Contronyms

10:52am - 19 April 2007 - 613 views - 2 Comments
Posted in: Daily

I learnt a new term quite recently. I’m sure most of you are familiar with the terms antonyms and synonyms, but how about contronyms (or also known antagonyms)? Contronyms are words that are their own antonyms. Apparently, contronyms are special cases of homographs (two words with same spelling). Sounds bizarre, but it’s hard to understand that unless there are examples for these so-called contronyms. Here are some:

bolt – secure, run away
by – multiplication (e.g., a three by five matrix), division (e.g., dividing eight by four)
custom – usual, special
fast – quick, unmoving
help – assist, prevent (e.g., “I can’t help it if…”)
mean – average, excellent (e.g., “plays a mean game”)
quite – rather, completely
strike – hit, miss (in baseball)
transparent – invisible, obvious
wear – endure through use, decay through use
with – alongside, against

There are several interesting antonyms that are not homographs, but homophones (two words with the same pronunciation). Examples are:

aural, oral – heard, spoken
erupt, irrupt – burst out, burst in
petalless, petalous – lacking petals, having petals
raise, raze – erect, tear down

The English Language sure is a bizarre language. But that makes it a whole lot more interesting!

 

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