Unpaired words: always use a negative prefix? ~ The Linguistics Zone

Saturday, June 23, 2007

Unpaired words: always use a negative prefix?

There are some words that always have a prefix, you don't see their unprefixed form being used much, if at all.

Here are examples:

unkempt: You always hear about a workplace being unkempt, but can something be kempt? Kempt is actually a word, however it is a rarely used antonym of unkempt. The word kempt comes from Old English kemb, meaning "comb". In the 18th century, the negative form unkembed came to mean "uncombed or disheveled".

inert: Derived from the Latin word art meaning "skill". Adding the negative prefix gives us the definition of inert as "inactive, sluggish".

disgruntled: The root word here is gruntle. As in the previous example with kempt, it is a rarely used form. The meaning is "expressing discontent". In this case, the dis- prefix is meant to intensify the root word.

96 comments:

Anonymous said...

Etymology was always an interesting subject. Cool!

Anonymous said...

thank you for the English lession

Anonymous said...

i hate this pretentious wards! is pretentious a pretentious word?

Anonymous said...

intresting, would not have thought about it that way myself.

Anonymous said...

so many negative prefixes?

Anonymous said...

yes, it's true that unpaired words always use a negative prefix.

Anonymous said...

I don't think unpaired words use a negative prefix because i think it's very important in English.

Anonymous said...

Interesting words, not commonly used but it is good to know the origin and their meaning.

Anonymous said...

So if we talk about the word Distracted, does the rule apply to this word too?

Pozole said...

I have no idea how you find those subjects. Its like they've been always there unnoticeable.

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Solar panels said...

Nice analysis again. I'm 'gruntled' with it :D

Kaysville, UT said...

Haha, many of my friends and I have been saying "you're so gruntled" for years. Awesome to read something about its etymology.

Thanks from Utah!

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I hope you have post about grammar, I have English but it seems i am forced to study it.

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Nashville foreclosures said...

Well, I just noticed that now. I really lack some English lessons. But the word disgruntled, I already know its meaning and the meaning of its root word. Anyway, thanks for sharing this. I really need to visit your site regularly to learn more about the English language. Thanks!

Song Hye Kyo said...

thank you for the English lession

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These are useful. Nice job once again Lingustics Zone! I wish you guys never stopped updating.

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I just have one confusion of where to apply the negative prefixes life un,dis,non,a correctly.We may have come across different fields where they are employed frequently,but we don't know how to apply the correct negative prefixes.

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great examples, good post !

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I like gruntled I think its a great word, I'm going to try and bring it back!

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i hate this pretentious wards! is pretentious a pretentious word?

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As in the previous example with kempt, it is a rarely used form.

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Dorris said...

Oh, I think I need Mr. Webster! Can you please help me with this things that I am not actually familiar of? Does the old people really talk this odd?

Nashville Realtor said...

Actually I am surprised that the originator of this post isn't a little more than disgruntled by all the spammy posts that have been made here!

mark said...

Interesting words, not commonly used but it is good to know the origin and their meaning.thank you for sharing its very useful

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Annie said...

I think this depends on the person who uses those words. If that person is optimistic, of course positive words will be used.

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Virtual Office Melbourne said...

Well in the end, it's all slang latin isn't it, which is then derived from greek and so on and so on... We've got Spatin (Spanish), Fratin (French), Engatin (English) and Gratin (German). All just slang Roman'ium, we were just all to dumb to learn and hold onto pure latin (in the lower classes) so here we are with these new languages that we now consider ever so high-brow ;)

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Thanks for posting this lesson which is really informative words which are not usually used and I never come to know if you not posted it.

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