Some friends say Combinate(to mix something) is grammarly correct. Isn't this wrong? I think the right one is Combine? I'm so confused. Some say i'm wrong with combine, they say the correct one is combinate because it is the opposite of Separate. One more question, If combine is correct, then why separate ends with ate? They are the opposite of each other. Thanks, sorry for my English
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The full OED says the verb usage is Obsolete. rare– FumbleFingersNov 14, 2021 at 18:52
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Have you done a search for "combinate" in a dictionary. That should quickly confirm that "combine" is standard word in English, and "combinate" isn't.– James KNov 14, 2021 at 23:12
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@FumbleFingers true, but if they are considering it as an antonym to 'separate' then they are looking to use it as a verb, not a noun.– AstralbeeNov 15, 2021 at 12:24
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@JamesK I was surprised to find that 'combinate' is in Websters.– AstralbeeNov 15, 2021 at 12:24
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I've never heard a native speaker say "combinate". When my ESL students say "combinate", I correct them to "combine".– gotube ♦Nov 15, 2021 at 19:10
1 Answer
The word 'combinate' does not appear in the Cambridge dictionary, and as a British English speaker, it sounds wrong to me. It is not a conjugation of the verb to combine.
However, I was very surprised to find it is in Webster's dictionary, so it may have had some limited use in American English, but this ngram shows that its use in literature is almost non-existent, and some of those examples seem to be as a noun.
The logic that you cited about it being the opposite of separate is nonsense - antonyms don't necessarily have the same etymology. Further, 'separate' and 'combine' both have many synonyms. You might as well ask why 'blend' and 'divide' do not end the same way.
I would advise against using it. I think people that use it instead of 'combine' are probably confused about the word 'combination', which is a noun (the name of the combining process, or of the result of it).
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There is a famous tech company called Y Combinator, presumably named after the "Y combinator" function in combinatory logic. Nov 14, 2021 at 18:01