The English spoken language is full of condition that would be nowhere without their prefixes . you may be nonplussed , but can you be plussed ? you could be overwhelmed or underwhelmed , but what about being evidently previous whelmed ? Here are the somewhat surprising answers to those and like lexical mystery .
Disgruntled
Thedis - ofdisgruntleisn’t a negation — it ’s just tot up intensity level togruntle , a variant ofgruntmeaning “ to grumble , murmur , complain . ”Disgruntleentered the written record in the 17th hundred with the same definition we know today : “ to put into glooming dissatisfaction or inauspicious - humor . ” Even back then , it was more coarse to use it as a qualifier than as a verb ; e.g. you ’re probably more likely to say “ I was disgruntled ” than “ He disgruntle me . ”
You actually can begruntled . The term , meaning “ pleased , quenched , contented , ” was coined in the 20th hundred as a humourous antonym todisgruntled . It ’s an example ofback - organization — when you create a new parole ( or in this case , a new common sense of an old word ) by take away affixes rather than supply them to a root word .
Disturb
you could disturb someone , but you ca n’t turb them — becausedisturbnever meant “ to not turb . ” The word was adopt into midway English from the Old Frenchdestorber , which came from the Latindisturbare . Likedisgruntle , thisdis - is serve as an intensifier . Turbareis Latin for “ to disorder or disturb , ” so addingdis - essentially form it “ to perfectly disorder or disturb . ” Though the English language did n’t adoptturbaredirectly , we do have damage that trace back to its root word , turba , meaning “ turmoil or bunch . ” Thinkturbidandturbulent . Eventurbhad a good run between the fourteenth and 17th centuries as another watchword for a crowd ( or a clump of trees ) .
Innocent
14th - C English verbalizer borrowedinnocentfrom the Old Frenchinocent , which derives from the Latininnocens , meaning “ not shamed , harmless . ” That word break down intoin- , “ not , ” andnocere , “ to harm . ” We borrowednocent , too — mean “ guilty , harmful , ” and also as a noun for a guilty person — either from the Frenchnocentor directly from its Latin precursornocens . Butnocentshowed up in English more or less later thaninnocent , and it often appeared alongside its opposite word . “ Taking away some inexperienced person with many Nocents , ” one 1606 text said . In short , English speakers were n’t really usinginnocentto think of “ not nocent ” ; it might be more given to say they usednocentto signify “ not innocent . ”
Nonplussed
Nonplussedmay be one of the English speech ’s most infamousmisunderstood words . It technically means “ perplexed or confuse , ” but so many citizenry ( primarily in the U.S. ) apply it to intend “ unfazed or unimpressed ” that lexicon now list that as a valid definition . The generaltheoryis that people assumed it meant “ not plussed , ” withplussedbeing some long - forgotten equivalent word forruffledorfazed . It may have beeninfluencedby othernon - words ( nonchalantcomes to mind ) .
But there never was aplussed . The stock story ofnonplussedstarts withnon plus , Latin for “ no more , no further . ” That entered English during the 16th century as a noun , nonplus , key out “ a state in which no more can be said or done ; inability to proceed in speech or action ; a state of perplexity or puzzlement , ” per the Oxford English Dictionary . You might say you ’re “ at a nonplus ” in the same path you ’d say you ’re “ at a stalemate . ” It drive barely any time fornonplusto become a verb—“to bring to a standstill ; to perplex”—which is how we gotnonplussed . It ’s a prime example of anunpaired word of honor : one which suggests a rude antonym that either never existed or is rarely used .
Overwhelm
Ifoverwhelmedmeans you ’re too whelmed andunderwhelmedmeans you ’re not whelmed enough , whelmedseems like the Goldilocksian ideal of emotional stasis . Unless you bonk whatwhelmoriginally meant : “ to overturn or capsize , ” from the Middle Englishwhelmen . Overwhelmwas just a more emphatic version ofwhelm , and both were finally used todescribebeing overcome or engulfed by emotion . Merriam - Webster excuse that “ overwhelmhas always been more democratic , perhaps because the emphatic redundancy ofoverwhelmmakes it seem more apt for describe reaction to brawny forces or feelings . ”
Underwhelmbasically has the same beginning story asgruntled : masses coined it in the 20th one C as a tongue - in - cheek antonym ofoverwhelm . Unlikegruntled , underwhelmoutlasted its purpose as a joke and became a reasonably vulgar Holy Writ .
Repeat
You have to peat once before you could peat again , right-hand ? Sort of — but only in Latin . The wordrepeathas origins inrepetere , Latin for “ to do or say again ; assail again . ”Repeterecombinesre-(“again ” ) withpetere , a various verb that could imply “ to attack , ” “ to explore for , ” “ to pursue , ” “ to pimp , ” and “ to bespeak , ” among other definition . While certain English word decipher back topetere — request , for one — the verb itself did n’t get an English equivalent weight in the same wayrepeteregotrepeat . ( The line ofpeatin the “ grunge - similar material ” mother wit are a enigma , but it does n’t seem to be refer topetere . A more potential theory is that it ’s tied to the Latinpetia , meaning “ objet d’art . ” )
Unkempt
the great unwashed were tidy , then they were well - kempt , and then ultimately they became unkempt . Kemptis an Old English password stand for “ combed ” ; it ’s the past participle of the verbkemb , “ to disentangle . ”Well - kempt—“having carefully combed hair , ” though more broadly “ of clean and tidy appearance”—first showed up in the written record in 1327 as a family name : “ Simone Welekempd . ”
Unkemptcame along the following one C and gained popularity during the 1500s . Early instances often refer to untidy fuzz or beard , but people quickly expand the reach to cover all tousled visual aspect . You could even practice it to describe inelegant speech . “ Thy offer base I greatly loth , / And eke thy language uncourteous and unkempt , ” a charactersaysin Edmund Spenser ’s 16th - century epic poemThe Faerie Queene . Kemptalone has endure over the centuries , and the Oxford Dictionary has yet to label it disused . But the term definitely has n’t thrived in the modern lexicon to the extent thatunkempthas .
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