The difference between backing up and beating up is that of a vowel.
“Ant(e)-“ is a Latin root which simply means “before”. Either in space or in time. “Antique”, as earlier, is made of “ant(e)”. Thus, the word.
Other surprising places this root is hidden maybe just behind the eyes of a deer. So, adding “ant(e)-” and “-ocul” and a noun-making suffix like “-er” (example, killer, builder, player, etc), gives you “antler”. And if you saw that word making itself before I told it to you, you anticipated it.
Most commonly though, you’ll find this little guy hidden in the bleak hours of morning. Before midday (or meridiem) perhaps, in Ante Meridian (AM). Whatever is behind the front is anterior, and whatever that happened before the war on those frontiers, is antebellum (“before war”) or even antecedent. A smaller room leading up to a larger room is an antechamber, which usually houses an antechoir, in which the third last chair would be antepenultimate.
The “same-but-different” root “ant(i)” makes its way from Ancient Greek. This may be anticlimactic, but it is as common as they come, from antidepressants, to antisocial, to an antigen. “Ant(i) means “opposite” or “against”.
It does reveal some real gems hiding in the plain sight though. The opposite of Arctic, is Antarctic. The person who is the opposite of the hero, is an antagonist. Those who are against the government are not anarchists, they just support “no government”. They are antarchists. That being said, if you are one, it really shouldn’t matter to you. As is with most things “etymology”.
“Ant(e)-“ is a Latin root which simply means “before”. Either in space or in time. “Antique”, as earlier, is made of “ant(e)”. Thus, the word.
Other surprising places this root is hidden maybe just behind the eyes of a deer. So, adding “ant(e)-” and “-ocul” and a noun-making suffix like “-er” (example, killer, builder, player, etc), gives you “antler”. And if you saw that word making itself before I told it to you, you anticipated it.
Most commonly though, you’ll find this little guy hidden in the bleak hours of morning. Before midday (or meridiem) perhaps, in Ante Meridian (AM). Whatever is behind the front is anterior, and whatever that happened before the war on those frontiers, is antebellum (“before war”) or even antecedent. A smaller room leading up to a larger room is an antechamber, which usually houses an antechoir, in which the third last chair would be antepenultimate.
The “same-but-different” root “ant(i)” makes its way from Ancient Greek. This may be anticlimactic, but it is as common as they come, from antidepressants, to antisocial, to an antigen. “Ant(i) means “opposite” or “against”.
It does reveal some real gems hiding in the plain sight though. The opposite of Arctic, is Antarctic. The person who is the opposite of the hero, is an antagonist. Those who are against the government are not anarchists, they just support “no government”. They are antarchists. That being said, if you are one, it really shouldn’t matter to you. As is with most things “etymology”.
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