meaning - "Inter-", "multi-", "cross-", "trans-" in relation to disciplines


In academia the words inter-discipline, multi-discipline, trans-discipline, or cross-discipline are used to describe a type of combination between different disciplines or the uniqueness of a field.


Searching on OED.com for the terms inter, multi, cross and trans shows different uses.



  • multi has some nouns and adjectives, with one option of "multi-, comb. form"

  • cross has nouns, verbs, adjectives and prepositions, with "cross-, comb. form"

  • inter has nouns, adjectives, verbs and prepositions, with "inter-, prefix"

  • trans has nouns and adjectives, with "trans-, prefix"


In academia, the difference between multi or inter is not well-defined.


What is the difference between "comb.form" and "prefix"? Why are there no results for using multi or cross as a prefix, but there are for inter and trans? How did the interchangeability of these come about, or is it improper to use them that way?




Comments

Popular posts from this blog

verbs - "Baby is creeping" vs. "baby is crawling" in AmE

commas - Does this sentence have too many subjunctives?

time - English notation for hour, minutes and seconds

grammatical number - Use of lone apostrophe for plural?

etymology - Origin of "s--t eating grin"

etymology - Where does the phrase "doctored" originate?

word choice - Which is the correct spelling: “fairy” or “faerie”?