2

I was looking for a translation of the word anarchist on the web and I found two words to say it: anarĥiisto and anarkiisto. What is the difference between those two words?

The website where I made my research says:

anarĥiisto { noun }
An advocate of the ideologies of anarchy.

anarkiisto { noun }
Person practicing anarchism.

With those definitions, I want to say the first one is more a thinker and the second one an actor/maker. The problem is that the French page doesn't have the same definition for anarkiisto :

anarkiisto { noun }
Personne prônant l'anarchisme.

It says an anarkiisto is a person who advocates anarchism. It is the exact same definition of anarĥiisto.

So, who have I to believe? Have the two words the same meaning or is there a difference?

Improve this question
1

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
6

The words are synonyms of each other. For a lot of words with the letter ĥ, there's an alternative word. Most of the time it's replaced by the letter k. These synonyms are invented because some people think the letter ĥ is too hard to pronounce, and that it shouldn't exist.

Some examples:

  • teĥniko - tekniko
  • ĥemio - kemio
  • meĥanismo - mekanismo
  • ĥameleono - kameleono
  • arĥitekturo - arkitekturo
Improve this answer
3
  • 2
    Have a look at the recent and extensive response of the Lingva Konsultejo of the Esperanto Academy, too: akademio.info/akademio/…
    – Cyril Robert Brosch
    Commented Apr 13, 2018 at 7:17
  • In particular, I believe every word with rĥ has an alternative with rk. In same other cases this is not possible: eĥo could not be replaced with eko because that already exists.
    – Max
    Commented Apr 17, 2018 at 15:06
  • Eĥo could be replaced with eho without any conflict with existing words, tho. I wonder why this is not mentioned that often. The only triplet I know is koro, horo, ĥoro, where you need a completely different word "koruso" if you prefer avoiding the ĥ-sound.
    – marcus
    Commented Mar 23, 2022 at 20:53

Your Answer

By clicking “Post Your Answer”, you agree to our terms of service and acknowledge you have read our privacy policy.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.