Hybrid word
Encyclopedia
A hybrid word is a word which etymologically
has one part derived from one language and another part derived from a different language.
is one which combines etymologically Latin
and Greek
parts. Since many prefix
es and suffix
es in English are of Latin or Greek etymology, it is straightforward to add a prefix or suffix from one language to an English word that comes from a different language, thus creating a hybrid word.
Such etymologically disparate mixing is considered by some to be bad form. Others, however, argue that, since both (or all) parts already exist in the English lexicon
, such mixing is merely the conflation
of two (or more) English morpheme
s in order to create an English neologism (new word), and so is appropriate.
descent. The following hybrid words consist of a Hebrew-descent word and a non-Semitic descent suffix:
Examples of Modern Hebrew hybrid words which include an international prefix are as following:
Modern Hebrew also has a productive derogatory prefixal shm-, which results in an ‘echoic expressive’. For example, um shmum (או״ם־שמו״ם), literally ‘United Nations shm-United Nations’, was a pejorative description by Israel’s first Prime Minister, David Ben-Gurion
, of the United Nations
, called in Modern Hebrew umot meukhadot (אומות מאוחדות) and abbreviated um (או״ם). Thus, when an Israeli would like to express his impatience with or disdain for philosophy, s/he can say filosófya-shmilosófya (פילוסופיה־שמילוסופיה). Modern Hebrew shm- is traceable back to Yiddish, and is found in English as well as shm-reduplication
. This is comparable to the Turkic initial m-segment conveying a sense of ‘and so on’ as in Turkish dergi mergi okumuyor, literally 'magazine “shmagazine” read:NEGATIVE:PRESENT:3rd.person.singular’, i.e. ‘(He) doesn’t read magazine, journals or anything like that’.
characters – where some of the characters may be pronounced using Chinese pronunciations (on'yomi, from Chinese morphemes), and others in the same word are pronounced using Japanese pronunciations (kun'yomi, from Japanese morphemes). These are known as jūbako (重箱) or yutō (湯桶) words, which are themselves examples of this kind of compound (they are autological word
s): the first character of jūbako is read using on'yomi, the second kun'yomi, while it is the other way around with yutō. Other examples include 場所 basho "place" (kun-on), 金色 kin'iro "golden" (on-kun) and 合気道 aikidō "the martial art Aikido
" (kun-on-on).
Etymology
Etymology is the study of the history of words, their origins, and how their form and meaning have changed over time.For languages with a long written history, etymologists make use of texts in these languages and texts about the languages to gather knowledge about how words were used during...
has one part derived from one language and another part derived from a different language.
Common hybrids
The most common form of hybrid word in EnglishEnglish language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
is one which combines etymologically Latin
Latin
Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
and Greek
Greek language
Greek is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages. Native to the southern Balkans, it has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records. Its writing system has been the Greek alphabet for the majority of its history;...
parts. Since many prefix
Prefix
A prefix is an affix which is placed before the root of a word. Particularly in the study of languages,a prefix is also called a preformative, because it alters the form of the words to which it is affixed.Examples of prefixes:...
es and suffix
Suffix
In linguistics, a suffix is an affix which is placed after the stem of a word. Common examples are case endings, which indicate the grammatical case of nouns or adjectives, and verb endings, which form the conjugation of verbs...
es in English are of Latin or Greek etymology, it is straightforward to add a prefix or suffix from one language to an English word that comes from a different language, thus creating a hybrid word.
Such etymologically disparate mixing is considered by some to be bad form. Others, however, argue that, since both (or all) parts already exist in the English lexicon
Lexicon
In linguistics, the lexicon of a language is its vocabulary, including its words and expressions. A lexicon is also a synonym of the word thesaurus. More formally, it is a language's inventory of lexemes. Coined in English 1603, the word "lexicon" derives from the Greek "λεξικόν" , neut...
, such mixing is merely the conflation
Conflation
Conflation occurs when the identities of two or more individuals, concepts, or places, sharing some characteristics of one another, become confused until there seems to be only a single identity — the differences appear to become lost...
of two (or more) English morpheme
Morpheme
In linguistics, a morpheme is the smallest semantically meaningful unit in a language. The field of study dedicated to morphemes is called morphology. A morpheme is not identical to a word, and the principal difference between the two is that a morpheme may or may not stand alone, whereas a word,...
s in order to create an English neologism (new word), and so is appropriate.
English examples
- AquaphobiaAquaphobiaAquaphobia is an abnormal and persistent fear of water. Aquaphobia is a specific phobia that involves a level of fear that is beyond the patient's control or that may interfere with daily life. People suffer aquaphobia in many ways and may experience it even though they realize the water in an...
– from Latin aqua "water" and Greek φοβία "fear"; this term is distinguished from the non-hybrid word hydrophobiaHydrophobiaHydrophobia or hydrophobe may refer to:* Rabies, especially a set of symptoms of the later stages of an infection, in which the victim has difficulty swallowing, shows panic when presented with liquids to drink, and cannot quench his or her thirst....
, which can refer to symptoms of rabiesRabiesRabies is a viral disease that causes acute encephalitis in warm-blooded animals. It is zoonotic , most commonly by a bite from an infected animal. For a human, rabies is almost invariably fatal if post-exposure prophylaxis is not administered prior to the onset of severe symptoms...
. - AutomobileAutomobileAn automobile, autocar, motor car or car is a wheeled motor vehicle used for transporting passengers, which also carries its own engine or motor...
– a wheeled passenger vehicle, from Greek αὐτός (autos) "self" and Latin mobilis "moveable" - BiathlonBiathlonBiathlon is a term used to describe any sporting event made up of two disciplines. However, biathlon usually refers specifically to the winter sport that combines cross-country skiing and rifle shooting...
– from the Latin bis and the Greek ἆθλον (athlon) meaning contest; the non-hybrid word is diathlon - BigamyBigamyIn cultures that practice marital monogamy, bigamy is the act of entering into a marriage with one person while still legally married to another. Bigamy is a crime in most western countries, and when it occurs in this context often neither the first nor second spouse is aware of the other...
– from Latin bis meaning "twice" and Greek γάμος (gamos) meaning wedlock - BigramBigramBigrams or digrams are groups of two written letters, two syllables, or two words, and are very commonly used as the basis for simple statistical analysis of text. They are used in one of the most successful language models for speech recognition...
– from Latin bis meaning "twice" and Greek γράμμα (gramma); the non-hybrid word is digram - BioluminescenceBioluminescenceBioluminescence is the production and emission of light by a living organism. Its name is a hybrid word, originating from the Greek bios for "living" and the Latin lumen "light". Bioluminescence is a naturally occurring form of chemiluminescence where energy is released by a chemical reaction in...
– from the Greek βίος (bios) "life" and the Latin lumen "light" - DemocideDemocideDemocide is a term revived and redefined by the political scientist R. J. Rummel as "the murder of any person or people by a government, including genocide, politicide, and mass murder." Rummel created the term as an extended concept to include forms of government murder that are not covered by the...
– from the Greek δῆμος (dēmos) "people" and the Latin -cida "killer" - DivalentValence (chemistry)In chemistry, valence, also known as valency or valence number, is a measure of the number of bonds formed by an atom of a given element. "Valence" can be defined as the number of valence bonds...
– from Greek δύο (duo) meaning "two" and Latin valens meaning "strong"; the non-hybrid word is bivalent - DysfunctionDysfunctionDysfunction can refer to:* Abnormality * Dysfunctional family* Sexual dysfunction* Dysfunction , an album by the rock band Staind...
– from the Greek δυσ- (dys-) meaning "bad" and the Latin functio - ElectrocutionElectric shockElectric Shock of a body with any source of electricity that causes a sufficient current through the skin, muscles or hair. Typically, the expression is used to denote an unwanted exposure to electricity, hence the effects are considered undesirable....
– a portmanteau of electricity, from the Greek ἤλεκτρον (ēlektron), "amber", and execution, from the Latin exsequere, "follow out" - EusocialityEusocialityEusociality is a term used for the highest level of social organization in a hierarchical classification....
– from the Greek εὖ (eu) "good" and the Latin socialitas - Geostationary – From the Greek γῆ (gē) meaning Earth and the Latin stationarius, from statio, from stare meaning "to stand"
- HexadecimalHexadecimalIn mathematics and computer science, hexadecimal is a positional numeral system with a radix, or base, of 16. It uses sixteen distinct symbols, most often the symbols 0–9 to represent values zero to nine, and A, B, C, D, E, F to represent values ten to fifteen...
– from Greek ἕξ (hex), meaning "six", and Latin decimus meaning "tenth"; the non-hybrid word is sedecimal, from Latin sedecimalis - HexavalentValence (chemistry)In chemistry, valence, also known as valency or valence number, is a measure of the number of bonds formed by an atom of a given element. "Valence" can be defined as the number of valence bonds...
– from Greek ἕξ (hex), meaning "six", and Latin valens, meaning "strong" - Homosexual – from the Greek ὁμός (homos) meaning "same" and the Latin sexus meaning "gender" (This example is remarked on in Tom StoppardTom StoppardSir Tom Stoppard OM, CBE, FRSL is a British playwright, knighted in 1997. He has written prolifically for TV, radio, film and stage, finding prominence with plays such as Arcadia, The Coast of Utopia, Every Good Boy Deserves Favour, Professional Foul, The Real Thing, and Rosencrantz and...
's The Invention of LoveThe Invention of LoveThe Invention of Love is a 1997 play by Tom Stoppard portraying the life of poet A.E. Housman, focusing specifically on his personal life and love for a college classmate. The play is written from the viewpoint of Housman dealing with his memories towards the end of his life and contains many...
, with A. E. HousmanA. E. HousmanAlfred Edward Housman , usually known as A. E. Housman, was an English classical scholar and poet, best known to the general public for his cycle of poems A Shropshire Lad. Lyrical and almost epigrammatic in form, the poems were mostly written before 1900...
's character saying "Homosexuality? What barbarity! It's half Greek and half Latin!".) - Hyperactive – from Greek ὑπέρ (hyper) meaning "over" and Latin activus
- HypercomplexHypercomplex numberIn mathematics, a hypercomplex number is a traditional term for an element of an algebra over a field where the field is the real numbers or the complex numbers. In the nineteenth century number systems called quaternions, tessarines, coquaternions, biquaternions, and octonions became established...
– from Greek ὑπέρ (hyper) meaning "over" and Latin complexus meaning "an embrace" - HypercorrectionHypercorrectionIn linguistics or usage, hypercorrection is a non-standard usage that results from the over-application of a perceived rule of grammar or a usage prescription...
– from Greek ὑπέρ (hyper) meaning "over" and Latin correctio - Hyperextension – from Greek ὑπέρ (hyper) meaning "over" and Latin extensio meaning "stretching out"; the non-hybrid word is superextension
- HypervisorHypervisorIn computing, a hypervisor, also called virtual machine manager , is one of many hardware virtualization techniques that allow multiple operating systems, termed guests, to run concurrently on a host computer. It is so named because it is conceptually one level higher than a supervisory program...
– from the Greek ὑπέρ (hyper) meaning "over" and the Latin visor meaning "seer"; the non-hybrid word is supervisor - LiposuctionLiposuctionLiposuction, also known as lipoplasty , liposculpture suction lipectomy or simply lipo is a cosmetic surgery operation that removes fat from many different sites on the human body...
– from the Greek λίπος (lipos) meaning "fat" and the Latin suctio meaning "sucking" - Macroinstruction – from the Greek μακρος (makros) meaning "long" and the Latin instructio
- Mattergy – from the Latin materia ("material") and the Greek energeia ("energy"): a "word for interchangeable matter and energy."
- Mega-annum – from the Greek μέγας (megas), meaning "large", and the Latin annum, "year"
- MetadataMetadataThe term metadata is an ambiguous term which is used for two fundamentally different concepts . Although the expression "data about data" is often used, it does not apply to both in the same way. Structural metadata, the design and specification of data structures, cannot be about data, because at...
– from the Greek μετά (meta) and the Latin data meaning "given" from dare - Microvitum – from the Greek μικρος (mikros) meaning "small" and the pseudo-Latin vitum
- Minneapolis – from the DakotaDakota languageDakota is a Siouan language spoken by the Dakota people of the Sioux tribes. Dakota is closely related to and mutually intelligible with the Lakota language.-Dialects:...
minne "water" and the Greek πόλις (pólis) "city" - MonocultureMonocultureMonoculture is the agricultural practice of producing or growing one single crop over a wide area. It is also known as a way of farming practice of growing large stands of a single species. It is widely used in modern industrial agriculture and its implementation has allowed for large harvests from...
– from the Greek μόνος (monos) meaning “one, single” and the Latin cultura - Monolingual – from the Greek μόνος (monos) meaning "only" and the Latin lingua meaning "tongue"; the non-hybrid word is unilingual
- MultigraphMultigraph (orthography)A multigraph is a sequence of letters that behaves as a unit and is not the sum of its parts, such as English ⟨ch⟩ or French ⟨eau⟩. The term is infrequently used, as the number of letters is usually specified:*Digraph...
– from the Latin multus "many" and the Greek γραφή (graphē); the non-hybrid word would be polygraphPolygraphA polygraph measures and records several physiological indices such as blood pressure, pulse, respiration, and skin conductivity while the subject is asked and answers a series of questions...
, but that is generally used with a different meaning - Neonate – from the Greek νέος (neos), "new", and the Latin natus, "birth"
- NeuroscienceNeuroscienceNeuroscience is the scientific study of the nervous system. Traditionally, neuroscience has been seen as a branch of biology. However, it is currently an interdisciplinary science that collaborates with other fields such as chemistry, computer science, engineering, linguistics, mathematics,...
– from the Greek νεῦρον (neuron), meaning "sinew", and the Latin scientia, from sciens, meaning "having knowledge" - NeurotransmitterNeurotransmitterNeurotransmitters are endogenous chemicals that transmit signals from a neuron to a target cell across a synapse. Neurotransmitters are packaged into synaptic vesicles clustered beneath the membrane on the presynaptic side of a synapse, and are released into the synaptic cleft, where they bind to...
– from the Greek νέυρον (neuron), meaning "sinew", and the Latin trans, meaning "across" and mittere meaning "to send" - Nonagon – from the Latin nonus meaning "ninth" and the Greek γωνον (gonon) meaning "angle"; the non-hybrid word is enneagonEnneagonIn geometry, a nonagon is a nine-sided polygon.The name "nonagon" is a prefix hybrid formation, from Latin , used equivalently, attested already in the 16th century in French nonogone and in English from the 17th century...
- PandeismPandeismPandeism or Pan-Deism , is a term describing beliefs incorporating or mixing logically reconcilable elements of pantheism and deism Pandeism or Pan-Deism (from and meaning "God" in the sense of deism), is a term describing beliefs incorporating or mixing logically reconcilable elements of...
– from the Greek παν (pan) meaning "allThe AllThe All is the Hermetic or panentheistic view of God, which is that everything that is, or at least that can be experienced, collectively makes up The All...
" and Latin deus meaning "godDeityA deity is a recognized preternatural or supernatural immortal being, who may be thought of as holy, divine, or sacred, held in high regard, and respected by believers....
"; the non-hybrid word is pantheismPantheismPantheism is the view that the Universe and God are identical. Pantheists thus do not believe in a personal, anthropomorphic or creator god. The word derives from the Greek meaning "all" and the Greek meaning "God". As such, Pantheism denotes the idea that "God" is best seen as a process of... - PeriglacialPeriglacialPeriglacial is an adjective originally referring to places in the edges of glacial areas, but it has later been widely used in geomorphology to describe any place where geomorphic processes related to freezing of water occur...
– from the Greek περί (peri) and the Latin glaciālis - PolyamoryPolyamoryPolyamory is the practice, desire, or acceptance of having more than one intimate relationship at a time with the knowledge and consent of everyone involved....
– from the Greek πολύς (polys) meaning "many" and the Latin amor meaning "loveLoveLove is an emotion of strong affection and personal attachment. In philosophical context, love is a virtue representing all of human kindness, compassion, and affection. Love is central to many religions, as in the Christian phrase, "God is love" or Agape in the Canonical gospels...
" - PolydeismPolydeismPolydeism is a polytheistic form of Deism encompassing the belief that the universe was the collective creation of multiple Gods, each of whom created a piece of the universe and then ceased to interact with the universe...
– from the Greek πολύς (polys) meaning "many" and the Latin deus meaning "godDeityA deity is a recognized preternatural or supernatural immortal being, who may be thought of as holy, divine, or sacred, held in high regard, and respected by believers....
"; the non-hybrid word is polytheismPolytheismPolytheism is the belief of multiple deities also usually assembled into a pantheon of gods and goddesses, along with their own mythologies and rituals.... - QuadraphonicQuadraphonicQuadraphonic sound – the most widely used early term for what is now called 4.0 surround sound – uses four channels in which speakers are positioned at the four corners of the listening space, reproducing signals that are independent of one another...
– from the Latin quattuor meaning four and the Greek φωνικός, φωνή (phōnē) meaning sound; the non-hybrid word is tetraphonic - QuadriplegiaQuadriplegiaTetraplegia, also known as quadriplegia, is paralysis caused by illness or injury to a human that results in the partial or total loss of use of all their limbs and torso; paraplegia is similar but does not affect the arms...
– from the Latin quattuor meaning four and the Greek πληγή, πλήσσειν (plēssein) meaning "to strike"; the non-hybrid word is tetraplegia - SociologySociologySociology is the study of society. It is a social science—a term with which it is sometimes synonymous—which uses various methods of empirical investigation and critical analysis to develop a body of knowledge about human social activity...
— from the Latin socius, "comrade", and the Greek λόγος (logos) meaning "word", "reason", "discourse" - Sociopath – from the Latin socius from sociare meaning "to associate with," and the Greek (-pathes) meaning "sufferer" from πάθος pathos meaning "incident", "suffering", or "experience"
- Taikonaut – From the Chinese word for space "太空" (taikong) and Greek ναύτης (nautēs) meaning sailor
- TelevisionTelevisionTelevision is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
– from the Greek τῆλε (tēle) meaning "far" and the Latin visio meaning "seeing", from videre meaning "to see" - TonsillectomyTonsillectomyA tonsillectomy is a 3,000-year-old surgical procedure in which the tonsils are removed from either side of the throat. The procedure is performed in response to cases of repeated occurrence of acute tonsillitis or adenoiditis, obstructive sleep apnea, nasal airway obstruction, snoring, or...
– from the Latin tonsillae "tonsils" and the Greek εκτέμνειν (ektemnein, “to cut out”)
Modern Hebrew
Modern Hebrew abounds with non-Semitic derivational affixes, which are applied to words of both Semitic and non-Semiticdescent. The following hybrid words consist of a Hebrew-descent word and a non-Semitic descent suffix:
- khamúda-le (חמודה׳לה) ‘cutie (feminine singular)’, from khamuda ‘cute (feminine singular) + -le, endearment diminutive of Yiddish descent
- miluím-nik (מילואימניק) ‘reservist, reserve soldier’, from miluím ‘reserve’ (literally ‘fill-ins’) + -nik, a most productive agent suffix of Yiddish and Russian descent
- bitkhon-íst (ביטחוניסט) ‘one who evaluates everything from the perspective of national security’, from bitakhón ‘security’ + the productive internationalism -ist
- kiso-lógya (כסאולוגיה) ‘the art of finding a political seat (especially in the Israeli Parliament)’, from kisé ‘seat’ + the productive internationalism -lógya ‘-logy’
- maarav-izátsya (מערביזציה) ‘westernization’, from maaráv ‘west’ + the productive internationalism -izátsya ‘-ization’ (itself via RussianRussian languageRussian is a Slavic language used primarily in Russia, Belarus, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. It is an unofficial but widely spoken language in Ukraine, Moldova, Latvia, Turkmenistan and Estonia and, to a lesser extent, the other countries that were once constituent republics...
from a hybrid of Greek -ιζ- -iz- and Latin -atio)
Examples of Modern Hebrew hybrid words which include an international prefix are as following:
- post-milkhamtí (פוסט־מלחמתי) ‘postwar’
- pro-araví (פרו־ערבי) ‘pro-Arab’
- anti-hitnatkút (אנטי־התנתקות) ‘anti-disengagement’
Modern Hebrew also has a productive derogatory prefixal shm-, which results in an ‘echoic expressive’. For example, um shmum (או״ם־שמו״ם), literally ‘United Nations shm-United Nations’, was a pejorative description by Israel’s first Prime Minister, David Ben-Gurion
David Ben-Gurion
' was the first Prime Minister of Israel.Ben-Gurion's passion for Zionism, which began early in life, led him to become a major Zionist leader and Executive Head of the World Zionist Organization in 1946...
, of the United Nations
United Nations
The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...
, called in Modern Hebrew umot meukhadot (אומות מאוחדות) and abbreviated um (או״ם). Thus, when an Israeli would like to express his impatience with or disdain for philosophy, s/he can say filosófya-shmilosófya (פילוסופיה־שמילוסופיה). Modern Hebrew shm- is traceable back to Yiddish, and is found in English as well as shm-reduplication
Shm-reduplication
Shm-reduplication is a form of reduplication in which the original word or its first syllable is repeated with the copy beginning with shm- , pronounced...
. This is comparable to the Turkic initial m-segment conveying a sense of ‘and so on’ as in Turkish dergi mergi okumuyor, literally 'magazine “shmagazine” read:NEGATIVE:PRESENT:3rd.person.singular’, i.e. ‘(He) doesn’t read magazine, journals or anything like that’.
Japanese
In Japanese, hybrid words are common in kango – words formed from kanjiKanji
Kanji are the adopted logographic Chinese characters hanzi that are used in the modern Japanese writing system along with hiragana , katakana , Indo Arabic numerals, and the occasional use of the Latin alphabet...
characters – where some of the characters may be pronounced using Chinese pronunciations (on'yomi, from Chinese morphemes), and others in the same word are pronounced using Japanese pronunciations (kun'yomi, from Japanese morphemes). These are known as jūbako (重箱) or yutō (湯桶) words, which are themselves examples of this kind of compound (they are autological word
Autological word
An autological wordis a word expressing a property which it also possesses itself...
s): the first character of jūbako is read using on'yomi, the second kun'yomi, while it is the other way around with yutō. Other examples include 場所 basho "place" (kun-on), 金色 kin'iro "golden" (on-kun) and 合気道 aikidō "the martial art Aikido
Aikido
is a Japanese martial art developed by Morihei Ueshiba as a synthesis of his martial studies, philosophy, and religious beliefs. Aikido is often translated as "the Way of unifying life energy" or as "the Way of harmonious spirit." Ueshiba's goal was to create an art that practitioners could use to...
" (kun-on-on).
See also
- International scientific vocabularyInternational Scientific VocabularyInternational scientific vocabulary comprises scientific and specialized words whose language of origin may or may not be certain, but which are in current use in several modern languages. The name "International Scientific Vocabulary" was first used by Philip Gove in Webster’s Third New...
- Greek and Latin roots in English
- Classical compoundClassical compoundClassical compounds are compound words composed from Latin or Ancient Greek root words. A large portion of the technical and scientific lexicon of English and other Western European languages consists of classical compounds. For example, bio- combines with -graphy to form biography...
- InterlinguaInterlinguaInterlingua is an international auxiliary language , developed between 1937 and 1951 by the International Auxiliary Language Association...
- Phono-semantic matchingPhono-semantic matchingPhono-semantic matching is a linguistic term referring to camouflaged borrowing in which a foreign word is matched with a phonetically and semantically similar pre-existent native word/root....
- In Sino-Japanese vocabulary, hybrid words are called jūbako (重箱) or yutō (湯桶); see: Kanji#Other readings