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I would think that the words "maim" and "mayhem" are related. How? And, do they have the same definitions? What is the proper way to use each? Is the pronunciation both the same, i.e. "maim", or is the pronunciation of the longer word "may-him"? Is there any other information I need to distinguish the two? Thanks.
Both maim and mayhem trace back to the same word in Old French (according to the American Heritage dictionary: Old French mahaigne, injury, from mahaignier, to maim).
While the definitions are closely related, they are two different parts of speech. I also make a semantic difference between the two. To me, mayhem (a noun) means a state of confused activity, possibly involving property damage, but not necessarily. Maim (a transitive verb) means doing serious bodily harm. Some dictionaries note that in a legal context mayhem means the same thing as maim, in reference to bodily injury, but I would not use it that way outside of the law.
The pronunciation of maim is a single syllable. The pronunciation of mayhem has two syllables, but the medial h may be silent or pronounced.
Martha Barnette
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