In High school Biology we all learned that “hypo” means “below normal” and “Hyper” means “above normal”…
What about the word “Hypocrite” does the word not mean to be over-critical more than it would mean under-critical? (even though neither truly defines the word)
“You’re such a Hypercrite!”… hmm, maybe I could get away with that in the South anyway…lol 
I believe that this is a case of a group of letters that looks like a suffix but actually is not. I believe there is a word for this but I cannot remember what it is. Sometimes words contain the same letters as a prefix or suffix but is actually just a part of the word. I believe that this is the case with hypocrite. Here is the origin of hypocrisy:
[Middle English ipocrisie, from Old French, from Late Latin hypocrisis, play-acting, pretense, from Greek hupokrisis, from hupokrnesthai, to play a part, pretend : hupo-, hypo- + krnesthai, to explain, middle voice of krnein, to decide, judge; see krei- in Indo-European Roots.]
If you ever come by the term for it, I’d be interested to know it-I don’t have the slightly idea where I would start with such a thing.
Yeah, and what’s up with that Hippocratic Oath, huh? Democratic means the people rule, and Plutocratic means Mickey’s dog rules. Hippodrome is where the horses hang out, so Hippocratic means a horse rules, I guess. There were times when part of a horse ruled, but did he take an oath for that? I’m so confused.
Not an oath. Oatth. Uthe the plural.
I’m glad KingofSoup understood what you were getting at AskNott… I seriously thought you were just trying to be a smartass
I don’t know if there’s a term for a “false affix,” but the act of confusing something for an affix (or otherwise misproperly analyzing a word’s morphemes) is metanalysis.
From www.m-w.com
Etymology: Middle English ypocrite, from Old French, from Late Latin hypocrita, from Greek hypokritEs actor, hypocrite, from hypokrinesthai
The Spanish Academy gives something similar. Since both Merriam-Webster’s and the Academy will indicate any prefixes and suffixes, looks like there’s no relationship with the prefix at all.
Now we need someone who knows Greek to confirm whether hypokrinestai means “to act” or what 
It’s all Greek to me anyway :rolleyes: …ba-dum-dump–thankyou-thankyou haha
Okay, since this is just about done, I remember hearing a word game awhile ago, and I’ve been trying ever since to remember the exact details.
The game was to identify which item in a list didn’t belong. For example, “champagne, cream, beer, coffee” would have as the answer: beer, since all the rest can also describe colors.
One of the puzzles was, “Campus, student, crates, xxxx.” The answer, as you’ve probably guessed, is “student,” since the other words can all have “hippo-” added as a prefix to make another word.
My question is: what is xxxxx? I even turned to my giant dictionary, and wasn’t able to come up with anything promising. I’m pretty sure it was a common word.
Any guesses? No, it’s not potamus.
Daniel
What’s this? trying to give my thread a sceond wind or what? Just make a new one, how tough is that? Plus, then it’s all your *spot-light * not back-light 
How about “cephalic”?
Didn’t Caligula make his horse a senator?
And it’s a good thing he did! Just look at what that horse did for the medical field!
I hope you are just playing and do realize that the Hippocratic Oath is named for Hippocrates (c. 460-400 B.C) who wrote: * “I swear by Appollo Physcian, by Asclepius, by Health, by Panacea, and by all the gods and goddesses, making them my witnesses, that I will carryout, according to my ability and judgment, this oath and this indenture.
…I will use treatment to help the sick according to my ability and judgment, but never with a view to injury or wrongdoing.”* etc. etc. etc.
Its the oath that doctors are supposed to uphold…
Its a name, not a prefix and has nothing to do with horses or under horses or below anything. 
I’m so ashamed. When two posters in the same thread fail to recognize your joke, you’re just being too obscure. :smack: I apologize. Or, for you folks outside the US, I apologise.
And, for you two, Whoooooooosh!
I did believe you were joking. Hey I wrote the first line of the oath from memory, I can’t be that dense… can I? Impossible, I just wanted to be sure, you see. I…Oh no! Have I become, Humorless?! 
I think not.
xxxxxx is “campus”
Probably not, unless they repeated the word “campus.” Reread the puzzle :).
Daniel
I’m pretty sure it wasn’t this–I think it was a common word. It was on the NPR show “My Word,” I think, if that’s any help.
Daniel