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Index of selected themes

Biochemistry

Relating to the chemical and physico-chemical processes which occur within living organisms. See also Human body, Medicine and surgery.

Biological classes

The classification of living things into groups such as genus and family. See also Living world.

Chemical elements

The building blocks of matter. See also Substances.

Chemical radicals

Referring to groups of atoms that behave as a unit in a number of chemical compounds.

Colours

A surprisingly small group of terms for hues, both physical and organic.

Culture & society

A spectrum of words relating to the actions and activities of people in groups. See also Religion and spirit.

Diminutives

Implying smallness, either actual or imputed. See also Grammatical affixes.

Direction & movement

Physical movement or position is implied; for movement in time, see Time.

Gender

Indicating various qualities of maleness or femaleness or forming nouns with one of those qualities.

Grammatical affixes

Those prefixes and suffixes that change the part of speech or function of a word without significantly amending its meaning. See also Negatives and Diminutives.

Human body

A wide range of terms for organs and bodily processes. See also Medicine and surgery.

Knowledge

As a subject of study, a skill in a subject of study, or a compendium of knowledge.

Language & writing

Linguistics, varieties of language, or communication.

Living world

A broad category relating to both plants and animals. See also Biological classes.

Medicine & surgery

Diseases, conditions, injuries, infections, and medical techniques. See also Biochemistry and Human body.

Miscellaneous

A catch-all class.

Negatives

Grammatical prefixes indicating negation. See also Grammatical affixes.

Physical world

A broad collection of terms from earth science, astronomy, mineralogy and physics.

Places & peoples

Terms for geographical, cultural and religious groupings of peoples.

Position

Includes some affixes indicating size as well as relative position and qualities relating to position. See also Direction & movement.

Proportions

Affixes indicating qualities such as inequality, division, and relative size.

Qualities

Intangible characteristics ranging from beauty to newness, from correctness to speed. See also Sensations.

Religion & spirit

Worship, existence, and holiness.

Sensations

Physical sensations experienced by the body, such as pain, vision, heat or pressure. See also Qualities.

Shapes

This group includes affixes meaning crested, bent, circular, spiral or wheel-like.

Substances

A broad category that includes items like wood and silk as well as some foodstuffs such as milk or wine. See also Chemical elements and Chemical radicals.

Technology

Items here range from farming to computing and electronics to turbines.

Time

Relationships in time and periods of time.

Copyright © Michael Quinion 2008–. All rights reserved. Your comments are very welcome.