ad-
(Latin: to, a direction toward, addition to, near; at; used as a prefix)
The Latin element ad carries the idea of "in the direction of" and combines with many Latin words and roots to make common English words.
Notice that the d of ad usually changes into the same letter as the first letter of the following root or word when it is a consonant: ad-fix becomes affix, and ad-sign becomes assign; therefore, making a double consonant.
Another example includes: attract is ad-tract (drawn towards); so it has a double t. On the other hand adapt is simply ad-apt, with one d. For the same reason, there is only one d in adore and adumbrate, because ad- has combined with orare and umbra.
Since these Latin words begin with vowels and not consonants, the d of ad does not double; even with other letter formats as shown previously.
advertise
advice (ad VIGHS) (always a noun)
1. A recommended opinion; recommendation; counsel: "Since this is a legal matter, get a lawyer’s advice."
2. Formal or official information about something; intelligence, news, report: "Advice from abroad indicates that war is about to begin."
Advice is what you get from your parents when you are growing up, and from your children when you are growing old.
—
Evan Esar
It’s a pleasure to give advice, humiliating to need it, normal to ignore it.
—E.C. McKenzie
Ad vindictam tardus, ad beneficientiam velox.
Punish slowly, do good quickly.
Motto of Henry I (918-936) who forced the dukes of Bavaria and Swabia to recognize his authority. He protected Saxony against the Slavs by building several fortresses and by creating a powerful cavalry which he used to defeat the invading Magyars on the Unstrut River in 933.
He succeeded in annexing the key Carolingian realm of Lorraine to the east Franconian realm. He is regarded as the actual founder of the German Empire.
Ad virtutem per sapientiam.
To virtue through wisdom.
Motto of Castle Jr. College, Windham, New Hampshire, USA.
advise (ad VIGHZ) (always a verb).
1. To offer an opinion or a course of action; to counsel; to notify, to recommend: "I advise you to reconsider your decision to sell your car."
2. To inform, tell, notify, make known, communicate: "We have been advised that the roads are too icy for the trip."
advise, advises, advising
1. To give an opinion or suggestion to someone about what should be done: "She advises the President on foreign affairs."
"Our lawyer will advise us about whether we should buy that house."
2. Etymology: from Old French avis, "opinion"; which came from Old French ce m'est à vis, "it seems to me"; or from Vulgar (common) Latin mi est visum, "in my view"; and originally from Latin ad-, "to" + visum; past participle of videre, "to see".
ad vitam
For life.
A legal term found in some wills, meaning, "for use only during a person's life."
advocacy
1. An active verbal support for a cause or position.
2. The act of advocating, or speaking or writing, in support (of something).
advocate
1. A person who pleads for a cause or propounds an idea.
2. Someone who supports or speaks in favor of something or someone.
3. A lawyer who pleads cases in court.
4. To speak, to plead, or to argue in favor of something or someone.
affix, affixing, affixed
1. To fasten, join, or attach (usually followed by
to): "He wanted to affix stamps to the envelope."
2. To put or to add on; tp append: "The salesman wanted her to affix her signature to the contract."
3. To impress (a seal or stamp).
4. To attach (blame, reproach, ridicule, etc.).
5. In grammar, a bound inflectional or derivational element; such as, a prefix, infix, or suffix, added to a base or stem to form a fresh stem or a different word; for example, the suffix,
-ed added to "want" to form "wanted", or the prefix,
im- added to "possible" to form "impossible".
To affix a poster to the wall is to fasten it to the wall.
aggression
1. Violent action that is hostile and usually unprovoked.
2. Deliberately unfriendly behavior.
3. The act of initiating hostilities.
4. A disposition to behave aggressively.
5. A feeling of hostility that arouses thoughts of attack.
6. Etymology: from
ad-, "to" +
gradi, gressus, "to step"; from
gradus, "a step".
Aggression against another country is an approach toward it in a hostile manner.
append
1. To add extra information to something as a supplement; especially, to a document.
2. To add an authorized signature to a bill, or an official agreement, as a final part of the ratification or agreement process.
3. To attach, or to fasten, a thing to something else.
4. Etymology: "to hang on; to attach, as a pendant", from Latin appendere "to cause to hang (from something), to weigh"; from ad-, "to" + pendere, "to hang".
appendix
A small out-pouching from the beginning of the large intestine (the ascending colon).
It was previously called the vermiform appendix because it was thought to be "wormlike".
assign
attend
1. To take care or charge of; to look after (to stretch one’s mind to).
2. To wait on; minister to; to serve; to serve as doctor during an illness.
3. To accompany; to go with.
4. Etymology: "to direct one's mind or energies"; from Old French atendre, "to expect, to wait for, to pay attention"; from Latom attendere, "to give heed to"; literally, "to stretch toward"; from ad-, "to" + tendere, "stretch".
Subscribe to this FREE Focusing on Words Newsletter