Esperanto derivation is for the most part regular and predictable: One can normally understand new words that are built upon known roots, and can create new words on the fly while speaking. However, there is an infix ''-um-'' that has no inherent meaning, but derives words that cannot be readily derived with dedicated affixes. Such derivations must be memorized individually, though because the root already exists, they may be more easily learned than a completely new word. Because of its irregularity and unpredictability, over-use of the infix ''-um-'' is discouraged. Over time substitutes have been developed for some of the original ''-um-'' words and new ones have been coined. Regular derivations may in some cases substitute for a word in ''-um-''; in other cases they may be similar but not exact replacements; and in still others, a substitutable word may be considered jargon (like using 'a catarrh' for 'a cold' in English).

Semi-regular use

One area where the derivations is ''-um-'' are nearly predictable is in pieces of clothing named after the corresponding parts of the body: ''kolumo'' 'collar' (from 'neck'); ''buŝumo'' 'muzzle' (from 'mouth'); ''manumo'' 'cuff' (from 'hand': does not mean 'glove'); ''kalkanumo'' 'heel (of a shoe)'; ''plandumo'' 'sole (of a shoe)'; ''ingvenumo'' 'jockstrap' (from 'groin'); ''hufumo'' 'horseshoe' (from 'hoof'); ''nazumo'' 'pince-nez, spectacles' (from 'nose', now uncommon). Many of these are the only word for the concept, though the last two have substitutes: ''hufofero'' (lit. "hoof-iron") and ''okulvitroj'' (lit. "eye-glasses"). (Note however that ''brakumi'' from 'arm' does not mean 'sleeve' but 'to embrace'.) In a similar vein, ''cicumo'' is a 'nipple (on a bottle)', from '(human) nipple' (body-part extension), and ''fenestrumo'' is 'shutter', from 'window' (a covering of a part). Another predictable set are formed from numbers to indicate numerical bases: ''duuma'' 'binary', ''okuma'' 'octal', ''dekuma'' 'decimal' (''dekuma logaritmo'' 'base-10 logarithm'), ''dekduuma'' 'duodecimal', ''deksesuma'' 'hexadecimal', ''dudekuma'' 'vigesimal', and ''sesdekuma'' 'sexagesimal'. Consciously using the senses is a meaning that is partially predictable, though it only fills in meanings that do not have dedicated roots like 'watch' or 'listen'. These are ''fingrumi'' 'to touch/feel/palpate' (from 'finger'); ''gustumi'' 'to taste s.t.' (from ''gusti'' 'to taste (of food)'); and ''okulumi'' 'to make eyes at' (from 'eye'). For the latter, simple ''okuli'' is often used, and it has a sexual connotation that is not predictable. The word for the senses is ''sentumo'', from ''senti'' 'to feel'. Forms of execution also take ''-um-'': ''krucumi'' 'to crucify', ''pendumi'' 'to hang', ''gasumi'' 'to gas', ''ŝtonumi'' 'to stone', ''dekumi'', ''kvaronumi'' 'to quarter', ''palisumi'' 'to impale', ''radumi'' 'to break on the wheel'. Substitute forms with ''-mortigi'' 'to kill' are nearly as common: ''krucmortigi, ŝtonmortigi,'' etc. A recent innovation is to spend time doing something, especially for pleasure. ''Butikumi'' (from ''butiko'' 'a shop') means 'to go shopping', and tends to be used in the sense of shopping for pleasure. Similarly, ''amikumi'' means 'to pass time with one's friends'; ''esperantumi'' 'to spend time using Esperanto'; ''kafumi'' 'to have a cup of coffee', ''retumi'' 'to surf the Web' (from ''reto'' 'net, Internet'), and ''urbumi'' 'to go into town' (from ''urbo'' 'town, city'). These latter words are not yet in dictionaries.

List of derivations

The following is a fairly complete list of words with a reasonable degree of acceptance and that have not been covered above.

References

* * {{Reflist Grammar, Infix -um

Semi-regular use

List of derivations

See also

References