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
  Home Introduction About the author Types of affixes Thematic indexes Search the site   A B C D E F G H I JK L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z   Previous entry Next entry Up to index of S  

schiz(o)-

Divided or split.

[Greek skhizein, to split.]

The mental disorder schizophrenia (Greek phrēn, mind, so literally ‘split mind’) was called that because a part of the sufferer's psyche seems to be split off (the popular usage of schizophrenic for inconsistent attitudes is now regarded as misleading or offensive); a schizotype in psychiatry is a personality type in which mild symptoms of schizophrenia are present; somebody schizoid has a personality type characterized by emotional aloofness and solitary habits.

The form is used also in botany and biology: a schizocarp (Greek karpos, fruit) is a dry fruit that splits into single-seeded parts when ripe; schizogony (Greek -gonia, -begetting) is asexual reproduction by multiple fission in some protozoa; a schizont is a cell that divides by schizogony to form daughter cells.

Visit Michael Quinion’s World Wide Words site for 2000+ articles on English!

Copyright © Michael Quinion 2008–. All rights reserved. Page last updated 23 September 2008.
Your comments and suggestions on the site are very welcome.