lú–, pre. -ish, -like.
usage: The overall nominal bears the literal properties of the original word, but at a reduced degree of rigorousness thereto. A lú-computer could be any machine, but to be lú-green is to be green-ish, not green-like. It is not a similarity or analogy to the concept of "green" that is carried on, but a weakened expression of green's own properties that make it unique from other members of its most rigourously applicable class (that is, the major colors.) This distinction is not always clear or meaningful, and is typically more relevant when the word to which "lú" has been applied is an adjective. The most notable use is in the construct lútheluví, which means "similar." Theluví itself, however, means "same," and refers to the concept of the noun which it affects, not that noun's qualities; two identical objects are thus not considered theluví, but they are lútheluví, as are two machines that perform similar accounting tasks. A machine and an employee that perform comparable functions are not lútheluví; they are dzútheluví.
tags: prefix, abstract, comparative
reverse terms: -ish, -like