Dubious Word of the Day

[Catseye3]

Is there such a word as 'combated'?

[Horace]

The ‘bated suffix can be added to many words depending on the context of how or where one ‘bated.

[Catseye3]

@horace No, this word I saw used as a past tense of 'combat'. As in: He ventured into his garden every day to combat the hateful hornworm.

[Mik]

@horace said in Dubious Word of the Day:

The ‘bated suffix can be added to many words depending on the context of how or where one ‘bated.

Horace is a mastur of words.

[Aqua Letifer]

@catseye3 said in Dubious Word of the Day:

Is there such a word as 'combated'?

"Combat" is primarily a verb. Therefore it has past tenses. So yes, "combated" is a word.

[Loki]

@mik said in Dubious Word of the Day:

@horace said in Dubious Word of the Day:

The ‘bated suffix can be added to many words depending on the context of how or where one ‘bated.

Horace is a mastur of words.

Even celibated in his own circle

[Catseye3]

@aqua-letifer I wonder, is it a legitimate verb or was it popularly turned into a verb from being solely a noun?

In one of the Nero Wolfe books, his factotum Archie related how Wolfe so profoundly disapproved of using 'contact' as a verb that any client who committed that sin got $2,000 added to his bill.

That's how combatted strikes me -- okay as a noun and as a verb, but as a past tense verb it just looks weird.

[Aqua Letifer]

@catseye3 said in Dubious Word of the Day:

@aqua-letifer I wonder, is it a legitimate verb or was it popularly turned into a verb from being solely a noun?

In one of the Nero Wolfe books, his factotum Archie related how Wolfe so profoundly disapproved of using 'contact' as a verb that any client who committed that sin got $2,000 added to his bill.

That's how combatted strikes me -- okay as a noun and as a verb, but as a past tense verb it just looks weird.

The French, Old French, and Latin roots were all verbs. I think it looks weird because today it's a rarer usage.