Learn Something New: Contronym

Semper Discentes — always learning together.

At SLO Classical Academy we love Latin and you’ll come across this particular Latin phrase often because it encompasses our mission to nurture a life-long passion for learning. It is a valuable reminder that we are not on this educational journey simply for our kids’ benefit and growth, but ours as well. Even though we are grown-up and our school days may be in the past, there’s always more to be learned. So, what have you been learning lately? This Friday we thought we’d learn something new together.

Now you’ve probably heard of antonyms and homonyms, but are you familiar with a contronym? Well, if so, congrats! If not, let’s learn something new. Merriam Webster defines contronym as a word having two meanings that contradict one another. Or as Grammarly explains it, “a contronym is a word with a homonym (another word with the same spelling but different meaning) that is also an antonym (a word with the opposite meaning).”

Sometimes…the same word ends up with contradictory meanings. This kind of word is called a contronym. Sanction, for instance, can either signify permission to do something or a measure forbidding it to be done. Cleave can mean cut in half or stick together. A sanguine person is either hotheaded and bloodthirsty or calm and cheerful. Something that is fast is either stuck firmly or moving quickly.— Bill Bryson, The Mother Tongue, 1990

And just to make things even more interesting, a contronym can also be called an antagonym, auto-antonym, or Janus word.

Why “Janus word”? Well, Janus was the ancient Roman god of doorways, beginnings and endings, the rising and setting of the sun, as well as a few other things, and he was usually represented as having one head with two faces back to back, looking in opposite directions, towards the future and the past. So a contronym is like a two-faced word? Perhaps. 

Now that you know what a contronym is, can you think of any? Here’s a list to help you get started: 75 Contronyms. 

Share this definition with your kid(s) and have fun this summer identifying contronyms and learning together! Amelia Bedilia books are an excellent place to start as Amelia Bedilia’s troubles are often caused by her misunderstanding of contronyms, homonyms, and homophones — like when she is told to “dust” the living room! 

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