The word inflammable?

Question

Normally in the English language the prefix "in" means "not" such as the following:
inability,inadequate,incapable, incomplete,incorrect, indecisive etc.

Why does inflammable mean the same as flammable instead of "not"flammable?

Answer 1

Inflammable and flammable both mean “combustible.” Inflammable is the older by about 200 years. Flammable now has certain technical uses, particularly as a warning on vehicles carrying combustible materials, because of a belief that some might interpret the intensive prefix in- of inflammable as a negative prefix and thus think the word means “noncombustible.” Inflammable is the word more usually used in nontechnical and figurative contexts: The speaker ignited the inflammable emotions of the crowd.

Inflammable comes from the Latin word, īnflammāre, which means "inflame".

To answer your question about the prefix "in", the beginning of inflammable is not a prefix. The word itself is derived from a latin root. The assumed root word, flammable, is not the real root word, which is where the confusion begins. The root word IS inflammable, which makes it NOT subject to the rules for the prefix "in".

Answer 2

The thing is, those two words both mean combustible. So that means if any two words are combustible, they basically mean the same exact thing even though having the prefix "in" in front of it.

Answer 3

to inflame or to start something is the word base for inflammable.

Answer 4

inflammable means highly caught by fire like petrol

Answer 5

In also means "into" or "in. Therefore inflammable would mean into flames...

Answer 6

Latin root = to do/to become(inside)... inflame = to fire(set on fire inside) infection = to sicken(inside) ingest = to swallow(inside) infuse = to enrich(inside)...