Hybrid word

The most common form of hybrid word in English combines Latin and Greek parts. Since many prefixes and suffixes in English are of Latin or Greek etymology, it is straightforward to add a prefix or suffix from one language to an English word that comes from a different language, thus creating a hybrid word.

Hybridisms were formerly often considered to be barbarisms.

• Aquaphobia – from Latin aqua "water" and Greek φοβία (phobia) "fear"; this term is distinguished from the non-hybrid word hydrophobia, which can refer to symptoms of rabies.
• Asexual – from Greek A "without" and the Latin sexus meaning "sex"
• Automobile – a wheeled passenger vehicle, from Greek αὐτός (autos) "self" and Latin mobilis "moveable"
• Beatnik – a 1950s counterculture movement centered on jazz music, coffeehouses, marijuana, and a literary movement, from English "beat" and Russian -nik "one who does"
• Biathlon – from the Latin bis meaning "twice" and the Greek ἆθλον (athlon) meaning "contest"; the non-hybrid word is diathlon
• Bigamy – from Latin bis meaning "twice" and Greek γάμος (gamos) meaning "wedlock"
• Bigram – from Latin bis meaning "twice" and Greek γράμμα (gramma); the non-hybrid word is digram
• Bioluminescence – from the Greek βίος (bios) "life" and the Latin lumen "light"
• Chocoholic – a portmanteau of "chocolate" (from the Nahuatl xocolātl/chocolātl) and "alcoholic", which itself was formed from the Arabic اَلْكُحُول (al-kuḥūl) "alcohol" and the French adjectival suffix -ic
• Claustrophobia – from the Latin claustrum meaning "confined space" and Greek φόβος (phobos) meaning "fear"
• Democide – from the Greek δῆμος (dēmos) "people" and the Latin -cida "-killer"
• Divalent – from Greek δύο (duo) meaning "two" and Latin valens meaning "strong"; the non-hybrid word is bivalent
• Dysfunction – from the Greek δυσ- (dys-) meaning "bad" and the Latin functio
• Eigenvalue, eigenvector etc. – from German eigen, meaning 'own' and English "value", "vector" etc.
• Electrocution – a portmanteau of electricity, from the Greek ἤλεκτρον (ēlektron), "amber", and execution, from the Latin exsequere, "follow out"
• Eusociality – from the Greek εὖ (eu) "good" and the Latin socialitas
• Genocide – From the Greek γένος (genos) meaning "race, people" and the Latin cīdere meaning "to kill"
• Geostationary – From Greek γῆ (gē) meaning "Earth" and the Latin stationarius, from statio, from stare meaning "to stand"
• Heteronormative – from Greek ἕτερος (heteros) meaning "different" or "other" and Latin nōrma (via French norme) meaning "norm"
• Heterosexual – from Greek ἕτερος (heteros) meaning "different" or "other" and Latin sexus meaning "sex"
• Hexadecimal – from Greek ἕξ (hex), meaning "six", and Latin decimus meaning "tenth"; the non-hybrid word is sedecimal, from Latin sedecimalis
• Hexavalent – from Greek ἕξ (hex), meaning "six", and Latin valens, meaning "strong"
• Homosexual – from the Greek ὁμός (homos) meaning "same" and the Latin sexus meaning "sex" (This example is remarked on in Tom Stoppard's The Invention of Love, with A. E. Housman's character saying "Homosexuals? Who is responsible for this barbarity?...It's half Greek and half Latin!".)
• Hyperactive – from Greek ὑπέρ (hyper) meaning "over" and Latin activus
• Hypercomplex – from Greek ὑπέρ (hyper) meaning "over" and Latin complexus meaning "an embrace"
• Hypercorrection – from Greek ὑπέρ (hyper) meaning "over" and Latin correctio
• Hyperextension – from Greek ὑπέρ (hyper) meaning "over" and Latin extensio meaning "stretching out"; the non-hybrid word is superextension
• Hypervisor – from the Greek ὑπέρ (hyper) meaning "over" and the Latin visor meaning "seer". This word is distinguished from the non-hybrid word supervisor, which is software that manages multiple user programs; a hypervisor is software that manages multiple virtual machines
• Liposuction – from the Greek λίπος (lipos) meaning "fat" and the Latin suctio meaning "sucking"
• Macroinstruction – from the Greek μακρος (makros) meaning "long" and the Latin instructio
• Mattergy – from the Latin materia ("material") and the Greek ἐνέργεια (energeia, "energy"): a "word for interchangeable matter and energy"[1][2][3][4] Adjectival form: "matergetic".
• Mega-annum – from the Greek μέγας (megas), meaning "large", and the Latin annum, "year"
• Meritocracy – From the Latin meritus meaning "deserved" and the Greek -κρατία (-kratia), meaning "government"
• Metadata – from the Greek μετά (meta) and the Latin data meaning "given" from dare
• Microinstruction – from the Greek μικρός (mikros) meaning "small" and the Latin instructio
• Microvitum – from the Greek μικρος (mikros) meaning "small" and the pseudo-Latin vitum, from vita meaning "life"
• Minneapolis – from the Dakota minne "water" and the Greek πόλις (pólis) "city"
• Monoculture – from the Greek μόνος (monos) meaning "one, single" and the Latin cultura
• Monolingual – from the Greek μόνος (monos) meaning "only" and the Latin lingua meaning "tongue"; the non-hybrid word is unilingual
• Multigraph – from the Latin multus "many" and the Greek γραφή (graphē); the non-hybrid word would be polygraph, but that is generally used with a different meaning
• Neonate – from the Greek νέος (neos), "new", and the Latin natus, "birth"
• Neuroscience – from the Greek νεῦρον (neuron), meaning "sinew", and the Latin scientia, from sciens, meaning "having knowledge"
• Neurotransmitter – from the Greek νεῦρον (neuron), meaning "sinew", and the Latin trans, meaning "across" and mittere meaning "to send"
• Nonagon – from the Latin nonus meaning "ninth" and the Greek γωνία (gōnia) meaning "angle"; the non-hybrid word is enneagon
• Oleomargarine – from the Latin oleum meaning "beef fat" and the Greek margarites meaning "pearl-like"
• Pandeism – from the Greek παν (pan) meaning "all" and Latin deus meaning "god"; compare with the non-hybrid word pantheism
• Periglacial – from the Greek περί (perí) and the Latin glaciālis
• Petroleum – from the Greek πέτρα (petra), meaning "rock", and the Latin oleum, meaning "oil"
• Polyamory – from the Greek πολύς (polýs) meaning "many" and the Latin amor meaning "love"
• Polydeism – from the Greek πολύς (polýs) meaning "many" and the Latin deus meaning "god"; compare with the non-hybrid word polytheism
• Quadraphonic – from the Latin quattuor meaning four and the Greek φωνικός (phōnikós), from φωνή (phōnḗ) meaning sound; the non-hybrid word is tetraphonic
• Quadriplegia – from the Latin quattuor meaning "four" and the Greek πληγή (plēgḗ) "stroke", from πλήσσειν (plḗssein) meaning "to strike"; the non-hybrid word is tetraplegia
• Sociology – from the Latin socius, "comrade", and the Greek λόγος (lógos) meaning "word", "reason", "discourse"
• Sociopath – from the Latin socius from sociare meaning "to associate with", and the Greek (-pathes) meaning "sufferer" from πάθος páthos meaning "incident", "suffering", or "experience"
• Television – from the Greek τῆλε (tēle) meaning "far" and the Latin visio meaning "seeing", from videre meaning "to see"
• Tonsillectomy – from the Latin tonsillae "tonsils" and the Greek εκτέμνειν (ektémnein), "to cut out"
• Vexillology – from the Latin word vexillum, meaning "flag", and the Greek suffix -λογία (-logia), meaning "study"

• Classical compound
• International scientific vocabulary
• List of Greek and Latin roots in English
• Phono-semantic matching
• In Sino-Japanese vocabulary, hybrid words are called jūbako (重箱) or yutō (湯桶); see: Kanji § Other readings