meaning - Difference between inflammable and flammable - English . . . The Free Dictionary advises using only flammable to give warnings: Usage Note: Historically, flammable and inflammable mean the same thing However, the presence of the prefix in- has misled many people into assuming that inflammable means "not flammable" or "noncombustible " The prefix in- in inflammable is not, however, the Latin negative prefix in-, which is related to the English un- and
orthography - What is the history of the spelling imflammable (with M . . . Imflammable and Inflammable, adj — Flammable It is recommended that the use of these terms be discontinued because of possible confusion in the meaning Nonimflammable, adj — Nonflammable It is recommended that the use of this term be discontinued
meaning - Is it inflammable or flammable? - English Language Usage . . . Inflammable, derived from the verb inflame, is the original word But because the first syllable is easily misinterpreted as the common negative prefix in- (as in, for example, inescapable, invulnerable, inorganic), the word has always caused confusion
What words sound like opposites but are synonyms? Somewhat related to this question, I am curious to know what words in English would seem to be opposites at first blush but are in fact synonyms? Immediately I can think of flammable and inflammable
meaning - Flammable versus Combustible - English Language Usage . . . inflammable adj 1 : flammable Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary, Eighth Edition (1973): [no changes] Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary, Ninth Edition (1983): combustible [same as previous] flammable adj capable of being easily ignited and of burning quickly inflammable [same as previous] Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, Tenth
single word requests - English Language Usage Stack Exchange The words flammable and inflammable mean the same thing, but (to someone unfamiliar with their meaning) appear to be opposites (because of the quot;in quot; prefix) Is there a name for such word
Do to ravel and to to unravel mean the same thing? Cleave means tear apart as well as bind together The world inflammable can mean combustible or not combustible There is no "why" to natural languages, or, rather, asking "why" is the wrong question A tree has just so many branches, no more, no less Asking "why" is, in some sense, meaningless So it is for the growth and pruning of natural languages
What is funny in Inflammable - English Language Usage Stack Exchange The joke arises from the fact that "inflammable" and "flammable" are synonymous (that is, they have the same meaning ) Normally the prefix "in" makes the root word have the opposite meaning, as in: "justice injustice", "sensitive insensitive", "eligible ineligible " etc Mistaking this inversion makes the non native English speaker think that the "inflammable" gas is the opposite of flammable
If in- forms antonyms, why is invaluable not the opposite of . . . Inflammable means flammable can combust in French French doesn't have the word flammable for some reason (nothing seems inherently "wrong" with it, it just doesn't exist) To denote flameproof, you have "ininflammable" - yes, double ins not not So at least for this word, blame whatever language originally sourced the mess (French? Latin?)