bigamist
Meaning
A person who commits the crime of marrying someone while still legally married to another person.
Structure
Usage
The court convicted him as a bigamist after he was found to have two wives in different states.
Historically, being labeled a bigamist carried severe social and legal penalties.
The novel's plot revolves around a man living as a bigamist, leading a double life.
Etymology
The word 'bigamist' is a compound formed from classical elements. The prefix 'bi-', from Latin, establishes the concept of duality or two. This combines with the Greek root 'gam-', derived from 'gamos' meaning marriage, which is also the source of words like 'monogamy' and 'polygamy'. The agent suffix '-ist', indicating a person who performs a specific action, was then attached. Literally meaning "a person of two marriages," the term evolved in legal and religious contexts to specifically denote the criminal act of being married to two people simultaneously, shifting from a purely descriptive compound to one with a strong negative and illegal connotation.
Analysis
- bi: From Latin 'bi-', meaning "two" or "twice". A numerical prefix. - gam: From Greek 'gamos', meaning "marriage" or "union". A combining form. - ist: From Greek '-istes' (via Latin '-ista'), a suffix forming agent nouns, meaning "a person who practices or is concerned with something".