Let me be clearer about my previous post. Habille may be the linguistic opposite of dishabille, but it may not really exist, just as you never see "heveled" used as the opposite of "disheveled," "gruntled" as the opposite of "disgruntled," or "kempt" as the opposite of "unkempt."
--- In [email protected], "David Patch" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > --- In [email protected], "Ellen" <ellengoodman6@> > wrote: > > > > are clearly WAY smarter than me. Today I learned 3 new words! > > sebum--the stuff that causes oily hair and skin (lovely, right?) > > threnody--an elegy > > dishabille--dressed casually or carelessly > > > > Funny thing, the contest was to create portmanteau words and someone > > created "yiddishabille," and I wasn't even sure if the original word > > was "dishabille" or "shabille"--that is how unfamiliar I was with it. > > I guess it's like "disheveled"? Shabille doesn't exist, so I figured > > it must be dishabille. This is why I don't enter this contest--I > > wouldn't stand a chance. More power to these people who are > > apparently experts in the field of obscure words. > > The opposite of dishabille is probably habille. It's a cognate for a > French word meaning the same thing. > > It may not be familiar to it, but it would appear to be derived from > the same linguistic root as "disheveled". > > David Patch > (Word Geek) >
