What's the difference between "flammable" and "inflammable"???

Question

They both seem to mean "it burns," but why do you have two words for the same thing? Or, do they mean different things?

Answer 1

there three word for that

flammable mean can cache fire if you light it
non flammable can't be fired
inflammable mean it will be fired without using sources of fire like lighter or matches

Answer 2

Inflammable and flammable both mean 'capable of being set on fire' or 'easily set on fire', so they're really the same, rather than similar, in meaning. This sense equivalence is confirmed by dictionaries, though some writers insist that flammable means 'combustible' and inflammable means 'explosive'.

Inflammable dates from the early 17th century. Originally its opposite was noninflammable, but now we use the easier term nonflammable.

In the word inflammable, the prefix in- functions as an intensive-it indicates increased emphasis or force. But because this prefix can also mean 'not', inflammable could mistakenly be interpreted as meaning 'not flammable.'

Though the adjective flammable was coined in 1813 in a translation of a Latin text, it was not commonly used until the early 20th century, when the scientific community, the fire-insurance industry and, specifically, the National Fire Protection Association tried to revive the term as an official replacement for the ambiguous inflammable. After World War II, the British Standards Institution took up the campaign: "In order to avoid any possible ambiguity, it is the Institution's policy to encourage the use of the terms 'flammable' and 'non-flammable' rather than 'inflammable' and 'non-inflammable.'"

The campaign to revive flammable was successful in commercial and scientific contexts. But the general public was (and still is) resistant to the change, and so inflammable is still very much in use. Inflammable is more common in British English than in American English. It's also the word more usually used in nontechnical and figurative contexts: "The furor is a reminder that despite overall harmony, race has the potential to be an inflammable issue in Malaysia" (Asiaweek, January 2000). Use of the literal and figurative meanings is shown in a recent headline in the (London) Financial Times: "Highly inflammable: Labour policymakers failed to foresee the speed and anger of the public's response to high petrol prices."

Answer 3

flammable or inflammable? Although inflammable looks like the opposite of flammable, the two words actually have the same meaning, both describing something that is easily set on fire. The in- prefix of inflammable means "into," rather than "not," and the adjective is ultimately derived from the same Latin word as the verb inflame. In view of the potentially disastrous consequences of such misinterpretation, flammable has become the word of choice, especially in the labeling of commercial and industrial products. The word most frequently used to convey the opposite meaning is nonflammable.

Answer 4

Flammable And Inflammable

Answer 5

Flammability is the ease with which a substance will ignite, causing fire or combustion.

The word flammable is of relatively recent origin but has in many contexts, especially safety, taken the place of the word inflammable, an older term with the same meaning. Everyone finds inflammable misleading...

Answer 6

Flammable (adjective)
Liable to catch fire; inflammable. Opposite of non-flammable.
Thesaurus: inflammable, combustible, ignitable, combustive; Antonym: fire-resistant, flameproof, non-flammable.

These mean the same thing; inflammable is not the opposite of flammable, it is simply a version of it preferred in everyday, non-technical contexts.

Flammable points you to flame, where the sub-entry for flammable offers the single word definition inflammable. So now you know: there is basically no difference between the two. It would have been pleasing to discover that flammable meant something that was liable to scorch or burn while inflammable meant that it would burst into flames, or something. But, sadly, there seems no difference between them. Just another example of English having a choice of words, I suppose.

Answer 7

Inflammable Definition

Answer 8

Historically, flammable and inflammable mean the same thing. However, the presence of the prefix in- has misled many people into assuming that inflammable means “not flammable” or “noncombustible.” The prefix -in in inflammable is not, however, the Latin negative prefix -in, which is related to the English -un and appears in such words as indecent and inglorious. Rather, this -in is an intensive prefix derived from the Latin preposition in. This prefix also appears in the word enflame. But many people are not aware of this derivation, and for clarity's sake it is advisable to use only flammable to give warnings.


in·flam·ma·ble ( P ) Pronunciation Key (n-flm-bl)
adj.
Easily ignited and capable of burning rapidly; flammable.

flam·ma·ble ( P ) Pronunciation Key (flm-bl)
adj.
Easily ignited and capable of burning rapidly; inflammable.

Answer 9

For all those who can not access a dictionary as I gather the majority cannot, to be flammable means to readily catch fire etc., while inflammable means about the same, from the word inflame. If you are looking for the opposite of flammable, just so you know, unflammable is not a word!

Answer 10

because the proper word is "inflammable", but some people think it means "will not burn", so, we use both words, now...

PS: as you can see from the other answers, a lot of people still think that inflammable means "not-flammable" while the "in" only means to re-enforce the meaning that it WILL burn.

The funny thing is that this confusion exists in french too. I guess it exists in most latin-based languages.

Answer 11

flammable and inflammable is the capability to burn; easily set or catch fire.

two words with the same meaning (can burn) and can be used interchangeably because they dont mean differently.

Flammable is often used because
inflammable might be mistaken as a negative like non-flammable.

hope i made it clear and simple