Peggy Parish’s Amelia Bedelia children’s picture book series, features an interesting character, a housekeeper with the same name of the book series, who takes her instructions literally and does things contrary to what was expected of her. When Mrs Rogers, her boss, asks her to complete a list of chores, Amelia takes the chores literally and fails to do anything right. Some of the chores are: i) put the lights out, ii) dust the furniture, iii) draw the drapes. This is what Amelia did: i) took the light bulbs out of their sockets and put them out, ii) threw dusting powder on the furniture, iii) drew a picture of the drapes. Who should be blamed: Amelia the maid or the English language?
This week’s column deals with this query from a reader: “Recently, I came across the term ‘contronym’. I didn’t find the word in any of the three dictionaries I have. Does the word exist?”
Many learners of English might not have come across this word as it is not a common word.
What does ‘contronym’ mean? A word that is an antonym of itself is called a contronym. In other words, it is “a word with two opposite meanings” (www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/contronym). For example, the word ‘dust’ has two opposite meanings: i) to remove dust, and ii) to cover with dust (to make dusty). Look at these two sentences:
Ask the housekeeper to dust the furniture in the room. (to remove dust)
Instead of cleaning the room, he dusted it. (made it dusty)
In the first sentence, the verb ‘dust’ has this meaning: ‘to wipe the dust from’ and in the second sentence, the word has the opposite meaning: ‘to soil with dust’.
Contronym, also spelt as ‘contranym’, is a blend of the prefix ‘contra-‘ and the suffix ‘-onym’ on the pattern of synonym and antonym.
There are many contranyms in English. Examples:
seed: i) to sow with seed, ii) to remove the seeds from (fruit)
All the plant pots must be seeded before the rainy season (to sow the seeds)
You must seed the fruit before eating (to remove the seeds)
sanction: i) to approve or permit, and ii) to penalise by way of discipline
Has the government sanctioned the project?
The UN Security Council has decided to impose sanction against Libya
skin: i) to strip or deprive of skin, and ii) to cover with skin
Skin the fish and cut into many pieces
Ask the surgeon whether the wound can be skinned by a surgery
screen: i) to show and ii) to cover with a screen
The Birth of a Nation was the first movie screened at the White House.
Ask her to screen the room.
Not only human beings even words contradict themselves