| The American Heritage® Book of English Usage. |
A Practical and Authoritative Guide to Contemporary English. 1996.
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Page 250
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-oid
| | The basic meaning of the suffix -oid is “like” or “resembling.” Words ending in -oid are generally adjectives but can also be nouns. Thus humanoid means “having human characteristics or form” (adjective sense) or “a being having human form” (noun sense). Nouns ending in -oid form adjectives by adding the suffix -al: spheroid, spheroidal; trapezoid, trapezoidal. The suffix -oid comes from the Greek suffix -oeides, from eidos, meaning “shape, form.” | 1 |
omni-
| | The prefix omni- means “all.” It comes from the Latin word omnis, also meaning “all.” Because the meaning of omni- is so clear and easily recognizable, the prefix has long been used in English to make new words. For example, the meanings of words such as omnipurpose (“all-purpose”) and omnitolerant (“tolerant of all things”) are easy to guess, even without a definition. Omni- can be compared to the prefix pan-, which also means “all.” Pan-, however, comes from Greek and is most commonly used in English in compounds with names of nationalities: Pan-American. | 2 |
-ous
| | The suffix -ous, which forms adjectives, has the basic meaning “having, full of, or characterized by.” Blusterous, for example, means “full of or characterized by bluster.” The suffix -ous can be traced back to the Latin adjective suffix -osus. Some English words ending in -ous that come from Latin adjectives ending in -osus are copious, dolorous, famous, generous, and glorious. Adjectives ending in -ous often have related nouns ending in -ousness or -osity: copiousness, generosity. | 3 |
out-
| | There are many words in English beginning with out-. In words such as outbuilding, outcast, outpour, and outstanding, out- has the same meaning as the adverb out. So an outcast is “one who is cast out,” and one who is outstanding “stands out.” But in other cases out- takes on the sense of doing better, being greater, or going beyond, as in outdo, outnumber, and outrun. Although out- can attach to nouns, adjectives, or verbs to form other nouns, adjectives, or verbs, it most frequently attaches to verbs: outbowl, outcook, outride, outsing. | 4 |
post-
| | The basic meaning of the prefix post- is “after.” It comes from Latin post, meaning “behind, after.” Post- is often used in opposition to the prefixes ante- and pre-: antedate/postdate; prewar/postwar. And post- occurs frequently in medical terminology. Postnasal and postnatal are two common examples, but there are many others, such as postcranial (“behind the cranium”) and postvertebral (“behind the vertebrae”). | 5 |
pre-
| | The basic meaning of the prefix pre- is “before.” It comes from Latin prae, which means “before, in front.” In fact, the word prefix comes from prae plus fixus, a form of the Latin verb figere (“to fasten”). Pre- often appears in combination with verbs of Latin origin. For example, as early as the 16th century we have preconceive, preexist, and premeditate. Predispose and prepossess came into use in the 17th century, and prepay came into use in the 19th century. | 6 |
| The American Heritage® Book of English Usage. Copyright © 1996 by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. |
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