{"id":5843,"date":"2016-12-30T10:15:00","date_gmt":"2016-12-30T15:15:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/english\/?p=5843"},"modified":"2021-12-06T13:52:07","modified_gmt":"2021-12-06T18:52:07","slug":"what-is-a-janus-word","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/english\/what-is-a-janus-word\/","title":{"rendered":"What is a Janus Word?"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Photo by efes on Pixabay<\/p><\/div>\n

Every so often you, as a student of English, will encounter a word in a sentence that will seem utterly confusing. You\u2019re going to think that it contradicts your understanding of that word\u2019s meaning. Not to worry. There are, in fact, words with completely opposing definitions. Words which have two opposite meanings aren\u2019t common in English, but they do occur. And, oddly enough, their number is growing.<\/p>\n

Consider, for example, the word fast<\/strong>. You probably think of it as an adjective describing speed, or acceleration: \u201cThat car was going too fast around that corner.\u201d But it may also mean fixed in place, or unmoving: \u201cShe held fast to her hat in the wind.\u201d<\/p>\n

These words are known variously as contronyms<\/strong>, antagonyms<\/strong>, auto-antonyms<\/strong>, or my personal favorite, Janus words<\/strong> \u2013 named for the two-headed Roman god. Whichever term you choose, they can easily drive you to scratch your head in puzzlement.<\/p>\n

Many languages contain a few Janus words. Hebrew<\/a>, for example, has le\u2019kales<\/strong>, meaning to both praise and to defame, and\u00a0le\u2019sakel<\/strong>\u00a0which means both to throw stones at somebody and to remove rocks from a field or garden. I can\u2019t say that English has more Janus words than any other language, but it probably has more common examples of them.<\/p>\n

Janus words tend to develop out of a kind of etymological<\/strong> evolution, or gradual morphing from the word\u2019s traditional meaning to its now more common usage. Take, for example, the word clip<\/strong>. \u201cI\u2019m going to clip this coupon from the newspaper.\u201d It comes from the Middle English clippen<\/em><\/strong>, or the Old Norse klippa<\/em><\/strong>, both from the same time period, around 1200 AD, and both meaning to cut. But prior to 1000 AD, there was an Old English word clyppan<\/em><\/strong>, which meant \u201cto embrace\u201d. With the invention of the paperclip, originally around 1875 but coming into prominent use in the 1960s, the word suddenly took on a new meaning. A paperclip attaches two cut, or separate, pieces of paper. This was shortened to clip, becoming a verb meaning to attach: \u201cI\u2019m going to clip this button to my blouse.\u201d Incredibly, the word now has reverted to its oldest etymological derivation!<\/p>\n

This progression of Janus words through the English language shows no signs of stopping. Common usage and the endless employment of idioms in our culture will see to that. Bad<\/strong> may have a negative connotation, as in \u201cHe ate a bad hotdog, and now he\u2019s sick.\u201d Or it may mean quite the opposite: \u201cMan that was one bad guitar solo!\u201d<\/p>\n

Grammarians<\/strong>, who judge people on their use of grammar, may cringe when someone says \u201cThat song literally blew my head off.\u201d Of course, it didn\u2019t. You\u2019re still around to talk about it. Literally means to take something in a literal, or strict and exact, way. Yet, everywhere you go, people are using literally<\/strong> informally to mean figuratively<\/strong>, which is the literal<\/strong> opposite of literally<\/strong>! Now, every time you hear someone say that you can picture Janus, the two-headed god. That way, if one head blows off, there\u2019s still another one left behind.<\/p>\n

Just as with homonyms<\/a>, Janus words shouldn\u2019t cause any major confusion. The context of the word in the sentence is usually all you need to understand its meaning. Still, in the interest of public information (and just plain fun), here\u2019s a partial list of some Janus words which you will likely encounter.<\/p>\n