+12 Unavoidable and inevitable are the same word born from different languages, amirite?

by Anonymous 4 years ago

English has lots of words like this. Like "building" and "edifice". Or "cow" and "beef".

by Anonymous 4 years ago

Not necessarily, something that's inevitable can be avoided by some.

by Anonymous 4 years ago

Please elaborate.

by Anonymous 4 years ago

Well, let's say a car crash is inevitable, so it will definitely happen, but a person can avoid being in the crash, so the crash will still happen because it always would.

by Anonymous 4 years ago

Ok, now check this out: "Well, let's say a car crash is *unavoidable*, so it will definitely happen, but a person can avoid being in the crash, so the crash will still happen because it always would." You see what I'm saying?

by Anonymous 4 years ago

Yes, unavoidable can mean inevitable, but inevitable doesn't necessarily mean unavoidable.

by Anonymous 4 years ago

I just googled it, and it actually necessarily does. Its Latin root is the exact same as that of unavoidable: evitare, "to avoid". Check ur etymology m8

by Anonymous 4 years ago

In French, the word évitable means avoidable, so seems entirely plausible to me. Thanks for the information!

by Anonymous 4 years ago

unavoidable means impossible to avoid or prevent, whereas (certain to happen) means impossible to avoid.

by Anonymous 4 years ago

Other examples are fast and rapid; friendly and amicable; cold and frigid; tasty and delicious. There are also bigger groupings, like: huge, gigantic, enormous, massive, gargantuan, and colossal.

by Anonymous 4 years ago