Shared Prefixes #2

Each pair of words starts with the same prefix. Guess the prefix.
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Last updated: December 4, 2019
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First submittedOctober 4, 2011
Times taken49,471
Average score52.4%
Rating4.23
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Words
Pyrotechnic, Pyromaniac
Bicycle, Biped
Zooplankton, Zookeeper
Miniskirt, Minivan
Democracy, Demography
Malodorous, Malfeasance
Contraband, Contraception
Neolithic, Neonatal
Geothermal, Geodesic
Multicultural, Multigrain
Interchange, Interloper
Stepladder, Stepbrother
Downgrade, Downtrodden
Foreground, Forefather
Amphitheater, Amphibious
Synapse, Syntax
Nonfactor, Nondairy
Circumscribe, Circumnavigate
Counterpunch, Counterweight
Dismount, Disrobe
Telegram, Telecommute
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37 Comments
+4
Level 94
Oct 5, 2011
What about deband and deception?
+2
Level 82
Oct 14, 2020
Deband not a word (although debanding is)
+5
Level ∞
Oct 5, 2011
I actually used a computer program to generate these, so it's unlikely that there are any oversights. Deband isn't in my dictionary. Are you thinking of disband?
+3
Level 20
Oct 6, 2011
How could I not get Miniskirt and Minivan?! :(
+3
Level 60
Oct 13, 2011
Dammit! Wrote 'amphi' without the h..
+1
Level 56
May 26, 2014
I read dairy as "diary", and I had no word that ended in "diary", let alone one that matched with factor.
+3
Level 75
Feb 15, 2016
"Holy ground" and "holy father" anyone? Although I do know it's not an acceptable answer, I had to try.
+3
Level 88
Mar 22, 2016
I tried it too! Though I have to admit, those are both two-word phrases.
+2
Level 66
Mar 29, 2016
Flashed to SpongeBob to think of something having to do with Plankton and I never seen one episode of plankton in a zoo.

But, I did seen an episode of Futurama with the ZooKeeper. The point I am trying to make, or the take-away from all of this, The bullet point if you may, is that I watch a lot of cartoons.

+5
Level 76
Apr 17, 2020
Maybe you are joking, but the "zoo" in zooplankton does not directly have anything to do with a zoo (as in the one there are zookeepers) zoo as in the park is actual short for zoological park/garden, a place where animals could be studied. Zoo comes from greek meaning animal (and -logy is the study of). So to be clear, zooplankton is not plankton specifically to be found in zoos

On a sidenote, for me it feels slightly weird to see it without extra indication of pronunciation. We write it as zoölogy so it is clear it is not zool-ogy but zoo-o-logy.

+1
Level 34
Apr 24, 2023
Unnecessary, but yes.
+4
Level 74
Nov 1, 2016
"bious" isn't a word, so amphi- in this case is not a prefix.
+15
Level 52
Nov 7, 2016
This could actually apply to alot of these words. It comes from Greek ἀμφί ‎(amphí) + βίος ‎(bíos, “life”). Today, however, these would be considered as either cranberry morphs, meaning when a morpheme appears to exist but doesn't (for example -mit in remit, transmit, commit, submit etc., or -bious in amphibious), or unpaired words, where the existence of a particular affix (for example non-) makes it seem as though an antonym should be formed upon its removal, but isn't (for example nonplussed and *plussed or nonchalant and *chalant). I suppose you can hence say that 'amphi-' is a prefix just as much as, say, 'bi-' or 'mal-' (you're not using 'ped' or 'feasance' anymore either), in that they were once formed from productive means whereas now they are just fossilised but the affixational morphology is still clear.
+2
Level 69
Jun 16, 2020
That was very enlightening. thank you!
+4
Level 59
Jun 16, 2020
This reminds me of the archaic "nocent" (opposite of innocent).
+12
Level 79
Nov 1, 2016
Autocracy and autography?
+6
Level 80
Nov 5, 2018
Yeah, this could count. They are both real words.
+2
Level 63
Feb 18, 2025
Hagiocracy and hagiography are both recognized by dictionary.com as well.
+2
Level 74
Oct 29, 2019
Tried this too
+1
Level 65
Jun 18, 2020
I tried this one too :)
+1
Level 51
Sep 14, 2017
how about tri-
+2
Level 80
Nov 5, 2018
I've never heard of a triped. Tripod, sure, but not triped.
+6
Level 96
Jul 15, 2019
i saw a dog come out of a vet once which was best described as a triped.
+2
Level 76
Oct 7, 2019
Missed; zoo, multi (should have gotten that one), down, syn (could help to think about taxes) and non. I was about to look nondairy up, because I wanted to say I have never heard of it and wondered what it could mean, but then it dawned, ow do they mean non-dairy? It is weird without a hyphen.
+7
Level 67
Nov 13, 2019
I've never heard of nondairy or nonfactor. Regional terms perhaps.
+4
Level 43
Jun 20, 2020
I've usually only seen non-dairy as a hyphenated word.
+4
Level 83
Jun 16, 2020
Pornocracy and pornography are both existing words
+15
Level 93
Jun 16, 2020
I'm not sure if living in a pornocracy would be a good or bad thing.
+1
Level 63
Feb 18, 2025
Pornocracy appears to be a proper noun (for a historical period).
+3
Level 85
Jun 18, 2020
I never remember seeing Amphitheater written with that first h, but now that I look it up, apparently, I have been spelling it wrong this entire time.
+1
Level 67
Oct 14, 2020
20/21. Frustrating.
+3
Level 75
Apr 21, 2023
Paperpunch and paperweight? Or is paper punch two words?
+5
Level 34
Apr 24, 2023
Is paper punch even a thing?
+3
Level 67
Apr 21, 2023
Counterpunch and nondairy are both words that sound fake to me (but I believe that the quiz is correct of course!). I missed some good ones - Synapse and Syntax is satisfying
+1
Level 40
Apr 21, 2023
Thought "phytoplankton". Didn't read the other one carefully and ended up with 20/21 because of that annoying word plankton.
+1
Level 54
Apr 25, 2023
Hey Step Bro
+1
Level 40
Feb 18, 2025
uniped and unicycle?