mindmap
root((HEMI/SEMI))
semitone
The tone at a half step.
🌱The ancient piano in the great music room had been allowed to fall terribly out of tune, with every note at least a semitone flat. 🌳A semitone （sometimes called a half tone or a half step） is the distance from a white key to a neighboring black key on the piano keyboard—for example, from G to G-sharp or from E to E-flat. In an octave （from G to the next G above, for instance）, there are twelve semitones. Semitones are the smallest intervals that are used intentionally in almost any of the music you'll normally hear. Two semitones equal a whole tone—the distance from G up to A or from E down to D, for example. semicolon The punctuation mark ; , used chiefly to separate major sentence elements such as independent clauses.
🌱Some young vandal had done a search-and-replace on Mr. Marsh's computer file, and in place of every semicolon was the mysterious message "Hendrix RULES!" 🌳The semicolon was introduced into modern type by an Italian printer around 1566. But since it's actually the same symbol as the ancient Greek question mark, it's older than the colon （:）, which first appears around 1450. Don't mix the two up. A colon introduces something: usually a list, sometimes a statement. A semicolon separates two independent but related clauses; it may also replace the comma to separate items in a complicated list. hemiplegia Total or partial paralysis of one side of the body that results from disease of or injury to the motor centers of the brain.
🌱She's starting to regain the use of her right hand, and some of the therapists think her hemiplegia might eventually be reversed. 🌳Hemi-, unlike semi, almost always appears in scientific or technical words, including medical terms such as this one. A hemiplegic, like a paraplegic （who has lost the use of both legs）, has usually suffered brain damage, often from a wound or blood clot. Other conditions that affect one side of the body are hemihypertrophy （excessive growth on one side）, hemiatrophy （wasting on one side）, and hemiparesis （weakness or partial paralysis）. semiconductor A solid that conducts electricity like a metal at high temperatures and insulates like a nonmetal at low temperatures.
🌱Silicon, which makes up 25% of the earth's crust, is the most widely used semiconductor, and as such has formed the basis for a revolution in human culture. 🌳A semiconductor is a crystal material whose ability to conduct electricity rises as its temperature goes up. That is, it sometimes acts as a conductor and sometimes as an insulator. Its conducting ability can be much increased by chemical treatment. A manufactured chip of silicon, less than half an inch square, may contain millions of microscopic transistors, which can serve control and memory functions when installed in a computer, automobile, cell phone, DVD player, or microwave oven.
🌱The ancient piano in the great music room had been allowed to fall terribly out of tune, with every note at least a semitone flat. 🌳A semitone （sometimes called a half tone or a half step） is the distance from a white key to a neighboring black key on the piano keyboard—for example, from G to G-sharp or from E to E-flat. In an octave （from G to the next G above, for instance）, there are twelve semitones. Semitones are the smallest intervals that are used intentionally in almost any of the music you'll normally hear. Two semitones equal a whole tone—the distance from G up to A or from E down to D, for example. semicolon The punctuation mark ; , used chiefly to separate major sentence elements such as independent clauses.
🌱Some young vandal had done a search-and-replace on Mr. Marsh's computer file, and in place of every semicolon was the mysterious message "Hendrix RULES!" 🌳The semicolon was introduced into modern type by an Italian printer around 1566. But since it's actually the same symbol as the ancient Greek question mark, it's older than the colon （:）, which first appears around 1450. Don't mix the two up. A colon introduces something: usually a list, sometimes a statement. A semicolon separates two independent but related clauses; it may also replace the comma to separate items in a complicated list. hemiplegia Total or partial paralysis of one side of the body that results from disease of or injury to the motor centers of the brain.
🌱She's starting to regain the use of her right hand, and some of the therapists think her hemiplegia might eventually be reversed. 🌳Hemi-, unlike semi, almost always appears in scientific or technical words, including medical terms such as this one. A hemiplegic, like a paraplegic （who has lost the use of both legs）, has usually suffered brain damage, often from a wound or blood clot. Other conditions that affect one side of the body are hemihypertrophy （excessive growth on one side）, hemiatrophy （wasting on one side）, and hemiparesis （weakness or partial paralysis）. semiconductor A solid that conducts electricity like a metal at high temperatures and insulates like a nonmetal at low temperatures.
🌱Silicon, which makes up 25% of the earth's crust, is the most widely used semiconductor, and as such has formed the basis for a revolution in human culture. 🌳A semiconductor is a crystal material whose ability to conduct electricity rises as its temperature goes up. That is, it sometimes acts as a conductor and sometimes as an insulator. Its conducting ability can be much increased by chemical treatment. A manufactured chip of silicon, less than half an inch square, may contain millions of microscopic transistors, which can serve control and memory functions when installed in a computer, automobile, cell phone, DVD player, or microwave oven.
HEMI/SEMI means "half." Hemi- comes from Greek, semi- from Latin. A hemisphere is half a sphere, and a semicircle is half a circle. (The French prefix demi-, which probably developed from Latin as well, also means "half"—as in demitasse, a little after-dinner coffee cup half the size of a regular cup.)🌸