A contronym or contranym is a word with two opposite meanings. For example, the word original can mean "authentic, traditional", or "novel, never done before". This feature is also called enantiosemy, [1] [2] enantionymy ( enantio- means "opposite"), antilogy or autoantonymy. An enantiosemic term is by definition polysemic (having more than one meaning).
A contronym is alternatively called an autantonym, auto-antonym, antagonym, [3] [4] enantiodrome, enantionym, Janus word (after the Roman god Janus, who is usually depicted with two faces), [4] self-antonym, antilogy, or addad (Arabic, singular didd). [5] [6]
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Some pairs of contronyms are true homographs, i.e., distinct words with different etymologies which happen to have the same form. [7] For instance, cleave (meaning "to separate") is from Old English clēofan, while cleave (meaning "to adhere") is from Old English clifian—with each word originally pronounced differently.
Other contronyms are a form of polysemy (multiple meanings), but where a single word acquires different and ultimately opposite meanings or definitions. For example, sanction—"permit" or "penalize"; bolt (originally from crossbows)—"leave quickly" or "fix/immobilize"; fast—"moving rapidly" or "held fixed in place". Some English examples result from nouns being verbed (in the patterns of "add <noun> to" and "remove <noun> from"), and some of these may appear contronymic: for example, dust.
Denotations and connotations of words, too, can drift or branch over centuries. An apocryphal story relates how Charles II (or sometimes Queen Anne) described St Paul's Cathedral (using contemporaneous English) as "awful, pompous, and artificial", with the meaning (rendered in modern English) of "awe-inspiring, majestic, and ingeniously designed." [8]
Negative words such as bad [9] and sick sometimes acquire contrary or ironic senses depending on usage or by antiphrasis. [10] They may thus refer to traits that are impressive and admired, if not necessarily good or positive (the skateboarder's sick jump; that rap song is bad as hell; the movie Good Boys is full of sick burns).
In Latin, sacer has the double meaning "sacred, holy" and "accursed, infamous". Greek δημιουργός gave Latin its demiurgus , from which English got its demiurge , which can refer either to God as the creator or to the devil, depending on philosophical context. Some contronyms result from differences in varieties of English. For example, to table a motion or a bill (a draft piece of legislation) usually means "to put up for debate" in British English, while it means "to postpone, sometimes indefinitely, the consideration of" or "to remove from debate" in American English (for which British English would use "defer" or "shelve"). To barrack , in Australian English, is "to loudly demonstrate support" (eg, for a sports team; "to cheer on"; or, in American English, "to root for"), whilst in British English it is "to express disapproval and contempt".
In some languages, a word stem associated with a single event may treat the action of that event as unitary, so in translation it may appear contronymic. For example, Latin hospes can be translated as both "guest" and "host". In some varieties of English, borrow may mean both "borrow" and "lend".
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Seeming contronyms can arise from translation. In Hawaiian, for example, aloha is translated both as "hello" and as "goodbye", but the essential meaning of the word is "love", whether used as a greeting or farewell. Similarly, 안녕 (annyeong) in Korean can mean both "hello" and "goodbye" but the central meaning is "peace". The Italian greeting ciao is translated as "hello" or "goodbye" depending on the context; the original meaning was "at your service" (literally "(I'm your) slave"). [35]
The coexistence of two opposite meanings in a word is called enantiosemy, and the examples are rather numerous.
He's the big bad wolf in your neighborhood / not bad meaning bad, but bad meaning good
to ... EFFECT
to ... EFFECT
entangle...disentangle, unravel
14. tr. Impartir una lección, pronunciar una conferencia o charla. 15. tr. Recibir una clase. Ayer dimos clase de matemáticas. 16. tr. Dicho de un alumno: Recitar la lección.
I. (sens subjectif) Être avisé, informé de (qqch.). II. (sens objectif) 2. Donner la connaissance, le savoir, la pratique de (qqch.).