-- W 12 -- Word Elements -- The Body and Health

-- W 12 -- Word Elements -- The Body and Health

Since 1900, life expectancy in the United States has risen from forty-seven years to almost eighty. Some researchers feel that the human body can last up to 150 years. Medical science has learned to prevent or cure scores of diseases. Polio, measles, chicken pox, smallpox, and tetanus have almost been eliminated. Such inventions as refrigeration and plumbing have also contributed to healthier lives. The word elements in this chapter are related to the human body and health. Part 1 presents four roots; Part 2 presents four prefixes. These word elements are common in the sciences and health professions and also form words you will meet in general reading.

Chapter Words: Word Elements: The Body and Health

Part 1 audi audit auditory inaudible patho, -pathy empathy pathetic pathology ped expedite impede pedigree spec, spic auspicious conspicuous despise

Part 2 a-, an- anarchy anomaly apathy bene- benefactor beneficial benign bio-, bio biodegradable biopsy symbiotic mal- malady malice malpractice

  .
audit - scrutinize, scrutinise, inspect, audited account audi.  audi
auditory - audile, auditive
inaudible - unhearable
patho.  patho  .
pathy.  pathy  .
empathy.  empathy  .
pathetic - ridiculous, silly, pitiable, pitiful, hapless, miserable, misfortunate, piteous, pitiable, pitiful, poor, wretched
pathology.  pathology  .
ped.  ped  .
expedite - hasten
impede - hinder, obstruct, obturate, occlude, jam, block, close up
pedigree - bloodline, pedigreed, pureblood, pureblooded, thoroughbred, lineage, line, line of descent, descent, bloodline, blood line, blood, ancestry, origin, parentage, stemma, stock
spec - specification
spic - spik, spick, immaculate, speckless, spick-and-span, spic-and-span, spick, spotless
auspicious.  auspicious  .
conspicuous - blatant, blazing
despise - contemn, scorn, disdain
a - type A, group A, letter a, ampere, amp, angstrom, angstrom unit, adenine, deoxyadenosine monophosphate, vitamin A, antiophthalmic factor, axerophthol
an - Associate in Nursing
anarchy - lawlessness
anomaly - unusual person, anomalousness
apathy - indifference, numbness, spiritlessness
bene.  bene  .
benefactor - helper
beneficial - good, good, salutary
benign - benignant
bio.  bio  .
bio.  bio  .
biodegradable.  biodegradable  .
biopsy.  biopsy  .
symbiotic.  symbiotic  .
mal.  mal  .
malady - illness, unwellness, sickness
malice - maliciousness, spite, spitefulness, venom, malevolence, malevolency
malpractice.  malpractice  .

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Malapropisms

In his 1775 Restoration comedy, The Rivals, Richard Sheridan introduced a humorous character by the name of Mrs. Malaprop. The name is derived from the French mal à propos, which means inappropriate (we also have the wordmalapropos in English), and describes the manner in which she used many words in her speech. See some Mrs. Malaprop quotations here.The self-educated Mrs. Malaprop was always substituting a similar-sounding word for the word that she actually intended, often with the consequence of a hilariously nonsensical sentence. The name Malaprop has been immortalised in the form of themalapropism, any sentence in which one word has been used incorrectly in place of another. Malapropism examples.
These slips are sometimes divided into two broad classes: classical malapropisms, in which the mistakes are due to ignorance (as in the case of Mrs. Malaprop), andtemporary slips of the tongue, in which the intended word is known by the speaker, but has been inadvertently replaced by another.
Here are a few malapropisms that have been gathered from around the Internet:

• Flying saucers are just an optical conclusion.
• A rolling stone gathers no moths.
• Let's get down to brass roots.
• Their father was some kind of civil serpent.
• You can lead a horse to manure but you can't make him drink.
• The flood damage was so bad they had to evaporate the city.

Go to our Malapropism collections; two lists:
Malapropriate quotations from Richard Sheridan's Mrs. Malaprop. Malapropriate quotations from celebrities, politicians, and sports stars.
Closely related to the malapropism is the mondegreen. These are misheard sayings or phrases; the word is most usually applied to song lyrics. Be sure to visit our hilarious collection of misheard song lyrics - mondegreens.

More on Malapropisms & Mondegreens

There is an entire section of our online wordplay bookshop devoted to malapropisms and mondegreens. See also our collections of funny malapropisms from famous people, and from Mrs. Malaprop. And don't miss the misheard lyrics section, a world of mondegreens!Do you know anyone else who would enjoy this? Email this page to a friend.
Also: S

Trivia

Centuries ago, people had no knowledge of how diseases were contracted. Thus, some of their theories seem strange to us today. Malaria is an example of this. Since people who came into contact with marshes or standing water seemed to contract the disease, people thought that swamps gave off poisonous vapors, or miasmas. This “bad air” caused malaria, which actually means “bad (mal) air.”We know now that malaria is actually caused by a parasite that is transmitted to humans by the bite of a mosquito.. Many quotes have been written about the harmful effects of apathy. One of the most famous is attributed to Pastor Martin Niemöller, a German who worked against the Nazis in World War II. This is what he said: In Germany they first came for the Communists, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Communist. Then they came for the Jews, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Jew. Then they came for the trade unionists, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a trade unionist. Then they came for the Catholics, and I didn't speak up because I was a Protestant. Then they came for me — and by that time no one was left to speak up. The game of chess was used in medieval times to teach people about war strategy. Thus, it has such pieces as kings, queens, bishops, and knights. The pawn is the lowliest piece on the chess board. The word pawn comes from the root ped, or “foot.” It signifies a warrior so lowly he has to travel on foot, rather than on horseback. To this day, a pawn is an individual who is sacrificed to the aims of another person. Does she really need that expensive watch, or is she just showing off? Conspicuousconsumption is a term used to describe unnecessary spending that is simply meant to display people’s wealth and to give them social status. The term conspicuousconsumption was coined by Thorstein Veblen in his book The Theory of the Leisure Class.