Janus Words
When sitting with an editor cutting a video or commercial, I always find it interesting that the word “render” can mean both to join and to disassemble. (“The computer needs to render all these changes.” “These cattle are off to the rendering plant.”) Turns out there are a lot of words that are their own antonym. Sometimes called Janus words, contronyms or auto-antonyms, it’s just further proof that English is a very strange language. Here, a few examples.
Bolt: to fasten/secure; to flee
We bolt the door at night.
The cat bolted away.
Clip: to attach; to cut
She clipped the pages together to stop any from getting lost.
The hairdresser clipped a little too much of my hair off.
Dust: to remove dust; to add (metaphorical) dust
He made sure to dust the house before his parents came to visit.
He dusted the cake with icing sugar.
Fine: excellent; satisfactory
There’s supposed to be fine weather on Saturday.
The siblings had a fine relationship but they were by no means good friends.
Left: to go away from; remaining
They left the party early.
They were the last ones left at the party.
Seed: to sow seeds, to remove seeds
It is important to seed plants at the right time of year so that they can grow in the best conditions.
Chop and seed the chillies before adding them to the sauce.
Strike: to hit/succeed; to miss/fail
They struck gold.
He struck out.
Transparent: invisible/see-through; apparent/obvious
We visited a beautiful beach with transparent waters.
Her expression made her views transparent.
Trim: to decorate/adorn; to cut away excess
Each year the family gathers to trim the Christmas tree.
The gardener trims the hedges frequently.
Weather: to withstand; to deteriorate
The ship is built to weather a storm.
The cliffs have weathered over the years.