Flammable and Inflammable
Flammable and Inflammable
(OP)
Does anyone know how these two words came to have the same meaning?
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Flammable and Inflammable
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RE: Flammable and Inflammable
Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
in·flam·ma·ble /?n?flæm?b?l/ Pronunciation[in-flam-uh-buhl]
–adjective
1. capable of being set on fire; combustible; flammable.
2. easily aroused or excited, as to passion or anger; irascible: an inflammable disposition.
–noun
3. something inflammable.
[Origin: 1595–1605; < ML inflamm?bilis, equiv. to L inflamm?(re) to inflame + -bilis -ble]
—Related forms
in·flam·ma·bil·i·ty, in·flam·ma·ble·ness, noun
in·flam·ma·bly, adverb
—Synonyms 2. fiery, volatile, choleric.
—Usage note Inflammable and flammable both mean “combustible.” Inflammable is the older by about 200 years. Flammable now has certain technical uses, particularly as a warning on vehicles carrying combustible materials, because of a belief that some might interpret the intensive prefix in- of inflammable as a negative prefix and thus think the word means “noncombustible.” Inflammable is the word more usually used in nontechnical and figurative contexts:
RE: Flammable and Inflammable
RE: Flammable and Inflammable
"American Heritage Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This flam·ma·ble Audio Help (fl?m'?-b?l) Pronunciation Key
adj. Easily ignited and capable of burning rapidly; inflammable.
[From Latin flamm?re, to set fire to, from flamma, flame; see bhel-1 in Indo-European roots.]
flam'ma·bil'i·ty n., flam'ma·ble n.
Usage Note: Historically, flammable and inflammable mean the same thing. However, the presence of the prefix in- has misled many people into assuming that inflammable means "not flammable" or "noncombustible." The prefix -in in inflammable is not, however, the Latin negative prefix -in, which is related to the English -un and appears in such words as indecent and inglorious. Rather, this -in is an intensive prefix derived from the Latin preposition in. This prefix also appears in the word enflame. But many people are not aware of this derivation, and for clarity's sake it is advisable to use only flammable to give warnings."
Matt Lorono
CAD Engineer/ECN Analyst
Silicon Valley, CA
Lorono's SolidWorks Resources
Co-moderator of Solidworks Yahoo! Group
and Mechnical.Engineering Yahoo! Group
RE: Flammable and Inflammable
Petrol (gasoline) is a flammable liquid, diesel is a combustible liquid, as defined by their flashpoint.
RE: Flammable and Inflammable
Matt Lorono
CAD Engineer/ECN Analyst
Silicon Valley, CA
Lorono's SolidWorks Resources
Co-moderator of Solidworks Yahoo! Group
and Mechnical.Engineering Yahoo! Group
RE: Flammable and Inflammable
"Flammable. An oddity, chiefly useful in saving lives. The common work meaning 'combustible' is inflammable. But some people are thrown off by the in- and think inflammable means 'not combustible.' For this reason, trucks carrying gasoline or explosives are now marked FLAMMABLE. Unless you are operating such a truck and hence are concerned with the safety of children and illiterates, use inflammable."
RE: Flammable and Inflammable
Hg
Eng-Tips policies: FAQ731-376: Eng-Tips.com Forum Policies
RE: Flammable and Inflammable
" But some people are thrown off by the in- and think inflammable means 'not combustible.'"
We have to cater to the perpetually confused, so we will both butcher the language AND stick a little sign up that has a picture of a fire on on it, just to accommodate.
old field guy
RE: Flammable and Inflammable
... the infamous ("More than Famous, He's In-Famous!"), El Guapo.
High on my list of best bad films.
- Steve
RE: Flammable and Inflammable
RE: Flammable and Inflammable
Use of words Flammable and non-flammable would be much more descriptive and safe. Especially when caution signs are not meant for Old english laurets only.
RE: Flammable and Inflammable
RE: Flammable and Inflammable
Preventing people from burning is more important that "correct" grammar.
RE: Flammable and Inflammable
RE: Flammable and Inflammable
RE: Flammable and Inflammable
That said, it can be confusing for kids if no one else and I suppose they deserve the chance to learn better when they're older.
Plus of course any written warning will only work in the language it's written in. Hence certain standard symbols.
KENAT, probably the least qualified checker you'll ever meet...
RE: Flammable and Inflammable
Matt Lorono
CAD Engineer/ECN Analyst
Silicon Valley, CA
Lorono's SolidWorks Resources
Co-moderator of Solidworks Yahoo! Group
and Mechnical.Engineering Yahoo! Group
RE: Flammable and Inflammable
KENAT, probably the least qualified checker you'll ever meet...
RE: Flammable and Inflammable
Matt Lorono
CAD Engineer/ECN Analyst
Silicon Valley, CA
Lorono's SolidWorks Resources
Co-moderator of Solidworks Yahoo! Group
and Mechnical.Engineering Yahoo! Group
RE: Flammable and Inflammable
We seem to be talking about the opposite of autoantonyms here; i.e. two words with what would "appear" to be opposite definitions, but which in fact have the same definition. I'm sure that a word exists to name such pairs (besides "annoying" or "confusing"...)
The "appearance" of opposite definitions sometimes arises from incorrectly interpreting suffixes; "in-" can be an intensifier, or a negation. Not going to be clear by inspection which sense is contained by a word.
[ COMPUTER SPELLCHECKERS: Checking everything except context (so far). ]
RE: Flammable and Inflammable
RE: Flammable and Inflammable
Hg
Eng-Tips policies: FAQ731-376: Eng-Tips.com Forum Policies
RE: Flammable and Inflammable
RE: Flammable and Inflammable
would this be burnable, combustable, explosive, fire-retardent, or flammable?