The Humble Contronym

con·tro·nym

/ˈkäntrəˌnim/
noun
plural noun: contronyms

a word with two opposite meanings, e.g. sanction (which can mean both ‘a penalty for disobeying a law’ and ‘official permission or approval for an action’).

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Contronyms have existed for a long, long while but it's seldom that I find anyone interested in them. Was mildly surprised today to find a Pocket article on the topic.

25 Words That Are Their Own Opposites
Stumble into the looking-glass world of contronyms.

The contronym (also spelled “contranym”) goes by many names, including auto-antonym, antagonym, enantiodrome, self-antonym, antilogy and Janus word (from the Roman god of beginnings and endings, often depicted with two faces looking in opposite directions).

There are more than 25 words, of course. Also add to that count all the words that have fallen into disuse. It's times like these that I absolutely love my native language! Moar contronyms! Moar! Each one is delicious.

I should take a moment to console those that have English as their second language. Contronyms are confusing. I have a Ryukyuan friend in Pittsburgh that absolutely loathes trying to decipher intent.

English has more weirdness to it but I'll stop while I'm ahead. I'm about to dive into a new rabbit hole. This one is all about pronunciation:

If You Can Correctly Pronounce Every Word in This 1920s Poem, You’re Among the English-Speaking Elite 

You're more than welcome to skip with me down the new path.