| Kenneth G. Wilson (1923–). The Columbia Guide to Standard American English. 1993. |
| |
| affluent (adj.), affluence (n.), effluent (adj., n.) |
| |
| |
| These words derive from Latin fluere, meaning “to flow.” Affluent’s literal meaning is “flowing toward or to” and hence “abundant, wealthy.” Effluent means “to flow out, to flow from” and as an adjective is relatively rare; as a noun, it is more commonly used, especially to refer to the result of various processes from which contaminated liquids come. The word commonly has a pejorative quality: most effluents are undesirable, but if you carefully control context you can use it without permitting that inference to be drawn. Effluent is usually stressed on the first syllable; affluent (and the noun affluence) are nearly always stressed there too. Some speakers of Standard English do say af-FLOO-int and af-FLOO-ins, but the pronunciation grates on many ears. Best advice: stress all on their first syllables. | 1 |
| |
| | | The Columbia Guide to Standard American English. Copyright © 1993 Columbia University Press. |
|
|
