When I look at pronunciation guides for opacity and opaque I see the following: opaque: oh-peyk (a hard A) opacity: oh-pas-i-tee (a soft A) Since their root seems to be the Latin opācus, why do they have different pronunciations? Aside, I’ve been pronouncing opacity as oh-pey-si-tee (hard A) for most of my life, so I’m … Read more
A colleague and I were having a discussion as to the proper plural form of abacus. I believe the plural would be abacuses and he feels that the proper form would be abaci. I believe that abacuses is more appropriate as it derives from the root word and abaci is a forked word that is … Read more
sentence A: Many YouTube videos will play using HTML5 in supported browsers. sentence B: You can request that the HTML5 player be used if your browser doesn’t use it by default. Hello. The above passage is from a youtube page. I made the words bold which I am about to ask about. I have 3 … Read more
They both are cognates (it can be easily proved by many etymological sources). The question is : Is it possible to consider VAC as a common root for evacuate and vacuum (we may go further – vacation, vacancy, vacuous etc.). Answer Clearly they are related through Latin, from e- and vacare (out of and to … Read more
As best as I can tell, a good example is sociopath: sociopath — from socio- on model of psychopath socio- — combining form of [Latin] socius pathos — from [Greek] pathos Hence, sociopath is a word coined from roots found in two different languages. Is there a good term that describes this? Answer I came … Read more
When someone practices something, they do it often/as a habit. When someone says something is practical, they usually mean it is pragmatic/sensible/applicable, yet not necessarily practiced. And my teachers have used practicum to refer to a test, which is an examination, not an instance of practice. What is the common root of these words, what … Read more
