why are terrible and horrible basically the same thing but horrific and terrific are basically the opposite

Question

English will never be something I fully understand

In: 9830

Answer 1

That’s becuse of all the history and varied influences in English. Wait till you hear awful (coming from full of awe).

Another funny example is inflammable. It means yes it can catch flame, but uses “in-” prefix which can mean the opposite of (direct vs indirect). But the “in” in this case is from Latin which means “in/into”, so “to put into flame”

But in everyday use, nobody tries to understand words from etymology. You can, but you’d have to know which language the influence came from, which is just asking for trouble.