Translation
self-standing, self-reliant
Word origin
Built inside Esperanto from mem (self), the root of stari (to stand) and the adjective ending -a. Nothing was borrowed: the word says self-standing and means it.
- Origin
- Esperanto
- Root
- mem + star- + -a
Examples
.
She is a self-reliant woman with a house of her own.
.
The boy is already self-reliant and cooks for himself.
.
They want to be self-reliant.
Cut it into three and it explains itself: (self) + star (from , to stand) + -a (adjective). Something stands on its own feet. Once you have seen that you never need a dictionary for it again, and you can go on to build memstare (independently) and o (self-reliance) without asking anybody's permission. This is the payoff of the affix system: two words you already know at ranks 90 and 129 hand you a word at rank 2343 for free.
Now the fence with . That one is + depend + -a, not depending on anybody, and it is the word for a country that has stopped being a colony. is about standing up unaided: a teenager cooks their own dinner, a clause makes sense without the sentence around it, a business answers to nobody's head office. A country becomes on a dated afternoon; a person becomes over years.
Where English wants autonomous in the technical sense (a region, a vehicle), Esperanto normally reaches for aŭtonoma rather than either of these.
Where this fits
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memstara: worksheet, infographic and listicle
Free printable study downloads for the Esperanto word "memstara" (self-standing, self-reliant): a worksheet with the answer key built in, an infographic, and a sentence listicle. Open any one to view, print or save.
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Start your free weekThis word is part of lesson 47.