23/017 Greek Word

επαναχρησιμοποιήσιμος – a 10-syllable monster that means ‘reusable’.

A Greek advert for the ‘braless bra’ crops up on my Twitter/X feed. I don’t know why as most of my tweets (now posts) relate to Ireland.

Apart from the length of the word, it is noteworthy that the prefix επανα- and the suffix ιμος correspond reliably with re- and -able in English.

I read recently that there was to be an επανακαταμέτρηση (recount) in one of our local municipalities.

Other examples are

επανένωση – reunification (I hope to live long enough to see the reunification of Ireland)

επαναπροσλαμβάνω – rehire

επαναδιαπραγμάτευση – renegotiation

For -ιμος we have

φαγώσιμος – edible

εκπαιδεύσιμος – educable

εξελίξιμος – trainable/teachable (in the context I heard it)

διασώσιμος – savable

I like the last three. They remind me of Billy Connolly, a Glaswegian comedian, reminiscing about his school days. His class, allegedly, was divided into three groups: the kids of prosperous working-class/lower middle-class parents; the feral who ate raw meat; and in the middle sat his group, which he described as ‘stupid but savable’. He meant ‘educable’.

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