1. Air borne
2. Anti social
3. Audio visual
4. Back log
5. Blood pressure
6. Book keeping
7. Bull’s eye
8. By law
9. Catch all
10. Check book
11. Child like
12. Clearing house
13. Court martial
14. Crew neck
15. Cross reference
16. Dog sled
17. Father land
18. Far reaching
19. First hand
20. Free style
21. Freeze dried
22. Fresh water
23. Go between
24. Great uncle
25. Half brother
26. High school
27. Higher ups
28. House hold
29. Inter agency
30. Key word
31. Jewel like
32. Land mass
33. Life size
34. Light year
35. Long term
36. Lower case
37. Main frame
38. Mass produced
39. Mid week
40. Mother ship
41. Multi purpose
42. Near collision
43. North west
44. Off shore
45. On site
46. Over supply
47. Pine cone
48. Pipe line
49. Policy maker
50. Post war
51. Pre existing
52. President elect
53. Pro life
54. Pseudo intellectual
55. Quasi realistic
56. Real time
57. Record breaker
58. River bed
59. Sea coast
60. Self control
61. Semi final
62. Shell like
63. Six pack
64. Snow melt
65. Socio economics
66. Step mother
67. Stomach ache
68. Strong hold
69. Toll free
70. Two fold
71. Under water
72. Vice president
73. Wild life
74. World wide
75. Year round

Answers

1. Airborne
2. Antisocial
3. Audiovisual
4. Backlog
5. Blood pressure (in the dictionary, so never hyphenate, except when combined with another adjective, as in “high-blood-pressure medication”)
6. Bookkeeping
7. Bull’s-eye
8. Bylaw
9. Catchall
10. Checkbook
11. Childlike
12. Clearinghouse
13. Court-martial
14. Crew neck (in the dictionary, so never hyphenate)
15. Cross-reference
16. Dogsled
17. Fatherland
18. Far-reaching
19. Firsthand
20. Freestyle
21. Freeze-dried
22. Freshwater
23. Go-between
24. Great-uncle
25. Half brother (in the dictionary, so never hyphenate)
26. High school (in the dictionary, so never hyphenate)
27. Higher-ups
28. Household
29. Interagency
30. Keyword
31. Jewel-like (because of the collision of two ls)
32. Landmass
33. Life-size
34. Light-year
35. Long term (hyphenate only when the phrase modifies a following noun)
36. Lowercase
37. Mainframe
38. Mass-produced
39. Midweek
40. Mother ship (in the dictionary, so never hyphenate)
41. Multipurpose
42. Near collision (hyphenate only when the phrase modifies a following noun)
43. Northwest
44. Offshore
45. On-site
46. Oversupply
47. Pinecone
48. Pipeline
49. Policymaker (not in the dictionary, but other -maker constructions, such as winemaker, are closed; if it looks wrong, leave it open)
50. Postwar
51. Preexisting
52. President-elect
53. Pro-life
54. Pseudo-intellectual (not in the dictionary, bust pseudo- constructions in which the second word starts with a vowel, such as pseudo-event, are hyphenated; those in which the second word starts with a consonant, such as pseudopod, are closed)
55. Quasirealistic (not in the dictionary, but most quasi- constructions, such as quasiperiodic, are closed; it if it looks wrong, hyphenate it)
56. Real time (hyphenate only when the phrase modifies a following noun)
57. Record breaker (not in the dictionary, but all other compounds with breaker, such as “circuit breaker,” are open)
58. Riverbed
59. Seacoast
60. Self-control
61. Semifinal
62. Shell-like (hyphenate only because of the collision of the ls)
63. Six-pack
64. Snowmelt
65. Socioeconomics
66. Stepmother
67. Stomachache
68. Stronghold
69. Toll free (hyphenate when the phrase modifies a following noun)
70. Twofold (but hyphenate with a number, as in 10-fold)
71. Underwater
72. Vice president (always open, though other compounds containing vice, such as vice-regent and viceroy, are treated differently)
73. Wildlife
74. Worldwide
75. Year-round

Scoring guide

0-25 correct: Always look it up.
26-50 correct: Always look it up.
51-75 correct: Always look it up.

1. Aegis: Originally the name of a shield associated with Zeus and Athena, the word later came to mean any protective shield or garment signifying that one was under divine protection. The meaning now extends to protection in general, as well as influence, sponsorship, or guidance.

2. Aerie: This word for an eagle’s nest lends itself well to the description or name of a mountain fastness.

3. Aether: This is a variant of ether, which refers to practically to an organic compound but also has figurative and theoretical connotations as well as denoting an element once thought to constitute outer space. In this sense, “the aether” is synonyms with “the heavens.” The adjectival form is aethereal, one of the most elegant words I know.

4. Brae: A Scots term (from a Norse word for “eyelid”) referring to a hillside, especially one overlooking a river. Many words in Scots, such as naething for nothing and waeful for woeful, indicate how their pronunciation of English words diverges.

5. Caesura: A caesura is a break or interruption, especially a rhythmic or rhetorical pause in poetry.

6. Chimaera: Originally the name of a specific mythical creature consisting of anatomical features of various real animals or of similar beings such as centaurs, this word, often in the modern form chimera, is used in science to refer to an organism with genetically distinct cells. It also applies, in architectural, to such decorative yet practical features as rain spouts in the form of gargoyles or other imaginary or actual animals. But perhaps its most interesting usage is to denote an illusion, fantasy, or fancy.

7. Daemon: This archaic spelling of demon invokes its original pre-Christian sense of “soul.” (Philip Pullman used it in his remarkable His Dark Materials fantasy trilogy to refer to human souls manifested as familiar-like animals.)

8. Faerie: This word, often capitalized, refers to the realm of the fairies and/or other supernatural beings, into which unsuspecting and often unfortunate mortals are often lured. The origin of the word is the Latin term fata, referring to the Fates, who in classical mythology determined one’s destiny.

9. Jaeger: This word meaning “hunter,” also sometimes referring to elite soldiers, is spelled jäger in its native German.

10. Lacunae: This is the plural form of lacuna, Latin for “gap” as well as “pit” and pool (ultimately from lacus, “lake,” and the source of the word lagoon). It refers to an omitted segment or a period of silence, as well as a space in or a lack of something. As such, it alludes to the mystery of the missing.

11. Maelstrom: This word for an often permanent whirlpool capable of drowning people and swallowing small watercraft but not larger vessels (literally, “mill stream” — with mill in the sense of grinding) evokes calamity and diabolical forces.

12. Phaeton: The name of the ill-fated son of Helios, the Greek sun god, who burned out when he took his father’s sun-chariot for a joyride, was employed in Victorian times to refer to a type of carriage. The word’s highfalutin airs makes it a suitable ironic appellation for a junky jalopy or a humble farmer’s wagon.

These and other terms that include ae can inspire new nomenclature for fiction writers or provide allusive opportunities.

Here are the ins and outs of in- and un- and their like, and details about their distinctions:

1-2. A-/An-

These Greek-derived prefixes mark words expressing an absence of something (atypical, anodyne). A- is attached to words starting with consonants, and an- is the form for words beginning with vowels. An exception is words beginning with h; depending on the root word, either prefix may be present (ahistorical, anhydrous).

3. Anti-

Anti-, from Greek by way of Latin, means “opposite” (antithetical) or “in opposition to” (antivirus), and can also denote defense (antisubmarine) or prevention (antidepressant).

4. Dis-

This Latin prefix, when attached to a word, implies one of several meanings: absence (disaffected) or lack (disabled), opposition (disapprove), or removal (disenfranchise).

5. In-

In- and its several variations, all signaling Latin derivation, also denote lack of a given quality. The variations il- and -ir are attached to words starting with l or r (illogical, irreversible). Im-, meanwhile, precedes m (immaterial) and p (impatient) and the lone example for b: imbalance. The rare prefix ig- sometimes comes before n (ignoble). In- appears before root words beginning with all other letters.

6. Non-

This Latin negative prefix is the least particular of the class, and can often be found attached to root words so that the resulting term differs in meaning from one formed by the attachment of another negative prefix to the same root word. For example, nonrational means “not according to rational means or rules,” but unrational refers to behavior that does not conform to these norms. The nonparticular non- is the go-to negative prefix for neologisms.

7. Un-

By contrast with the other negative prefixes, the attachment of this Latin-based form to a root word can, in addition to expressing lack or absence (unconcern), denote a reversal (uncoiled). It can also refer to an action not yet taken (unopened).

Other Usage Notes

The presence of negative prefixes can lead to awkward constructions such as “nonhearing-impaired people.” The easy solution in such cases is to relax the phrase: “people who are not hearing impaired.”

Note, too, that with most prefixes, the insertion of a hyphen is the exception, not the rule. Prefixed words should be closed except when the root word is a proper noun (non-Euclidean) or in the rare case when confusion with a similarly constructed but distinct word is possible (un-ionized and unionized, for example).

Wags have great fun with humorous poems and other compositions featuring invented examples of antonyms for unpaired words (words with negative prefixes that do not have antonyms), such as ept to contrast with inept – which actually has an etymological counterpart in apt — or ruth in opposition to ruthless.

1. A capella: The Italian phrase, literally “in chapel style” but meaning “without instrumental accompaniment,” is two words.

2. Apropos: The French phrase for “to the purpose,” and meaning “with regard to” or “opportune” or timely,” is treated as two words in the original language but as one in English. It’s sometimes erroneously split into two in English, which is not appropriate.

3. Capisce: This formal Italian term meaning “understand” is employed in English as a slang interrogative equivalent to “You know what I mean?” (Notice that capisci is also correct, as it’s the equivalent of capisce in the second person).

4. Chaise longue: This phrase, literally “long chair” in French, is often mispronounced “chase lounge” (the correct French pronunciation is “shez long,” though the vowel sound in the first word is in English closer to “shayz”) and, by association, the second word is sometimes misspelled like “lounge.”

5. Coffee klatch: This half-translation of the German word Kaffeeklatsch (“coffee gossip”) is an open compound (or, in a variant, more faithful spelling, a hyphenated compound: coffee-klatsch).

6. De rigueur: This French word for “proper,” adopted into English, is (like liqueur) properly spelled with two us.

7. En masse: This French phrase for “as one” is one of several adopted into English as is.

8. Flak: This German acronym — derived from Fliegerabwehrkanonen, or antiaircraft guns, and, by extension, the shells fired from them, and used in English to refer to criticism or opposition — has so often been misspelled flack that this second spelling is now an accepted variant, though the direct borrowing is preferred.

9. Hors d’oeuvres: The jumble of vowels following the article d’ in this direct borrowing from the French phrase meaning “apart from the main work” stymies many writers.

10. Laissez-faire: This direct translation of the French phrase translated roughly as “let do” and referring to minimal government interference in economic or other affairs is always hyphenated, even when used as a noun.

11. Mano a mano: This Spanish phrase for “hand to hand” refers, in English as well, to two people going up against each other in competition or conflict.

12. Oeuvre: The French term for “work,” most often used in the sense of the sum total of an artist’s output, consists of a bewildering sequence of letters.

13. Per se: People unfamiliar with the origin of this phrase (it’s borrowed directly from the Latin phrase meaning “in itself”) sometimes misspell it “per say” (perhaps as if to write “as said”).

14. Segue: Confusion with the name of the vehicle called the Segway may be responsible for the occasional misspelling of this word to resemble the brand name, though that error may just be the result of a phonetic attempt to produce the borrowed French term meaning “to make a close or smooth transition.”

15. Tchotchke: This improbably spelled alteration of a Yiddish word meaning “trinket” is a spelling bee competitor’s nightmare.

1. Ad: In formal writing, the full form, advertisement, is usually employed.

2. Bra: This clipped form of brassiere, from the French word for “bodice” (its euphemistic meaning: “arm protector”), has supplanted the longer form in all but the most stiffly formal writing.

3. Burger: If ever a reference to this fast food staple makes its way into formal writing, the short form of hamburger is just as likely to appear as the long form.

4. Bus: Omnibus (Latin for “all”), a word for a horse-drawn public-transportation conveyance, gave the right of way to its short form around the time such vehicles became motorized.

5. Copter: The full form, helicopter, is best for formal writing.

6. Deli: Though this word has been in use for at least a half century, delicatessen, from the German word for “delicacies,” is best for formal usage.

7. Exam: Examination was clipped back in the late 1800s and has long since been used even in formal writing.

8. Flu: The short form of influenza (Italian for “influence,” from the medieval supposition that illness was the result of celestial perturbations) is several hundred years old and has long been acceptable even in formal medical texts.

9. Fridge: This term, unusual not only in that the full form, refrigerator, has been clipped at both ends but also in that the spelling has been altered to reflect the pronunciation, is suitable for informal writing only.

10. Gas: Gasoline is much more likely to appear in formal writing than its clipped form.

11. Gator: This clipped form of alligator, in spite of its nearly 200-year-old tenure in the English language, is considered slang.

12. Gym: Most formal references to a school building for athletic activities will use the full form, gymnasium, which many patrons might be amused to learn stems from the Greek word for “naked,” because athletes in ancient Greece trained and competed nude. Because Greek gymnasiums were centers of intellectual education as well, the full term is often used in Europe to refer to what might in the United States be called a preparatory school (which, by the way, has its own clipped form: “prep school”).

13. Memo: So pervasive is this clipped form of memorandum that many people may not even know its origins. (The full word ultimately derives from the Latin for “memory.”)

14. Movie: Even more taken for granted than memo is this diminutive form of “moving picture,” which, if you step back from it, may appear silly looking and juvenile. Formal writing often refers to the medium as film or cinema, but movie is also acceptable.

15. Phone: The original term, telephone, is still often used in formal writing, but the clipped form is just as likely to be used.

16. Plane: Plane has become as acceptable as airplane in formal writing.

17. Pro: Professional, the full form, is the preferred usage in formal contexts.

18. Quake: This clipped form of earthquake is, despite long usage, still considered informal.

19. Tie: The full form, necktie, is all but obsolete. (Perhaps the clothing accessory will be, too, before long.)

20. Typo: This slang for “typographical error” is over a century old but is still considered substandard usage.