# Words made up of two languages **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 17, 2008, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-made-up-of-two-languages/441708 "2008-03-17T22:00:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![utterlyuseless](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/b3f665/32.png) [@utterlyuseless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/utterlyuseless)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2008, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-made-up-of-two-languages/441708/1 "2008-03-17T22:00:27Z")
In English I realize we have a lot of “loan” words from other languages I was wondering if any of these loan words come from two or more languages that combine to form one word in English Like the first part of the word is from Latin and the second part of the word is from French or something like that. Are there words like that? And if so is there a term for it? ---
**Author:** ![Baron\_Greenback](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baron_greenback/32/48_2.png) [@Baron\_Greenback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baron_Greenback)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2008, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-made-up-of-two-languages/441708/2 "2008-03-17T22:06:50Z")
Television, from the Greek _tele_ - “distant” and the Latin _visio_ “seeing”, is one of the most commonly used such words. ---
**Author:** ![mks57](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b9bd4f/32.png) [@mks57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mks57)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2008, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-made-up-of-two-languages/441708/3 "2008-03-17T22:07:14Z")
Try words ending in “nik”. > **[\-nik](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/-nik)** > > The English suffix -nik is of Slavic origin. It approximately corresponds to the suffix "-er" and nearly always denotes an agent noun (that is, it describes a person related to the thing, state, habit, or action described by the word to which the suffix is attached). In the cases where a native English language coinage may occur, the "-nik"-word often bears an ironic connotation, as in the case of the terms coined for the failed rocket launch of the U.S. satellite rival to Sputnik, such as The s... ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2008, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-made-up-of-two-languages/441708/4 "2008-03-17T22:07:35Z")
The first one I can think of is “octopi”, the plural of octopus. Apparently, it’s an incorrect plural, because “octopus” comes from Greek, not Latin, and “-us” to “i” plurals is a Latin thing. So “octopi” is a Green word with a Latin ending. The correct plural is apparently “octopodes”. Who knew? ---
**Author:** ![Don\_t\_Panic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/don_t_panic/32/398_2.png) [@Don\_t\_Panic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_t_Panic)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2008, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-made-up-of-two-languages/441708/5 "2008-03-17T22:07:36Z")
[QUOTE=Struan] Television, from the Greek _tele_ - “distant” and the Latin _visio_ “seeing”, is one of the most commonly used such words. [/QUOTE] “Television? The word is half Greek and half Latin. No good will come of this device.” - CP Scott (1936) I’m not sure if there’s a proper term for it, but [hybrid word](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hybrid_word) apparently gets the job done. “Automobile” is another good one. Oh, and EDIT: [QUOTE=WhyNot] The correct plural is apparently “octopodes”. Who knew? [/QUOTE] What’s wrong with “octopuses”? ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2008, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-made-up-of-two-languages/441708/6 "2008-03-17T22:24:17Z")
[QUOTE=Peak Banana] What’s wrong with “octopuses”? [/QUOTE] That there aren’t nine of them. ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2008, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-made-up-of-two-languages/441708/7 "2008-03-17T22:31:18Z")
[QUOTE=Peak Banana] Oh, and EDIT: What’s wrong with “octopuses”? [/QUOTE] Eh, works for me. (We language geeks argue about this at least once a year on the Dope, I reckon.) From the wikipedia entry on our eight armed friends: > [@](#): > > There are three forms of the plural of octopus; namely, octopuses, octopi, and octopodes. Currently, octopuses is the most common form in the UK as well as the US; octopodes is rare, and octopi is often objected to.[12] > > Fowler’s Modern English Usage states that “the only acceptable plural in English is octopuses,” and that octopi is misconceived and octopodes pedantic. Octopi derives from the mistaken assumption that octōpūs is a second declension Latin noun, which it is not. Rather, it is (Latinized) Greek, from oktṓpous (ὀκτώπους), gender masculine, whose plural is oktṓpodes (ὀκτώποδες). If the word were native to Latin, it would be octōpēs (‘eight-foot’) and the plural octōpedes, analogous to centipedes and mīllipedes, as the plural form of pēs (‘foot’) is pedes. In modern, informal Greek, it is called khtapódi (χταπόδι), gender neuter, with plural form khtapódia (χταπόδια). > > The Oxford English Dictionary lists only octopodes and octopuses (in that order), but has no citations for octopodes. Chambers 21st Century Dictionary[13] and the Compact Oxford Dictionary[14] list only octopuses, although the latter notes that octopodes is “still occasionally used”; the British National Corpus has 29 instances of octopuses, 11 of octopi and 4 of octopodes. Merriam-Webster 11th Collegiate Dictionary lists octopuses and octopi, in that order; Webster’s New World College Dictionary lists octopuses, octopi and octopodes (in that order). > > The term octopod (plural octopods or octopodes) is taken from the taxonomic order Octopoda but has no classical equivalent. The collective form octopus is usually reserved for animals consumed for food. ---
**Author:** ![whitetho](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whitetho/32/1059_2.png) [@whitetho](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/whitetho)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2008, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-made-up-of-two-languages/441708/8 "2008-03-17T23:46:47Z")
Lee DeForest called his first vacuum-tube an “audion”. There was a famous exchange about the appropriateness of this name: **Michael I. Pupin:** I have had some experience in the constructing of detectors of electrical waves. If there must be a new name for each new detector, pretty soon the science of electrotechnics will be a maze of new names. For that reason I am opposed to new names. Although Dr. De Forest is very enthusiastic about the elegance of the name audion, I must say I am not much impressed by it. It is a mongrel. It is a Latin word with a Greek ending. If he had said acouion or acousticon it might have been better, but more difficult to pronounce. **Lee De Forest:** Dr. Pupin’s opening remarks may serve as an argument why the study of Greek and Latin should be thoroughly introduced into our engineering schools. My knowledge of Greek is almost nil; I knew, however, that ‘aud’ was of Latin and ‘ion’ of Greek derivation. But they are both expressive. When we use a term one hundred times a day, it is necessary to have something brief."–“Discussion on ‘The Audion: A New Receiver for Wireless Telegraphy’, New York, October 26, 1906”, _Transactions of the American Institute of Electrical Engineers_, 1907. ---
**Author:** ![lobotomyboy63](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobotomyboy63/32/2900_2.png) [@lobotomyboy63](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lobotomyboy63)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2008, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-made-up-of-two-languages/441708/9 "2008-03-17T23:52:22Z")
The Ouija board: French Oui, German ja. Yeah, there must be a bunch in science, such as photovoltaic. photo-Greek, volt-Italian. ---
**Author:** ![TV\_time](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f17d59/32.png) [@TV\_time](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TV_time)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2008, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-made-up-of-two-languages/441708/10 "2008-03-17T23:56:08Z")
What’s wrong with “octopussies”? It makes me smile. AS for hybrid words - “Spanglish” comes to mind. Out here is the Southwest its a real word. ---
**Author:** ![Great\_Dave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/46a35a/32.png) [@Great\_Dave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Great_Dave)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2008, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-made-up-of-two-languages/441708/11 "2008-03-18T00:09:38Z")
Isn’t automobile another? ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2008, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-made-up-of-two-languages/441708/12 "2008-03-18T00:52:31Z")
Quadrilogy as in the [When did ‘Quadrilogy’ become the official term for 4 works ?](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=459763) thread. ---
**Author:** ![bibliophage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bibliophage/32/7615_2.png) [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2008, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-made-up-of-two-languages/441708/13 "2008-03-18T00:54:19Z")
I read once (perhaps in a book by Willard Espy) that “remacadamizing” is derived from five languages: re- from Latin, -mac- from Gaelic, -adam- from Hebrew, -iz- from Greek, and -ing from Old English. That’s sort of cheating since the “-macadam-” part is from a proper name, and because productive suffixes and prefixes from different languages are often mixed. But it’s really cheating because “remacadamizing” isn’t in any of my dictionaries. ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2008, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-made-up-of-two-languages/441708/14 "2008-03-18T02:50:10Z")
I find it interesting to note that the ancient prohibition against mixing languages in compound words is extinct. It’s rare to find a nonsensical affectation abandoned by even the most priggish of the illiterate pedants. ---
**Author:** ![jovan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/0ea827/32.png) [@jovan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jovan)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2008, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-made-up-of-two-languages/441708/15 "2008-03-18T03:27:06Z")
**Quadraphonic** is another Latin-Greek compound. ---
**Author:** ![Jragon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19b73/32.png) [@Jragon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jragon)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2008, 3:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-made-up-of-two-languages/441708/16 "2008-03-18T03:47:05Z")
Someone can correct me, but the furthest I can trace (using the etymology sections of dictionaries) byte to is Old Norse, this would (in all technicality) make most of the SI prefixes such as “yottabyte” a mishmash (yotta- being Greek for 8 as it’s 1000[sup]8[/sup]). If that’s not “game” since byte is relatively recent feel free to replace it with “bit” which is pretty much the same etomology wise (the way I traced it at least). ---
**Author:** ![Jamaika\_a\_jamaikaiake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/7993a0/32.png) [@Jamaika\_a\_jamaikaiake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jamaika_a_jamaikaiake)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2008, 4:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-made-up-of-two-languages/441708/17 "2008-03-18T04:06:33Z")
This isn’t English, but I think it’s neat: In Hungarian, the word ‘pályaudvar’ means ‘train station.’ ‘pálya’ is of Italian origin (‘pista’), and means ‘track’ ‘udvar’ comes from Slavic and means ‘courtyard’ ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2008, 6:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-made-up-of-two-languages/441708/18 "2008-03-18T06:00:13Z")
[QUOTE=jovan] **Quadraphonic** is another Latin-Greek compound. [/QUOTE] As is _homosexual_. ---
**Author:** ![Grimpen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/82dd89/32.png) [@Grimpen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grimpen)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2008, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-made-up-of-two-languages/441708/19 "2008-03-18T19:29:58Z")
Then there’s Torpenhow Hill in England, built up by successive waves of settlement asking directions from the locals. Each syllable of the name means “hill”, in a different language … ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2008, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-made-up-of-two-languages/441708/20 "2008-03-18T20:19:43Z")
Also the name of the city where I live, _Minneapolis_ is an odd combination: Native American Dakota _Minnea_ meaning water, and Greek _polis_, meaning city. When it was named in the 1800’s, I wonder if there had ever been an actual meeting between native speakers of those two languages. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-made-up-of-two-languages/441708.md?page=2)