I like it, not just for the meaning but visually, the letters. Something about that "-id" ending, which seems a bit unusual for an adjective. And yet, if you go looking, you'll find a lot.Some of my favorites: fetid, flaccid, florid, gelid, horrid, insipid, intrepid, languid, limpid, livid, lucid, lurid, morbid, pallid, placid, putrid, sordid, stolid, stupid, torrid, trepid, turbid, vivid.I looked up the "-id" ending in the OED and I got this strange response:
Scarcely a living formative! That sounded odd, but I do get it. It means you can't use it anymore to form an adjective. It's not like, say, "-ful" or "-able."
And, in fact, "-id" was never a living formative in English. The "-id" adjectives arrived into English with that ending already attached.
I could make up the word "grokable" or "grokful" — this post raised a grokable question, and it's admittedly grokful (and grokky and grokish) — but I can't foist "grokid" on you. That would be stupid. Because "-id" is not a living formative.
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Chambermaid
That's a noun.
torpid, vapid....
Rabid. Yes, wonderful words. They all seem to carry an extra oomph to them.
Weird how so many of the -id words are negative and disgusting!
You forgot "rancid."
(Rancid is a great punk band, by the way, very similar to the Clash, at least vocally).
I don't like that word "flaccid" at all. Although, if I went around rock hard all the time, that would really suck.
Maybe flaccid is underrated. So to speak.
When I was young, I'd often look in the mirror and chant "grokid, grokid, grokid".
Ooh, I found a vocabulary page.
I know what you're going to say.
Rapid! Splendid!
Also acid, acrid, and tepid. All common Latin adjectives with their inflectional endings removed, as you will see if you look up ‘acidus’, ‘acridus’, and so on on Logeion - I’ve typed in the URL four times, but the fucking software has ‘corrected’ it every time, so you’ll have to Bing it.
Are you flaccid, rigid, or hybrid?
Turgid.
Vapid
Did we do squalid?
Also, eek, frigid. I hate frigid! Big fan of torrid.
"We started off torrid and ended up squalid, frigid, and flaccid."
I think we're diving into my Id with these damn -id words.
Asked AI for a more tepid sounding list...
Arid
Fluid
Gelid
Humid
Hybrid
Lucid
Rapid
Solid
Stolid
Tepid
Torpid
Valid
Vivid
@SaintCroix: Can we convert "id" into "idid"?
‘hybrid’, though Latin, is an exception: it comes from a noun (‘hybrida’) that originally meant a cross between a wild boar and a domesticated swine, and was then used by analogy of other cross-breeds, human and animal.
Merriam Webster: "Don't be afraid to use trepid. After all, it has been in the English language for more than 350 years—longer, by 30 years, than its antonym intrepid. Trepid (from Latin trepidus, meaning "alarmed" or "agitated") isn't used as much as intrepid, but it can be a good word at times.
Writer Bill Kaufman, for example, found a use for it in a Newsday article, in which an aquarium volunteer is "asked if she is perhaps a little trepid about swimming with sharks in a 12-foot deep, 120,000 gallon tank." (Her fearless reply: "Not really.") The more intrepid among you might even consider using trepidate for "to tremble with fear" and trepidant, meaning "timid" or "trembling." These are uncommon words, granted, but they haven't breathed their last."
"Ann Althouse said... Some of my favorites: ...flaccid..."
Poor Meade
You can like a word without liking what it connotes. Many of the most exciting words refer to something bad.
Intrepid Peter carried a sword.
"Peter's sword was not a weapon for personal protection but rather a symbol of his role as one of Jesus' closest disciples. The sword was used during the arrest of Jesus, and Peter's action was a response to the situation, reflecting his understanding of Jesus' mission and the nature of His kingdom. The sword symbolizes the temptation to resort to violence in the face of conflict, as seen in the incident where Peter struck the servant of the high priest. Jesus' rebuke of Peter serves as a profound teaching moment, emphasizing the principle of non-violence and the fulfillment of divine purpose. The sword also highlights the contrast between worldly and divine approaches to power and authority, as well as the call for trust in God's plan and rejection of worldly methods of achieving justice."
I kid you not.
Many of these are things which are bad, like "stupid" or "horrid." How about "gravid," ordinarily considered a good thing, especially in our reproductively-deficient societies.
An idiotic discussion.
That was a joke...
rancor, liquor, fervor, rigor, stupor, vapor ...
Jupiter at 1:17 is interesting. Rancor/Rancid; Liquor/Liquid; Fervor/Fervid; Rigor/Rigid; Stupor/Stupid; Vapor/Vapid.
I would not have made the connection - thanks!
I see your "fervid" and raise you "perfervid."
It's "fervid" but more perferse.
From the American Heritage Dictionary:
"-id, suff.
1. One belonging to a specified dynastic line: Abbasid.
2.
a. Meteor associated with or appearing to radiate from a specified constellation or comet: Perseid.
b. Member of a class of stars typified by a certain star in a specified constellation: Cepheid.
3. Organism belonging to a specified taxonomic group, often a family having a name ending in -idae according to taxonomic principles or a class or other taxon having a name ending in -idae: cichlid, magnoliid.
[Latin -idēs, from Greek[ιδησ], patronymic suffix. Senses 2 and 3, from New Latin -idae, from plural of Latin -idēs.]"
"Chambermaid"
"That's a noun."
Think of it as an -id adjective, meaning chambermaid-like.
"Flaccid" has such ugly connotations. Best to avoid it.
The id ending is useful in Scrabble.
Borid.
"Borid."
Close. Horror.
>Because "-id" is not a living formative.<
Words that have the suffix "-id" are common, useful, and definitely living in medical vernacular.
Living Formative is going to be the name of my next rock band.
Covid
Ibid.
It's the End of the Word as We Know It.
Parsing language, words, and here word endings with id, the best of the best to me, on Althouse.
"Jupiter at 1:17 is interesting. Rancor/Rancid; Liquor/Liquid; Fervor/Fervid; Rigor/Rigid; Stupor/Stupid; Vapor/Vapid. I would not have made the connection - thanks!"
Great observation. But these things happened in French/Latin. The words came into English already formed. It remains true that "-id" is not a living formative. You can't make a new word with "-id" the way you can with things like "-ful," "-able," "-y," and "-ish."
Great post.
Squid is not an adjective. But it could be! "Get that squid woman off me."
I'd like two tickets for Squid People, please.
Isn't 'hominid' of recent coinage? I suppose you could call an orangutan a 'hominish,' but it sounds rather unscientific.
Tim Walz has tentacles and he's a Squid Man.
To echo Monty Python, they're very nice woody words.
Well, Freud gave us “Id” some I guess we make the mot of it
Something I wondered 50 years.ago: is "ovoid" an id word?
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