Go to 'thermo-' entry Go to 'dino-' entry Go to 'chondro-' entry Go to 'aero-' entry Go to '-logy' entry Go to 'thaumato-' entry Go to 'nano-' entry Go to '-sophy' entry Go to 'bucco-' entry Go to '-ism' entry Go to '-lysis' entry Go to 'galacto-' entry Go to '-anthropy' entry Go to 'pneumo-' entry Go to '-ploitation' entry Go to '-lithic' entry Go to '-sepalous' entry Go to 'onco-' entry Go to '-parous' entry Go to 'dermato-' entry Go to 'multi-' entry Go to 'dodeca-' entry Go to '-zoon' entry Go to 'vermi-' entry Go to 'crystallo-' entry Go to 'biblio-' entry Go to 'eco-' entry Go to 'juxta-' entry Go to 'facio-' entry
Affixes: the building blocks of English
Affixes: the building blocks of English
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hetero-

Different or other.

[Greek heteros, other.]

This prefix is common and active and is often contrasted with homo-1, the same. An example is heterosexual, of a person who is sexually attracted to the opposite sex, as opposed to homosexual. A heterodox (Greek doxa, opinion) opinion is one that does not conform to accepted or orthodox standards; something heterogeneous (Greek genos, race or kind) is diverse in character or content, or composed of parts of different kinds; heterogametic refers to the sex that produces different types of sex chromosomes (in humans the male, in birds, the female); heterozygous describes an individual having two different alleles of a particular gene or genes, and so giving rise to varying offspring.

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