Contronym

A contronym is a word with two opposite meanings. For example, the word clip can mean "attach", as in paperclip, or "cut off", as in "clip the hedges". Since a contronym has at least two meanings, it is by definition polysemic.

A contronym is a word with two opposite meanings. For example, the word clip can mean "attach", as in paperclip, or "cut off", as in "clip the hedges". Since a contronym has at least two meanings, it is by definition polysemic.

Verbs

The Romanian verb a închiria, the French verb louer, the Afrikaans verb huur, the Finnish verb vuokrata and the Spanish and mean "to rent" (as the lessee does) as well as "to let" (as the lessor does). The English verb can also describe either the lessee's or the lessor's role. In Spanish (basic meaning "to give"), when applied to lessons or subjects, can mean "to teach", "to take classes" or "to recite", depending on the context. Similarly with the French verb apprendre, which usually means "to learn" but may refer to the action of teaching someone. Dutch and Afrikaans can mean "to teach" or "to learn". In Hebrew the root נכר can mean "to recognize" or "to be a stranger [to not be recognized]" (Marcus Jastrow, A Dictionary of the Targumim, the Talmud Babli and Yerushalmi, and the Midrashic Literature. New York: Pardes, 1950, vol. II,911-912). The root appears 4 times in Genesis 42:7-8 (Jonathan Sacks, The Koren Shalem Humash with Rashi and Onkelos. Jerusalem: Koren Publishers, 2025, 305). In Greek some verbs that begin with the prefix "από-" (apo-) can have a contranym meaning. A prominent example is the verb "αποφράζω" means "to plug something, to fill a hole", and is usually used as a medical term, based on the original ancient Greek meaning. The more modern Greek meaning is "to unplug something, remove a blockage". Similar verbs are "απογεμίζω", that can both mean "to fill up to a brim" and "to empty completely" and "απομαθαίνω", that can both mean "to learn something very well" and "to forget something I learned". The meaning that negates the main action, is usually a more modern Greek one. The prefix "apo-" sometimes enhances an action and sometimes negates it. There are two Latin verbs , one meaning "to bring into shape", the other meaning "to bring out of shape".

Adverbs

can mean "toward the sea" or "away from the sea" depending on dialect. can mean "a while ago" or "in a little bit/later on"

Adjectives

The Latin sinister meant both "auspicious" and "inauspicious", within the respective Roman and Greek traditions of augury. The negative meaning was carried on into French and ultimately English. Latin means "excessive, too much". It maintained this meaning in Spanish , but it was also misinterpreted as "insignificant, without importance". In Korean, (yeonpae) means either "consecutive losses" (the Sino-Korean word ) or "consecutive wins" (orthographic borrowing of Japanese ). In Vietnamese, means among other things "bright, clear" (from Sino-Vietnamese ) and "dead, gloomy" (from ). Because of this, the name of the dwarf planet Pluto is not adapted from as in Chinese, Japanese and Korean. In Japanese, 適当 (tekitou) can mean both "suitable, proper" and "sloppy, careless". Spanish meant originally "blissful, fortunate" as in , "fortunate land". However it developed an ironic and colloquial meaning "bothersome, unlucky", as in , "Damned flies!".

In translation

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 and שלום (shalom) in Hebrew 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"). In Hungarian, "szervusz" serves a similar double role. Sheidlower, Jesse (1 November 2005). "The Word We Love To Hate". Slate. Leithauser, Brad (14 October 2013). "Unusable Words". The New Yorker. Herman, Judith B. (30 May 2014). "25 Words That Are Their Own Opposites". Mental Floss. Schulz, Kathryn (7 April 2015). What Part of "No, Totally" Don't You Understand?. The New Yorker.

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