233 Bratisl Lek Listy 2007; 108 (45): 233236 DEBATE AND EDUCATION Seemingly or Partially Negative Prefixes in Medical English. Dzuganova B Foreign Language Department, Jessenius Faculty of Medicine, Comenius University, Martin, Slovakia Address for correspondence: B. Dzuganova, Dr, PhD, Foreign Lan- guage Dept, Jessenius Faculty of Medicine, Comenius University, Zaborskeho 2, SK-036 45 Martin, Slovakia. Phone: +421.43.4134982 Foreign Language Department, Jessenius Faculty of Medicine, Comenius University, Martin, Slovakia. dzuganova@jfmed.uniba.sk Abstract In this article we will try to find out if the prefixes anti-, contra-, counter-, de-, dys-, ex-, extra-, mal- can negate the words they combine with (Ref. 9). Full Text (Free, PDF) www.bmj.sk. Key words: negative prefixes, reversative prefixes, partial negation. This article is a continuation of the previous article about negative affixes in medical English. The combining words anti-, contra-, counter-, de-, dys-, ex-, extra-, mal- are put to negative prefixes by some English language users. Here we will to ask if they are really able to negate in some way the words they con- nect with. To find this out, we have decided to arrange them into an independent group and to define them independently from the main negative prefixes (a-, dis-, in-, non-, un-). They are arranged in alphabetic order. The first one is the pr efix anti-. It goes back to Old Greek anti meaning counter, opposite, instead found in loans such as antipodes, antiphon, antithesis, antidote, etc., which came into English either directly from Greek or indirectly through Latin. The Old Greek prefix was used with verbs and deverbal nouns, a usage that has not been imitated in English. The Greek word antichristos, which passed into English as antichrist, is consid- ered to be the first anti- word in English and has become the archetype for the whole group of words belonging to the reli- gious sphere and denoting the rival candidate of the opposite party: antipope, anti-creator, anti-Messiah, antigod, anti-apostle, anti-religion, anti-priest etc. Later the prefix anti- was also used with other words e.g. anti-duke, anti-creation, anti-music, anti- poison, anti-hero, where the implication is that of spurious or of the reverse kind. Many of these words are no longer in use. (Marchand, 1960). Nowadays anti- means opposed to a particular system or practice or to a particular group of people or their policies, cul- ture, or power. It expresses for example someones negative anti-American, anti-British, anticlerical, anti-capitalist, anticom- munist, antidemocratic, antifascist(ic), anti-governmental, anti- racist, anti-religious, anti-social, anti-war attitude. In medical English it means intended to prevent something from happening or to destroy something harmful, e.g. anti- cancer, anti-infection, anti-seasickness, antibacterial, antifun- gal, anti-nuclear etc (The American Heritager Book of English Usage). It is added to nouns, adjectives. In the majority of words the prefix anti- is written with a hyphen. Those words, which have already become a part of specialized terminology, are written without a hyphen such as antialbumin, antianemic, antiapoplectic, antiarrhythmic, antiarthritic, antiasthematic, antibiotics, antibody, anticarcinogen(ic), antigen, antiseptic, antitoxin in medicine; antielectron, antineutron, antiparticle, antiproton, antimatter in nuclear physics; antifunction in math- ematics; antipole in geography and electricity. While in medi- cine it has meaning against, in other sciences it means oppo- site, e.g. antielectron is an electron with opposite charge; antifunction is an inverse function, and antipole means an op- posite pole (southern to northern in geography, or positive to negative in electricity). Beside the political sphere (anti-administration, anti-immi- gration, anti-labor, anti-slavery, anti-war), the prefix is used in chemical and medical terms with the meaning counteractive, neutralizing, preventive of anti-catarral, antifebrile, anti- hypnotics, anti-hysteric, anti-sudorific, anti-pleuretic, anti- pyretic, anti-convulsive, anti-hydropic, anti-bacterial, anti-diph- theritic, anti-neuritic, anti-pestilential, antirachitic etc. (Marchand, 1960:95). The prefix anti- is very well recognizable and its meaning is so clear that it is frequently used to make up new words. For