Words that are their own opposites

[Cathbad]

I think ištaraa (root š-r-y) can mean both "to buy" and "to sell" in MSA, at least according to the God Hans Wehr. (I've mostly been introduced to it as meaning 'to buy', though, so this might just be dictionary craziness.) I guess written Arabic would be quite amenable for this sort of thing, especially the roots that seem to 'mean everything' (such as q-ḍ-y).

I'm trying to think of something fun in Slovene, but failing. Maybe it will emerge from some unknown depths of Native Knowledge after a while...

EDIT: okay, just noticed the thread asked for English versions... but why be so narrow-minded?

[Chuma]

Oh, that's fine. We can extend it to other languages.

[Miekko]

Criticism.

no

[Legion]

Yes.

[Tropylium]

"Predate" conveys responsibility for birth on one hand, and death on the other.

[linguofreak]

With.

I am with you-Modern English- I am accompanying you, in your favour.

I am with thee-Old-Middle English- I am against you and not in your favour.

Similarly, in modern English:

To fight with -> to fight against

and

To fight with -> to fight alongside

[Qwynegold]

I have only ever heard the latter definition used.

That's what I think it should be. As in frigid cold.

Oh, here's a Japanese one: kagi means both "lock" and "key". Not maybe opposites, but still confusing as hell. Oh, and then there's dasu that means both "take out" and "hand in", and deru that means both "appear" and "exit".

[Drydic]

I have only ever heard the latter definition used.

That's what I think it should be. As in frigid cold.

Just to make sure, frigid is used for an antonym of slutty as well meaning cold.

[Soap]

I have only ever heard the latter definition used.

That's what I think it should be. As in frigid cold.

Oh, here's a Japanese one: kagi means both "lock" and "key". Not maybe opposites, but still confusing as hell. Oh, and then there's dasu that means both "take out" and "hand in", and deru that means both "appear" and "exit".

Dont they also have a homonym pair meaning both "fair weather" and "stormy weather"? I think I remember seeing it in a dictionary, but I wouldnt be able to look it up. Of course it could be that one of the terms is archaic ... the dictionary doesnt tell us anything like that. Likewise they seem to deal with the fact that /taiyō/ can mean "sun", "ocean", or "a machine's durability".

http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/taiyō

[Legion]

Oh and, of course, the all time classic: Hindi kal means both "yesterday" and "tomorrow".

[Aurora Rossa]

Oh and, of course, the all time classic: Hindi kal means both "yesterday" and "tomorrow".

Which undoubtedly makes translating the title of the classic Star Trek episode Tomorrow Is Yesterday especially tricky.

[Bristel]

Oh and, of course, the all time classic: Hindi kal means both "yesterday" and "tomorrow".

Which undoubtedly makes translating the title of the classic Star Trek episode Tomorrow Is Yesterday especially tricky.

कल कल है. kal kal hai.

It's true... I think if I had to speak that sentence in Hindi, even an Indian would give pause.

[Ulrike Meinhof]

Oh and, of course, the all time classic: Hindi kal means both "yesterday" and "tomorrow".

That's really just two meanings from a SAE point of view. You might just as well say that it means "the day adjacent to today", and which one of them is implied by context.

[KHS]

Finnish: jäädä = to stay; to leave.

[tiramisu]

Viscosity means either the ability of a solid/semifluid to flow, or resistance of a fluid/semifluid to flow

[Nesescosac]

Oh and, of course, the all time classic: Hindi kal means both "yesterday" and "tomorrow".

It's the same way in Bengali; Bengali, however, uses adjectives to distinguish the two, and I reckon Hindi does as well.

[Xonen]

Finnish: jäädä = to stay; to leave.

I'm having trouble thinking of a context where 'to leave' would be an appropriate translation. Although I can think of one specialized context in which it would kind of work as its own opposite:

Hän jäi bussiin.
3SG stay.PST.3SG bus-ILL
?"He/she stayed on the bus."

Hän jäi bussista.
3SG stay.PST.3SG bus-ELAT
"He/she got off the bus."

Especially the former is a bit iffy, though; a more likely translation in most contexts would probably be "he/she was left on the bus", suggesting a child whose parents forgot him/her there or something. (Incidentally, that's also a possible interpretation of the latter sentence, but with the roles flipped so that the parents got on the bus and the child was accidentally left behind.)

EDIT: Right, it was a link, I could've checked that, I suppose. It seems Wiktionary does give 'to leave' as a possible translation, but AFAIK, that entry could very well have been written by a non-native speaker of English. Do people actually say "to leave the train" when meaning 'to get off the train' in English? Not that it really matters, the opposite meanings are still only there in this one context, and even then, as I said, it's iffy.


In any case, I've seen a few other Finnish words suggested as being examples of this before. Right now, though, I can think of only one - and personally I don't think it even really qualifies: hämärtää. It can certainly be used in opposite contexts, but I'd argue its actual meaning is the same in both:

Ilta hämärtää.
evening get_dim.3SG
"It's getting dark." (lit. "the evening is getting dim")

Aamu hämärtää.
morning get_dim.3SG
"It's starting to dawn." (lit. "the morning is getting dim")

Obviously, getting dim requires the amount of light to decrease if we're starting from full daylight but to increase if the starting point is nightly darkness - but that doesn't mean the word itself means anything other than 'to get dim' in both contexts. Hell, it's even transparently derived from hämärä, 'dim'.

[Niedokonany]

With.

I am with you-Modern English- I am accompanying you, in your favour.

I am with thee-Old-Middle English- I am against you and not in your favour.

Similarly, in modern English:

To fight with -> to fight against

and

To fight with -> to fight alongside

the same in polish

[Declan]

Viscosity means either the ability of a solid/semifluid to flow, or resistance of a fluid/semifluid to flow

That's the same thing, it only matters if you are quantifying it which one you take.

A lot of the samples are pushing it a little too, for example, Bull as in Papal Bull or short for Bull shit.

[jmcd]

Oh and, of course, the all time classic: Hindi kal means both "yesterday" and "tomorrow".

I think that's somewhat similar to French "tout à l'heure" (which can refer to a short time in the future or past): you can tell which is meant due to context.

AFAIK, that entry could very well have been written by a non-native speaker of English. Do people actually say "to leave the train" when meaning 'to get off the train' in English?

You can tell from the history and IP address that they edited from Finland so yeah probably non-native.

[Soap]

Japanese

1) moru "to fill up, pile up"
2) moru "to leak, spill out"

caveats as usual: I dont speak Japanese, so for all I know one of these words is only found in some thousand year old samurai's diary and would never be used today (but it was in a modern Japanese dicitionary). Also, I remember reading something about verbs ending in -ru sometimes being irregular, so maybe they only are homonyms in the citaiton form.

[Ser]

In French, apprendre can mean both "to learn" and "to teach". Although it isn't really its own opposite as the former is when it's transitive and the latter when it's ditransitive.

J'apprends ça.
I'm learning this.

Je lui apprends ça.
I'm teaching this to him/her.

[Viktor77]

In French, apprendre can mean both "to learn" and "to teach". Although it isn't really its own opposite as the former is when it's transitive and the latter when it's ditransitive.

J'apprends ça.
I'm learning this.

Je lui apprends ça.
I'm teaching this to him/her.

When is there a preference for this word over enseigner?

[richard1631978]

Fast can mean to move quickly or not able to move at all (ie stuck fast).

Nice has changed meaning a few times over the years, so it didn't always mean pleasent.

[Shrdlu]

Swedish "mot" mean both towards but also against. There are a few cases were this become confusing as fujck, even when the context is clear, and I have an example on the tip of my tounge. Just wait.