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ambivalent

Today it means: Simultaneously experiencing or expressing opposing or contradictory feelings, beliefs, motivations, or meanings. Full definition →

German Ambivalenz ← Latin ambi-

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The story

Latin · derived fromambi-“in two ways”
German · derived fromAmbivalenz
English todayambivalent

Back-formation from ambivalence, from German Ambivalenz, from Latin ambi- (“in two ways”) + valeō (“be strong”); equivalent to ambi- + -valent. Compare ambivert.

Words from the same roots

GermanAmbivalenz all →

Latinambi- all →

ambivalenceambidexterambidexterity

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.