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Usenet Posted 22 years ago
Usage

Death of un negation prefix

Both the prefixes un- and in- carry the sense of negation in English. Can anybody think of a word that came into our language with the in- prefix used for negation after the start of the 20th century?
  

Top answer

[nq:1]Both the prefixes un- and in- carry the sense of negation in English. [/nq] Well, there's "innumerate/innumeracy", based on "illiterate/illiteracy" (first OED citation, 1959). And then there's that old bugaboo "irregardless" (first citation, 1912).

  • [nq:1]Both the prefixes un- and in- carry the sense of negation in English.
  • [/nq] Well, there's "innumerate/innumeracy", based on "illiterate/illiteracy" (first OED citation, 1959).
  • And then there's that old bugaboo "irregardless" (first citation, 1912).
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64 Answers
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[nq:1]Both the prefixes un- and in- carry the sense of negation in English. Can anybody think of a word that came into our language with the in- prefix used for negation after the start of the 20th century?[/nq]
Well, there's "innumerate/innumeracy", based on "illiterate/illiteracy" (first OED citation, 1959).
And then there's that old bugaboo "irregardless" (first citation, 1912).
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[nq:2]Both the prefixes un- and in- carry the sense of ... used for negation after the start of the 20th century?[/nq]
[nq:1]Well, there's "innumerate/innumeracy", based on "illiterate/illiteracy" (first OED citation, 1959). And then there's that old bugaboo "irregardless" (first citation, 1912).[/nq]
I'd like to offer "inhopefully", in the hope that it escapes from Google into the wild.
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[nq:2]Well, there's "innumerate/innumeracy", based on "illiterate/illiteracy" (first OED citation, 1959). And then there's that old bugaboo "irregardless" (first citation, 1912).[/nq]
[nq:1]I'd like to offer "inhopefully", in the hope that it escapes from Google into the wild. But how many adjectives ... used "intesticulate" a couple of times in these pages, but those seem like the lot (of cou
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[nq:2]Well, there's "innumerate/innumeracy", based on "illiterate/illiteracy" (first OED citation, 1959). And then there's that old bugaboo "irregardless" (first citation, 1912).[/nq]
I suppose I'm stating the obvious with an observation that forms in "in-" will be resisted because of connotations of "movement into", etc.
[nq:1]I'd like to offer "inhopefully", in the hope that it escapes f
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[nq:1]But how many adjectives have been coined since 1901? Plenty of nouns, but, other than "numerate" I can't ... used "intesticulate" a couple of times in these pages, but those seem like the lot (of course they can't be).[/nq]
Seriously? A search on the online OED for adjectives with a first cited date after 1900 yields about 5,000 entries. Some examples from the a's:

addictive
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[nq:2]But how many adjectives have been coined since ... those seem like the lot (of course they can't be).[/nq]
[nq:1]Apparently "numerate" is fifteenth-century.[/nq]
"Numerate" meaning "numbered" dates to the 15th century (now obsolete). "Numerate" meaning "able to understand/use numbers" dates to a 1959 report produced by the UK's Central Advisory Council for Education.
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[nq:2]Apparently "numerate" is fifteenth-century.[/nq]
[nq:1]"Numerate" meaning "numbered" dates to the 15th century (now obsolete). "Numerate" meaning "able to understand/use numbers" dates to a 1959 report produced by the UK's Central Advisory Council for Education.[/nq]
Without having read said report, it seems a bit unlikely that the authors would have just made the word up. Isn't it m
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[nq:2]"Numerate" meaning "numbered" dates to the 15th century (now obsolete). ... report produced by the UK's Central Advisory Council for Education.[/nq]
[nq:1]Without having read said report, it seems a bit unlikely that the authors would have just made the word up. Isn't it more likely that it's older, just unattested?[/nq]
This sense is an obvious calque off "illiterate," so if the con
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[nq:2]But how many adjectives have been coined since ... those seem like the lot (of course they can't be).[/nq]
[nq:1]Seriously? A search on the online OED for adjectives with a first cited date after 1900 yields about 5,000 entries. ... after-school ageist ahistorical allergic all-purpose all-you-can-eat alphanumeric ambisexual ambivalent anorexic anthemic anti-aircraft antiviral A-OK apolit
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[nq:2]"Numerate" meaning "numbered" dates to the 15th century (now obsolete). ... report produced by the UK's Central Advisory Council for Education.[/nq]
[nq:1]Without having read said report, it seems a bit unlikely that the authors would have just made the word up. Isn't it more likely that it's older, just unattested?[/nq]
Merriam-Webster's llth says 1959 also.
Are you thinking tha

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