1248: contronyms May 10, 2018

A contronym (also contranym) is a word that has two opposite definitions, and there are two main reasons how these come to be. Sometimes this is due etymology; the word 'cleave' means to split apart—leading to the knife, 'cleaver' and also 'cleavage' (via geology)—but also it means 'to stick together'. They both have different participles 'cleaved and 'clove' respectively, and come from different words in Old English: 'clēofan' and 'cleofian' respectively. In the case of 'inflammable' and 'unlockable', this comes down to morphology; 'inflamable' can mean "not able to be flammable' or "able to be inflamed" and depends upon which affix would be added first. If you know other contronyms, write it in the comments.

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