English_prefixes https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Appendix:English_suffixes https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Appendix:English_suffixes

Is there anything like this just for medical terminology?

adzm 2y ago
I'd say it's almost a subset. In fact in the introduction it explicitly mentions medical terms as an inspiration. https://www.affixes.org/introduction.html https://www.affixes.org/introduction.html > It was in the summer of 1995, while my former business partner and I were studying the displays in a medical museum in order to advise how to improve them, that he remarked that one of the things needed to enhance visitors’ enjoyment would be an explanation of the mysteries of medical terminology: the difference, say, between an -itis and an -algia, or between words starting in haemo- and hepato-. That conversation stayed with me. Increased exposure to the complexities of technical language, and to the diversification of knowledge that has led to sub-disciplines such as palaeophytogeography and psychoneuroendocroimmunology, whose names pile element upon element, reinforced a belief that a concise work was needed that interpreted the main word-forming affixes in English. Also the theme for medical and surgery terms https://www.affixes.org/themes/medsur.html https://www.affixes.org/themes/medsur.html
theresistor 2y ago
My father was a Classics professor, and one of the most popular classes he taught was "Latin Terminology for Medicine and Law".

o11c 2y ago

Some entries don't seem as exhaustive as others I've seen. For example, there are only 2 entries for "a-": a-1 is for Greek "without" and a-2 is presumably supposed to combine all the various Old English senses though it only mentions one (Wiktionary, for example, mentions 5: "up", "on", "with", "of", and one without etymology). But even if we allow that mixture, we're definitely still missing the Latin ones: ex- turning into a- (blame the French) is admittedly rare so might be out of scope. ad- turning into a- however is extremely common and definitely should not be merged with the Old English derivations (even though "on" often takes a similar meaning). This is noted on the ad- page but it needs to be mentioned under a- too. ab- turning into a- is less common due to only happening before a few letters, but is not even mentioned on the ab- page.

cjmcqueen 2y ago
I hope you shared this comment on the site. Not saying you're doing this, but I feel we've turned into a critical culture and not a supportive culture more and more. Criticism is not as helpful as people pitching in to help build.
euroderf 2y ago
There's another "a-" that might not qualify as an affix. Words like askew, astride, aboard, atop, ... the list is actually quite long. It could be added so that users of the site do not incorrectly analyze certain constructions.
- adrian_b 2y ago
  This meaning is enumerated at https://www.etymonline.com/word/a- https://www.etymonline.com/word/a- besides the homonymous prefixes of Greek and Latin origin.
  - euroderf 2y ago
    Excellent! Cheers.
deleted 2y ago
[deleted]

adzm 2y ago

This is a truly wonderful rabbit hole and I've found myself browsing through these. The way they are described is very readily digestible. The index of themes is a great starting point https://www.affixes.org/themes/index.html https://www.affixes.org/themes/index.html For example https://www.affixes.org/alpha/c/calci-.html https://www.affixes.org/alpha/c/calci-.html reading calci- about lime/calcium and ended up learning the origin of calculate and calculus!

linwangg 2y ago

[dead]

xnx 2y ago

Great old school content site. I bet they didn't even need a JavaScript framework. I didn't see the rare English infix listed here: https://www.affixes.org/alpha/f/index.html https://www.affixes.org/alpha/f/index.html

dickiedyce 2y ago
you mean the anglo-saxon one that connotes large, frightening, extraordinary, shocking, pleasurable or depressing?
- xnx 2y ago
  Abso-f**ing-lutely

keybored 2y ago

Now we can learn the difference between “flammable” and “inflammable”.

pickpuck 2y ago

If you're searching for a physical reference guide, I'd imagine "Word Clues" from middle school still holds up. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1616203.Word_Clues_Vocabulary_Builder https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1616203.Word_Clues_Vocab...

layer8 2y ago

Wiktionary has quite comprehensive lists of those as well: https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Appendix:English_prefixes https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Appendix:English_prefixes https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Appendix:English_suffixes https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Appendix:English_suffixes