Vocabulary and Analytical Reasoning II

Sward (SWORD)

1 : a portion of ground covered with grass 2 : the grassy surface of land "Sward," which sprouted up in the English language more than 500 years ago, is currently used more frequently as a surname than as a noun having to do with lawns and the like. Still, you'll find the occasional reference to a "green sward" or "grassy sward" in newspapers. And the term pops up in a number of old novels, such as in this quote from Thomas Hardy's Tess of the d'Urbervilles: "The sun was so near the ground, and the sward so flat, that the shadows of Clare and Tess would stretch a quarter of a mile ahead of them...." "Sward" at one time referred to skin or rind, and especially to the rind of pork or bacon, although this meaning is now archaic. The word comes from the Old English "sweard" or "swearth," meaning "skin" or "rind."

Olla podrida (ah-luh-puh-DREE-duh)

1 : a rich seasoned stew of slowly simmered meat and vegetables that is a traditional Spanish and Latin-American dish 2 : hodgepodge In 1599, lexicographer John Minsheu wanted to know "from whence or why they call it olla podrida." Good question. No one is sure why the Spanish used a term that means "rotten pot" to name a tasty stew, but there has been plenty of speculation on the subject. One theory holds that the name developed because the long, slow cooking process required to make the stew was compared to the process of rotting, but there's no definitive evidence to support that idea. It is more certain that both French and English speakers borrowed "olla podrida" and later adapted the term for other mixtures whose content was as varied as the stew. The French also translated "olla podrida" as "pot pourri," an expression English speakers adapted to "potpourri."

Comptroller (kun-TROH-ler

1 : a royal-household official who examines and supervises expenditures 2 : a public official who audits government accounts and sometimes supervises expenditures 3 : the chief accounting officer of a business enterprise or an institution (as a college) established word that shares one of its meanings (sense 3) with "controller." The term did originate as a misspelling, however. Around the 15th century, Middle English speakers altered the spelling of "conterroller" (meaning "controller," from the Middle French "contrerolleur") under the influence of the Middle French word "compte" ("account"). The resulting word, "comptroller," has attracted criticism over the years. Grammarian Henry Fowler condemned "comptroller" as "not merely archaic, but erroneous" in 1920, and a lexicographical column from 1931 agreed that "comptroller" is "erroneous and should not be accepted as correct." Nevertheless, such modern institutions as colleges and governments continue to have comptrollers. "Comptrollership" occasionally turns up as well.

Chrestomathy (kreh-STAH-muh-thee)

1 : a selection of passages used to help learn a language 2 : a volume of selected passages or stories of an author "Provided that nothing like useful knowledge could be gained from them, provided they were all story and no reflection, she had never any objection to books at all." Jane Austen's Catherine in Northanger Abbey, whose aversion to learning is pretty well summed up in the preceding sentence, would likely object to a chrestomathy that turned out to be a compilation of excerpts from ancient philosophical writings. She would probably be oblivious of, and indifferent to, the fact that the Greeks had the usefulness of knowledge in mind when they created "chrestomathy" from their adjective "chrēstos," which means "useful," and the verb "manthanein," which means "to learn."

Pivot (PIV-ut)

1 : a shaft or pin on which something turns 2 a : a person, thing, or factor having a major or central role, function, or effect b : a key player or position; specifically : an offensive position of a basketball player standing usually with back to the basket to relay passes, shoot, or provide a screen for teammates 3 : the action of pivoting; especially : the action in basketball of stepping with one foot while keeping the other foot at its point of contact with the floor Pivot is a French borrowing that slowly evolved grammatically in the English language. It began as a noun in the 14th century designating a shaft or pin on which something turns ("The chair turns on a pivot"). Later it was applied to any central person or thing around which action revolves. The noun then came to denote the action of turning about, oscillating, or balancing on or as if on a point ("the pivot of the golfer's body"; "a pivot in advertising strategy"). Adjectival use followed, always functioning as a synonym of the derivative pivotal describing things that are the pivot, that are vitally important or critical ("a pivot decision"). The word evolved yet again in the 19th century to become a verb indicating the act of turning, literally and figuratively, about a point ("The player pivoted and passed the ball"; "The plot pivots on revenge"). In wider extended use, it can imply a change of direction ("The company pivoted towards marketing remote learning tools and resources").

Inkling (INK-ling)

1 : a slight indication or suggestion : hint, clue 2 : a slight knowledge or vague notion Originating in English in the early 16th century, "inkling" derives from Middle English "yngkiling," meaning "whisper or mention," and perhaps further from the verb "inclen," meaning "to hint at." It also shares a distant relationship with the Old English noun "inca," meaning "suspicion." An early sense of the word meant "a faint perceptible sound or undertone" or "rumor," but now people usually use the word to refer to a tiny bit of knowledge or information that a person receives about something. One related word you might not have heard of is the verb "inkle," a back-formation of "inkling" that occurs in some British English dialects and means "to have an idea or notion of."

Doldrums (DOHL-drumz)

1 : a spell of listlessness or despondency 2 : a part of the ocean near the equator abounding in calms, squalls, and light shifting winds 3 : a state or period of inactivity, stagnation, or slump Everyone gets the doldrums -- a feeling of low spirits and lack of energy -- every once in a while. The doldrums experienced by sailors, however, are usually of a different variety. In the mid-19th century, the word once reserved for a feeling of despondency came to be applied to certain tropical regions of the ocean marked by the absence of strong winds. Sailing vessels, reliant on wind propulsion, struggled to make headway in these regions, leading to long, arduous journeys. The exact etymology of "doldrums" is not certain, though it is believed to be related to the Old English "dol," meaning "foolish" -- a history it shares with our adjective "dull."

Martinet (mar-tuh-NET)

1 : a strict disciplinarian 2 : a person who stresses a rigid adherence to the details of forms and methods When France's King Louis XIV appointed Lieutenant Colonel Jean Martinet to be inspector general of the infantry in the late 17th century, he made a wise choice. As a drillmaster, Martinet trained his troops to advance into battle in precise linear formations and to fire in volleys only upon command, thus making the most effective use of inaccurate muskets -- and making the French army one of the best on the continent. He also gave English a new word. "Martinet" has been used synonymously with "strict disciplinarian" since the 1730s.

Debacle (dee-BAH-kul)

1 : a tumultuous breakup of ice in a river 2 : a violent disruption (as of an army) : rout 3 a : a great disaster b : a complete failure : fiasco "Debacle" comes from the French noun "débâcle," which comes from the verb "débâcler," meaning "to clear," "to unbolt," or "to unbar." That verb is from Middle French "desbacler," which joined the prefix "des-" (equivalent to our "de-," meaning "to do the opposite of") with the verb "bacler" ("to block"). In its original uses, "debacle" meant a breaking up of ice, or the rush of ice or water that follows such an occurrence. Eventually, "debacle" was used also to mean "a violent, destructive flood." Naturally, such uses led to meanings such as "a breaking up," "collapse," and finally "disaster" or "fiasco."

Dram (DRAM)

1 : a unit of avoirdupois weight equal to 1/16 ounce 2 : a unit of apothecaries' weight equal to 1/8 ounce 3 : a unit of liquid capacity equal to 1/8 fluid ounce 4 a : a small portion of something to drink b : a small amount In avoirdupois weight -- that is, the system of weights commonly used by English speakers in North America and the United Kingdom -- a dram is equal to 1/16 ounce (1.772 grams). The word "dram" was borrowed from the Anglo-French and Late Latin word "dragme," which was originally used for a silver coin used by the ancient Greeks (now known in English as the "drachma") and for the coin's approximate weight. In the 16th century, English speakers also began using "dram" for a weight of fluid measure (also called a "fluid dram") equal to 1/8 fluid ounce, and more loosely for any small portion of something to drink. "Dram" is also used figuratively for any small amount, in much the same way as "grain" and "ounce."

Bandbox (BAND-bahks)

1 : a usually cylindrical box of cardboard or thin wood for holding light articles of attire 2 : a structure (as a baseball park) having relatively small interior dimensions In the 17th century, the word "band" was sometimes used for ruffs, the large round collars of pleated muslin or linen worn by men and women of the time period, and the bandbox was invented for holding such bands. The flimsy cardboard structure of the box inspired people to start using its name for any flimsy object, especially a small and insubstantial one. But people also contemplated the neat, sharp appearance of ruffs just taken from a bandbox and began using the word in a complimentary way in phrases such as "she looked as if she came out of a bandbox." Today, "bandbox" can also be used as an adjective meaning "exquisitely neat, clean, or ordered," as in "bandbox military officers."

Hobson's choice (HAHB-sunz-choys)

1 : an apparently free choice when there is no real alternative 2 : the necessity of accepting one of two or more equally objectionable alternatives In the late 16th and early 17th centuries, Thomas Hobson worked as a licensed carrier of passengers, letters, and parcels between Cambridge and London, England. He kept horses for this purpose and rented them to university students when he wasn't using them. Of course, the students always wanted their favorite mounts, and consequently a few of Hobson's horses became overworked. To correct the situation, Hobson began a strict rotation system, giving each customer the choice of taking the horse nearest the stable door or none at all. This rule became known as "Hobson's choice," and soon people were using that term to mean "no choice at all" in all kinds of situations.

Caravansary (kair-uh-VAN-suh-ree)

1 : an inn surrounding a court in eastern countries where caravans rest at night 2 : hotel, inn In the Middle East, caravans often lodged at caravansaries. These inns were quadrangular in form and enclosed by massive walls with small windows near the top. The central court, which was surrounded by an arcade and storerooms, was large enough to hold 300 to 400 camels. The name was formed from the word "caravan" and the Persian word "sarāī," meaning "palace" or "inn." "Caravansary" can also be spelled "caravanserai," and the word "serai" is used as a synonym for it.

Nebula (NEB-yuh-luh)

1 : any of numerous clouds of gas or dust in interstellar space 2 : galaxy; especially : a galaxy other than the Milky Way The history of today's word is not lost in the mists of time, although its history does get misty at points. Nebula comes to us from Latin, where it means "mist" or "cloud." In its earliest English uses in the 1600s, nebula was chiefly a medical term that could refer either to a cloudy formation in urine or to a cloudy speck or film on the eye that caused vision problems. It was first applied to great interstellar clouds of gas and dust in the early 1700s. The adjective nebulous comes from the same Latin root as nebula, and it is considerably older, being first used as a synonym of cloudy or foggy as early as the 1300s. Like nebula, however, this adjective was not used in an astronomical sense until the mid-1600s.

Habeas Corpus (HAY-bee-us-KOR-pus)

1 : any of several common-law writs issued to bring a party before a court or judge; especially : a writ for inquiring into the lawfulness of the restraint of a person who is imprisoned or detained in another's custody 2 : the right of a citizen to obtain a writ of habeas corpus as a protection against illegal imprisonment The literal meaning of habeas corpus is "you should have the body"—that is, the judge or court should (and must) have any person who is being detained brought forward so that the legality of that person's detention can be assessed. In United States law, habeas corpus ad subjiciendum (the full name of what habeas corpus typically refers to) is also called "the Great Writ," and it is not about a person's guilt or innocence, but about whether custody of that person is lawful under the U.S. Constitution. Common grounds for relief under habeas corpus—"relief" in this case being a release from custody—include a conviction based on illegally obtained evidence; a denial of effective assistance of counsel; or a conviction by a jury that was improperly selected and impaneled. "Embraced by America's founders, the Great Writ, as [habeas corpus is] colloquially known, is enshrined in the Constitution, statutory law, and case law, where it guarantees certain rights to the detained. Habeas corpus entitles detainees convicted in state courts to appeal to federal courts if they believe their rights were violated at trial or during sentencing." — Elizabeth Bruenig, The New York Times, 18 Jan. 2021

Ad hominem (ad-HAH-muh-nem)

1 : appealing to feelings or prejudices rather than intellect 2 : marked by or being an attack on an opponent's character rather than by an answer to the contentions made Ad hominem literally means "to the person" in New Latin (Latin as first used in post-medieval texts). In centuries past, this adjective typically modified argument. An "argument ad hominem" (or argumentum ad hominem, to use the full New Latin phrase) was a valid method of persuasion by which one took advantage of an opponent's interests or feelings in a debate, instead of just sticking to general principles. Ad hominem later came to be used to describe an attack aimed at an opponent's character, and this is the sense more often heard today. The hostile nature of such attacks has led to an understanding of the term as meaning "against the person," rather than its original Latin meaning of "to the person."

Sere (SEER)

1 : being dried and withered 2 archaic : threadbare Sere has not wandered very far from its origins—it derives from the Old English word sear, meaning "dry," which traces back to the same ancient root that gave Old High German, Greek, and Lithuanian words for drying out and withering. Several nouns sere also exist; one is an obscure nominal form of the adjective, but the others are etymologically unrelated to the adjective or to one another. The most common of the nouns is a 20th-century coinage from the Latin word series (meaning "series"), which refers to a series of ecological communities formed in ecological succession.

Vulnerable (VUL-nuh-ruh-bul)

1 : capable of being physically or emotionally wounded 2 : open to attack or damage : assailable "Vulnerable" is ultimately derived from the Latin noun "vulnus" ("wound"). "Vulnus" led to the Latin verb "vulnerare," meaning "to wound," and then to the Late Latin adjective "vulnerabilis," which became "vulnerable" in English in the early 1600s. "Vulnerable" originally meant "capable of being physically wounded" or "having the power to wound" (the latter is now obsolete), but since the late 1600s, it has also been used figuratively to suggest a defenselessness against non-physical attacks. In other words, someone (or something) can be vulnerable to criticism or failure as well as to literal wounding. When it is used figuratively, "vulnerable" is often followed by the preposition "to."

Shibboleth (SHIB-uh-luth)

1 : catchword, slogan 2 : a widely held belief or truism 3 : a custom or usage regarded as distinctive of a particular group The Bible's Book of Judges (12:4-6) tells the story of the Ephraimites, who, after they were routed by the Gileadite army, tried to retreat by sneaking across a ford of the Jordan River that was held by their enemy. The Gileadites, wary of the ploy, asked every soldier who tried to cross if he was an Ephraimite. When the soldier said "no," he was asked to say "shibboleth" (which means "stream" in Hebrew). Gileadites pronounced the word "shibboleth," but Ephramites said "sibboleth." Anyone who left out the initial "sh" was killed on the spot. When English speakers first borrowed "shibboleth," they used it to mean "test phrase," but it has acquired additional meanings since that time.

Veracity (vuh-RASS-uh-tee)

1 : conformity with truth or fact : accuracy 2 : devotion to the truth : truthfulness 3 : power of conveying or perceiving truth 4 : something true Veracity has been a part of English since the early 17th century, and we can honestly tell you that it derives from the Latin adjective vērāx ("truthful"), which in turn comes from the earlier vērus ("true"). Vērus also gives us verity ("the quality of being true"), verify ("to establish the truth of"), and verisimilitude ("the appearance of truth"), among other words. In addition, vērāx is the root of the word veraciousness, a somewhat rarer synonym and cousin of veracity.

Vicarious (vye-KAIR-ee-us)

1 : done or suffered for the benefit of someone else 2 : sharing in someone else's experience through the use of the imagination or sympathetic feelings If you act in someone's stead, you take his or her place, at least temporarily. The oldest meaning of "vicarious," which was first recorded in 1637, is "serving in someone or something's stead." The word "vicarious" derives from the Latin noun "vicis," which means "change," "alternation," or "stead." "Vicis" is also the source of the English prefix "vice-" (as in "vice president"), meaning "one that takes the place of."

Declivity (di-KLIV-uh-tee)

1 : downward inclination 2 : a descending slope Three different English words descend from "clivus," the Latin word for "slope" or "hill" -- with the help of three Latin prefixes. "Declivity" combines "clivus" with the prefix "de-," meaning "down" or "away." "Acclivity" uses "ad-" (which may change its second letter depending on the root word), meaning "to" or "toward." Hence, an acclivity is an upward slope. The third word has a figurative meaning in English: "proclivity" makes use of the prefix "pro-," meaning "forward," and this word refers to a personal inclination, predisposition, or "leaning."

Equinox (EE-kwuh-nahks)

1 : either of the two points on the celestial sphere where the celestial equator intersects the ecliptic 2 : either of the two times each year (as about March 21 and September 23) when the sun crosses the equator and day and night are everywhere on earth of approximately equal length Equinox descends from aequus, the Latin word for "equal" or "even," and nox, the Latin word for "night"—a fitting history for a word that describes days of the year when the daytime and nighttime are equal in length. In the northern hemisphere, the vernal equinox marks the first day of spring and occurs when the sun moves north across the equator. (Vernal comes from the Latin word ver, meaning "spring.") The autumnal equinox marks the first day of autumn in the northern hemisphere and occurs when the sun crosses the equator going south. In contrast, a solstice is either of the two moments in the year when the sun's apparent path is farthest north or south from the equator.

Apotheosis (uh-pah-thee-OH-sis)

1 : elevation to divine status : deification 2 : the perfect example : quintessence Among the ancient Greeks, it was sometimes thought fitting -- or simply handy, say if you wanted a god somewhere in your bloodline -- to grant someone or other god status. So they created the word "apotheosis," meaning "making into a god." (The prefix "apo-" can mean simply "quite" or "completely," and "theos" is the Greek word for "god.") There's not a lot of Greek-style apotheosizing in the 21st century, but there is hero-worship. Our extended use of "apotheosis" as "elevation to divine status" is the equivalent of "placement on a very high pedestal." Even more common these days is to use "apotheosis" in reference to a perfect example or ultimate form. For example, one might describe a movie as "the apotheosis of the sci-fi movie genre."

Elephantiasis (el-uh-fun-TYE-uh-sis)

1 : enlargement and thickening of tissues; specifically : the enormous enlargement of a limb or the scrotum caused by obstruction of lymphatics by filarial worms 2 : an undesirable usually enormous growth, enlargement, or overdevelopment In Latin "elephantiasis" referred to a kind of leprosy in which the skin takes on the appearance of an elephant's hide. The word is still used in the medical field for various infectious skin diseases in which the affected part becomes grossly enlarged. The first known figurative use of "elephantiasis" is by English author George Meredith in a letter dated December 22, 1866. In that letter, he ribs an acquaintance for his exaggerated description of the size of a mackerel, telling him that he has "become the victim of a kind of mental elephantiasis."

Preeminent (pree-EM-uh-nunt)

1 : exhibiting eminence especially in standing above others in some quality or position : prominent 2 : standing out so as to be readily perceived or noted : conspicuous 3 : jutting out : projecting What is noteworthy about the following sentence? "Mount McKinley is a prominent eminence in the Alaskan landscape." You very likely recognized two words that are closely related to "preeminent" - "prominent" and "eminence." All three words are rooted in the Latin verb stem -minēre, meaning "to stand out." But did you note as well the related word mount? Not too surprisingly, "-minēre" is related to "mons," the Latin word for "mountain." That relationship leads us in turn to "paramount," a word closely related in meaning to "preeminent."

Vanilla (vuh-NILL-uh)

1 : flavored with the extract of the vanilla bean 2 : lacking distinction : plain, ordinary, conventional For lexicographers, "vanilla" has more flavor than "chocolate," because it adds a tasty synonym for "plain" to the English menu. The noun "vanilla" was first served up in 1662, but it took almost 200 years for its adjective use to become established for things, like ice and sugar, flavored with vanilla. By the 1970s vanilla was perceived as being the plain flavor of the ice-cream world, and people began using the word itself to describe anything plain, ordinary, or conventional.

Foppery (FAH-puh-ree)

1 : foolish character or action : folly 2 : the behavior or dress of a fop The word "fop" once referred to a foolish or silly person, a meaning that is now obsolete. The current sense of "fop" -- a man who is extremely devoted to or vain about his appearance or dress -- still holds a rather quaint charm. "Fop," which derives from Middle English, is related loosely to a Middle High German word meaning "to deceive" and dates from the 15th century. The noun "foppery" arrived on the scene in English about a century later. Its "folly" sense can be found in Shakespeare's King Lear, where Edmund speaks of "the excellent foppery of the world, that, when we are sick in fortune, often the surfeit of our own behaviour, we make guilty of our disasters the sun, the moon, and the stars...."

Replete (rih-PLEET)

1 : fully or abundantly provided or filled 2 a : abundantly fed b : fat, stout 3 : complete Given that one of the roots of replete is the Latin verb plēre, meaning "to fill," it isn't surprising that the word has synonyms such as full and complete. Replete, full, and complete all indicate that something contains all that is wanted or needed or possible, but there are also subtle differences between the words. Full implies the presence or inclusion of everything that can be held, contained, or attained ("a full schedule"), while complete applies when all that is needed is present ("a complete picture of the situation"). Replete is the synonym of choice when fullness is accompanied by a sense of satiety.

Bona fides (boh-nuh-FYE-deez)

1 : good faith : sincerity 2 : evidence of one's good faith or genuineness 3 : evidence of one's qualifications or achievements "Bona fides" looks like a plural word in English, but in Latin, it's a singular noun that literally means "good faith." When "bona fides" entered English, it at first stayed very close to its Latin use -- it was found mostly in legal contexts and it meant "honesty or lawfulness of purpose," just as it did in Latin. It also retained its singular construction. Using this original sense one might speak of "a claimant whose bona fides is unquestionable," for example. But in the 20th century, use of "bona fides" began to widen, and it began to appear with a plural verb in certain contexts. For example, a sentence such as "the informant's bona fides were ascertained" is now possible.

Voracious (vaw-RAY-shus)

1 : having a huge appetite : ravenous 2 : excessively eager : insatiable Voracious is one of several English words that derive from the Latin verb vorare, which means "to eat greedily" or "to devour." Vorare is also an ancestor of devour and of the -ivorous words, which describe the diets of various animals. These include carnivorous ("meat-eating"), herbivorous ("plant-eating"), omnivorous ("feeding on both animals and plants"), frugivorous ("fruit-eating"), graminivorous ("feeding on grass"), and piscivorous ("fish-eating").

Plangent (PLAN-junt)

1 : having a loud reverberating sound 2 : having an expressive and especially plaintive quality "Plangent" adds power to our poetry and prose: the pounding of waves, the beat of wings, the tolling of a bell, the throbbing of the human heart, a lover's knocking at the door -- all have been described as plangent. The word "plangent" traces back to the Latin verb "plangere," which has two meanings. The first of those meanings, "to strike or beat," was sometimes used by Latin speakers in reference to striking one's breast in grief. This, in turn, led to the verb's second meaning: "to lament." The sense division carried over to the Latin adjective "plangens" and then into English, giving us the two distinct meanings of "plangent": "pounding" and "expressive of melancholy."

Flexuous (FLEK-shuh-wus)

1 : having curves, turns, or windings 2 : lithe or fluid in action or movement English author Thomas Hardy was fond of the word "flexuous" and described his dark-haired Tess as "the most flexuous and finely-drawn figure." "Flexuous" may be a synonym of "curvy," but it's not the word most likely to be chosen these days to describe a shapely woman. The botanists' use of "flexuous" to describe plant stems that aren't rigid is a more typical use today. But don't let that tendency deflect you from occasionally employing this ultimately quite flexible word. Stemming straight from Latin "flectere," meaning "to bend," it can also mean "undulating" or "fluid." It might, for example, be used of writing or music, or of something or someone that moves with a fluid sort of grace.

Sesquipedalian (sess-kwuh-puh-DAIL-yun)

1 : having many syllables : long 2 : using long words Horace, the ancient Roman poet known for his satire, was merely being gently ironic when he cautioned young poets against using sesquipedalia verba—"words a foot and a half long"—in his book Ars poetica, a collection of maxims about writing. But in the 17th century, English literary critics decided the word sesquipedalian could be very useful for lambasting writers using unnecessarily long words. Robert Southey used it to make two jibes at once when he wrote "the verses of [16th-century English poet] Stephen Hawes are as full of barbarous sesquipedalian Latinisms, as the prose of [the 18th-century periodical] the Rambler." The Latin prefix sesqui- is used in modern English to mean "one and a half times," as in sesquicentennial (a 150th anniversary).

Tutelary (TOO-tuh-lair-ee)

1 : having the guardianship of a person or a thing 2 : of or relating to a guardian Tutelary derives from the Latin noun tutelarius, meaning "guardian." Tutelarius, in turn, was formed by combining the word tutela ("protection" or "guardian") and -arius, a suffix that implies belonging and connection. A more familiar descendant of tutela in English might be tutelage, which initially referred to guardianship or protection, but came to be used to refer to teaching or influence. If you suspect that tutor is also related, you are correct. Tutelary can also be a noun referring to a power (such as a deity) who acts as a guardian.

Diffident (DIF-uh-dunt)

1 : hesitant in acting or speaking through lack of self-confidence 2 : reserved, unassertive 3 archaic : distrustful Diffident and confident are etymologically related antonyms, perched at opposite ends of a scale of self-assurance. Both words trace back to the Latin verb fīdere, which means "to trust." Diffident arose from a combination of fīdere and the prefix dis-, meaning "the absence of"; it has been used to refer to individuals lacking in self-trust since the 15th century. Confident arose from confīdere, a term created by combining fīdere with the intensifying prefix con-. That term has been used for self-trusting folks since at least the late 16th century. Fīdere puts the trust in several other English words too, including fidelity and fiduciary.

Amok (uh-MUK)

1 : in a murderously frenzied state 2 a : in a violently raging manner b : in an undisciplined, uncontrolled, or faulty manner "Amok" first entered English in the mid-1600s as a noun meaning "murderous frenzy." In the 16th century, visitors to Southeast Asia first reported on a psychiatric disorder known in Malay as "amok." Typically, the afflicted person (usually a Malay man) attacked bystanders in a frenzy, killing everyone in sight until he collapsed or was himself killed. By the 17th century English speakers had adopted both the noun and adverb forms of "amok," as well as the phrase "run amok," a translation of the Malay verb "mengamok." The psychopathological behavior the noun "amok" refers to is now recognized to occur worldwide in numerous countries and cultures. As for the adverb, time has mitigated its violent nature; nowadays it usually describes the actions of the unruly and not the murderous.

Clement (KLEM-unt)

1 : inclined to be merciful : lenient 2 : mild Defendants in court cases probably don't spend much time worrying about inclement weather. They're too busy hoping to meet a clement judge so they will be granted clemency. They should hope they don't meet an inclement judge! "Clement," "inclement," and "clemency" all derive from the Latin "clemens," which means "mild" or "calm." All three terms can refer to an individual's degree of mercy or to the relative pleasantness of the weather.

Autochthonous (aw-TAHK-thuh-nus)

1 : indigenous, native 2 : formed or originating in the place where found Ancient Athenians considered their ancestors the primordial inhabitants of their land, as if sprung from the very soil of the region they inhabited. Their word for any true-born Athenian, "autochthōn," itself springs from "auto-," meaning "self," and "chthōn," meaning "earth." Nowadays, the English adjective "autochthonous" is often used in somewhat meaty scientific or anthropological writing (as in "several autochthonous cases of fever broke out in the region"), but it was a "bready" context in which it made its debut. Observed English literary critic William Taylor in 1805: "The English have this great predilection for autochthonous bread and butter" (rather than French bread, one might safely presume).

Collogue (kuh-LOHG)

1 : intrigue, conspire 2 : to talk privately : confer "Collogue" has been with us since the 17th century, but beyond that little is known about its origin. In Samuel Johnson's 1755 dictionary, he defined "collogue" as "to wheedle, to flatter; to please with kind words." The "intrigue or conspire" meaning of "collogue" was also common in Johnson's day, but Johnson missed it; his oversight suggests that sense of the word was probably part of a dialect unfamiliar to him. The earliest known use of the "confer" sense of the word is found in an 1811 letter by Sir Walter Scott: "We shall meet and collogue upon it."

Puerile (PYUR-ul)

1 : juvenile 2 : childish, silly "Puerile" may call to mind qualities of youth and immaturity, but the term itself is no spring chicken. On the contrary, it's been around for more than three centuries, and its predecessors in French and Latin, the adjectives "puéril" and "puerilis," respectively, are far older. Those two terms have the same basic meaning as the English word "puerile," and they both trace to the Latin noun "puer," meaning "boy" or "child." Nowadays, "puerile" can describe the acts or utterances of an actual child, but it more often refers (usually with marked disapproval) to occurrences of childishness where adult maturity would be expected or preferred.

Antaean (an-TEE-un)

1 : mammoth 2 : having superhuman strength In Greek mythology, Antaeus was the gigantic and powerful son of Gaea the Earth goddess and Poseidon the sea god. Antaeus was a wrestler and whenever he touched his mother (the Earth), his strength was renewed, so he always won his battles even if his opponents threw him to the ground. He proved invincible until he challenged Hercules to wrestle. Hercules discovered the source of the giant's strength, lifted him off the ground, and crushed him to death. In 18th century England, the poet William Mason discovered the power of "Antaean" as a descriptive English adjective, when he used it in his Ode to the Hon. William Pitt: "If foil'd at first, resume thy course / Rise strengthen'd with Antaean force."

Crapulous (KRAP-yuh-lus)

1 : marked by intemperance especially in eating or drinking 2 : sick from excessive indulgence in liquor "Crapulous" may sound like a word that you shouldn't use in polite company, but it actually has a long and perfectly respectable history (although it's not a particularly kind way to describe someone). It is derived from the Late Latin adjective "crapulosus," which in turn traces back to the Latin word "crapula," meaning "intoxication." "Crapula" itself comes from a much older Greek word for the headache one gets from drinking. "Crapulous" first appeared in print in 1536. Approximately 200 years later, its close cousin "crapulence" arrived on the scene as a word for sickness caused by drinking. "Crapulence" later acquired the meaning "great intemperance especially in drinking," but it is not an especially common word.

Effusive (ih-FYOO-siv)

1 : marked by the expression of great or excessive emotion or enthusiasm 2 : characterized or formed by a nonexplosive outpouring of lava We've used effusive in English to describe excessive outpourings since the 17th century. In the 1800s, geologists adopted the specific sense related to flowing lava—or to hardened rock formed from flowing lava. Effusive can be traced, via the Medieval Latin adjective effūsīvus ("generating profusely, lavish"), to the Latin verb effundere ("to pour out"), which itself comes from fundere ("to pour") plus a modification of the prefix ex- ("out"). Our verb effuse has the same Latin ancestors. A person effuses when speaking effusively. Liquids can effuse as well, as in "water effusing from a pipe."

Yellow-Dog (yel-oh-DAWG)

1 : mean, contemptible 2 : of or relating to opposition to trade unionism or a labor union In the 19th century, the noun "yellow dog" developed a derogatory sense, meaning a low, despicable person. This usage probably came about from the traditional association of the color yellow with cowardice. Just before the turn of the century, "yellow-dog" started to be used by writers who were derogatorily describing organizations that expressed opposition to trade unions. The popularized term "yellow-dog contract" referred to an agreement made by an employer and employee in which the employee agrees not to join a labor union during the time he or she is employed. While such contracts proliferated in the 1920s, they were later made unenforceable in U.S. federal courts under the Norris-LaGuardia Act (1932).

Rectilinear (rek-tuh-LINN-ee-er)

1 : moving in or forming a straight line 2 : characterized by straight lines Today's word has a straightforward line of descent. It comes from the Late Latin "rectilineus," which itself comes from the Latin words "rectus" ("straight") and "linea" ("line"). A lesser-known variant, "rectilineal," derives from the same Late Latin "rectilineus" and employs the "-al" suffix rather than "-ar." The grammarian H. W. Fowler dictated in 1926 that "there is no objection to either [variant] in itself, but '-ar' is so much commoner that, as there is no difference of meaning, '-al' should be abandoned as a needless variant." "Rectilineal" still turns up occasionally in spite of the redundancy, but "rectilinear" is by far the more common choice.

Frowsy (FROW-zee)

1 : musty, stale 2 : having a slovenly or uncared-for appearance The exact origins of this approximately 330-year-old word may be lost in some frowsy, old book somewhere, but some etymologists have speculated that "frowsy" (also spelled "frowzy") shares a common ancestor with the younger, chiefly British word "frowsty," a synonym of "frowsy" in both its senses. That ancestor could be the Old French word "frouste," meaning "ruinous" or "decayed," or the now mostly obsolete English word "frough" or "frow," meaning "brittle" or "fragile." The English dramatist Thomas Otway is the first person (as far as we know) to have used "frowsy" in print. In his comedy "The Souldier's Fortune," published in 1681, the character Beau refers to another character as "a frouzy Fellmonger."

Translucent (trans-LOO-sunt)

1 : not transparent but clear enough to allow light to pass through 2 : free from disguise or falseness Look closely and you will see the same three letters in "translucent" and "elucidate," letting the family relationship between the two words shine through. Both terms descend from the Latin word "lucēre," meaning "to shine." ("Translucent" is from "lucēre" plus "trans-," which means "through.") When you "elucidate" something, you make it clear by explaining it in a way that can be easily understood -- you "shed light on" it. "Lucēre" is also the root of another bright and shining English word, "lucid," which can mean either "bright with light" or "clear and easy to understand."

Servile (SER-vul)

1 : of or befitting a menial position 2 : meanly or cravenly submissive : abject Latin served us servile with the help of servilis, itself from servus, the Latin word for "slave." Servus is also an ancestor of serve, service, and servitude. Synonyms of servile in English include subservient, slavish, and obsequious. Subservient implies the cringing manner of someone who is very conscious of having a subordinate position. Slavish suggests abject or debased servitude. Obsequious implies fawning or sycophantic compliance and exaggerated deference of manner. Servile suggests the fawning behavior of one in forced servitude.

Outlandish (out-LAN-dish)

1 : of or relating to another country : foreign 2 a : strikingly out of the ordinary : bizarre b : exceeding proper or reasonable limits or standards 3 : remote from civilization In olden times, English speakers used the phrase "outlandish man" to refer to a foreigner -- or, one who came from an outland, which originally meant "a foreign land." From here, "outlandish" broadened in usage from a word meaning "from another land" to one describing something unfamiliar or strange. Dress was a common early target for the adjective -- Henry Fielding, in Tom Jones (1749), writes of a woman "who was drest in one of your outlandish Garments." Nowadays, the word can be applied to anything that strikes us as out of the ordinary, as in the description of one man's "outlandish proposal to replace the aging Tappan Zee Bridge with a seven-mile tunnel," from the New York Times, September 16, 2001.

Fiscal (FISS-kul)

1 : of or relating to taxation, public revenues, or public debt 2 : of or relating to financial matters Fiscal derives from the Latin noun fiscus, meaning "basket" or "treasury." In ancient Rome, fiscus was the term for the treasury controlled by the emperor, where the money was literally stored in baskets and was collected primarily in the form of revenue from the provinces. Fiscus also gave English confiscate, which is most familiar as a verb meaning "to seize by or as if by authority," but it can additionally refer to the forfeiting of private property to public use. Today, we often encounter fiscal in "fiscal year," a 12-month accounting period not necessarily coinciding with the calendar year.

Ponderous (PAHN-duh-rus)

1 : of very great weight 2 : unwieldy or clumsy because of weight and size 3 : oppressively or unpleasantly dull : lifeless "Ponderous" is ultimately from the Latin word for "weight," namely, "pondus" (which also gave us "ponder" and "preponderance" and is related to "pound"). We adopted "ponderous" with the literal sense "heavy" from Anglo-French "ponderus" in the 15th century, and early on we appended a figurative sense of "weighty," that is, "serious" or "important." But we stopped using the "serious" sense of "ponderous" around 200 years ago -- perhaps because in the meantime we'd imposed on it a different figurative sense of "dull and lifeless," which we still use today.

Pedantic (pih-DAN-tik)

1 : of, relating to, or being a pedant 2 : narrowly, stodgily, and often ostentatiously learned 3 : unimaginative, dull In William Shakespeare's day, a pedant was a male schoolteacher. The word's meaning was close to that of the Italian pedante, from which the English word was adapted. Someone who was pedantic was simply a tutor or teacher. But some instructional pedants of the day must have been pompous and dull because by the early 1600s both pedant and pedantic had gained extended senses referring to anyone who was obnoxiously and tediously devoted to their own academic acumen. When describing arguments, pedantic can be used for instances where one relies too heavily on minor details as a way to show off one's intelligence.

Pianistic (pee-uh-NISS-tik)

1 : of, relating to, or characteristic of the piano 2 : skilled in or well adapted to piano playing The origin of "pianistic" won't surprise anyone -- it's ultimately from "piano," of course. But the "-istic" suffix is less than ubiquitous and bears some attention. It is used from time to time to create adjectives that correspond to nouns ending primarily in "-ism" or "-ist." (In this case, both "pianism" and "pianist" outdate "pianistic," although only by a few years.) The pedigree of "-istic" isn't too surprising; etymologists report that it comes from Middle French ("-istique"), Latin ("-isticus"), and ultimately Greek ("-istikos"). As with words formed from the suffix "-ic," words ending in "-istic" can sometimes find life as nouns -- for example, "autistic" and "characteristic."

Yeasty (YEE-stee)

1 : of, relating to, or resembling yeast 2 a : immature, unsettled b : marked by change c : full of vitality d : frivolous The word "yeast" has existed in English for as long as the language has existed. Spellings have varied over time -- in Middle English it was "yest" and in Old English "gist" or "geist" -- but the word's meaning has remained basically the same for centuries. In its first documented English uses in the 1500s, the adjective "yeasty" described people or things with a yellowish or frothy appearance similar to the froth that forms on the top of fermented beverages (such as beers or ales). Since then, a number of extended, figurative senses of "yeasty" have surfaced, all of which play in some way or another on the excitable, chemical nature of fermentation, such as by connoting unsettled activity or significant change.

Vibrissa (vye-BRISS-uh)

1 : one of the stiff hairs that are located especially about the nostrils or on other parts of the face in many mammals and that often serve as tactile organs 2 : one of the bristly feathers near the mouth of many and especially insectivorous birds that may help to prevent the escape of insects The whiskers of a cat qualify as vibrissae (that's the plural of "vibrissa"), as do the hairlike feathers around the bill of some birds -- especially the insect-feeding kind. And when scientists first used "vibrissa" in the late 17th century, they used the word to refer specifically to the hairs inside the human nostril. Science got this word, as it has many others, from Latin. "Vibrissa" comes from "vibrare," which means all of the following: "to brandish," "to wave," "to rock," and "to propel suddenly." Other "vibrare" descendents in English include "vibrate," "vibrato," and "veer."

Wildcatter (WYLDE-katt-er)

1 : one that drills wells in the hope of finding oil in territory not known to be an oil field 2 : one that promotes unsafe and unreliable enterprises; especially : one that sells stocks in such enterprises Messing with a wildcat, such as a lynx, can be a pretty risky undertaking, but ferocious felines played only an indirect role in the development of the word "wildcatter." That term has been used in English since the late 19th century, along with the verb "wildcat," which refers to the risky practice of drilling experimental oil wells in territory not known to produce oil. English-speakers associated "wildcat" with risk-taking ventures after a number of U.S. banks fraudulently issued banknotes with little or no capital to back them up. Supposedly, the banknotes issued by one particular bank bore the image of a panther or, as it was known locally, a "wildcat," and it was those risky notes that led to the financial risk-taking senses of "wildcat" and "wildcatter."

Plagiary (PLAY-jee-air-ee)

1 : one that plagiarizes 2 : plagiarism "Plagiarius," the Latin source of "plagiary," literally means "kidnapper." "Plagiarius" has its roots in the noun "plagium," meaning both "kidnapping" and "the netting of game," and ultimately in the noun "plaga," meaning "net." The literal sense of "plagiarius" was adopted into English; in the 17th and early 18th century, a kidnapper might be referred to as a "plagiary," and, in the legalese of the time, kidnapping was "plagium." But "plagiarius" also had a couple of figurative meanings -- "seducer" and "literary thief." It is the latter that has made the most enduring contribution to the English language. A "plagiary" could also be one who commits literary theft (now usually referred to as a "plagiarist") or the act or product of such theft (now, more commonly, "plagiarism").

Proscribe (proh-SCRYBE)

1 : outlaw 2 : to condemn or forbid as harmful or unlawful "Proscribe" and "prescribe" each have a Latin-derived prefix that means "before" attached to the verb "scribe" (from "scribere," meaning "to write"). Yet the two words have very distinct, often nearly opposite meanings. Why? In a way, you could say it's the law. In the 15th and 16th centuries both words had legal implications. To "proscribe" was to publish the name of a person who had been condemned, outlawed, or banished. To "prescribe" meant "to lay down a rule," including legal rules or orders.

Intoxicate (in-TAHK-suh-kayt)

1 : poison 2 a : to excite or stupefy by alcohol or a drug especially to the point where physical and mental control is markedly diminished b : to excite or elate to the point of enthusiasm or frenzy For those who think that alcohol and drugs qualify as poisons, the history of "intoxicate" offers some etymological evidence to bolster your argument. "Intoxicate" traces back to "toxicum," the Latin word for "poison" -- and the earliest meaning of "intoxicate" was just that: "to poison." This sense is now extremely rare, and we currently talk about such harmless things as flowers and perfume having the power to intoxicate. "Toxicum" turns up in the etymologies of a number of other English words including "toxic" ("poisonous"), "intoxicant" ("something that intoxicates") and "detoxify" ("to remove a poison from"), as well as a number of the names for various poisons themselves.

Vermicular (ver-MIK-yuh-ler)

1 : resembling a worm in form or motion 2 : of, relating to, or caused by worms What does the word "vermicular" have in common with the pasta on your plate? If you're eating vermicelli (a spaghetti-like pasta made in long thin strings) the answer is "vermis," a Latin noun meaning "worm." If you dig deep enough, you'll find that "vermis" is the root underlying not only "vermicular" and "vermicelli," but also "vermiculate" (which can mean either "full of worms" or "tortuous") and even "worm" itself.

Asperity (uh-SPAIR-uh-tee)

1 : roughness 2 : harshness of manner or of temper "Asperity" has had a rough history. It came to Modern English through Middle English (where it was spelled "asprete") by way of the Anglo-French ("asprete"), and ultimately derives from the Latin word "asper," which means "rough." Not only is "asper" the source of "asperity," but it also underlies the English word "exasperate" (in fact, you can see "asper" nestled in the midst of that word). Although it is far less common than "asperity" and "exasperate," the word "asper" itself is still occasionally used in English, too -- it functions as a synonym of "harsh," "bitter," or "stern."

Raj (RAHJ)

1 : rule; especially often capitalized : the former British rule of the Indian subcontinent 2 : the period of British rule in India When British trading posts were established in the Indian subcontinent in the 17th century, English speakers were immersed in the rich languages of the region, and Europeans quickly began adopting local words into their own vocabularies. By the end of the 1700s, Hindi contributions to our language ran from "ayah" (a term for a nurse or maid) to "zamindar" (a collector of land taxes or revenues). When English speakers borrowed "raj" around 1800, they used exactly the same spelling and meaning as its Hindi parent (the Hindi word in turn traces to an older term that is related to the Sanskrit word for "king"). Other words of Hindi descent that are now common in English include "chintz," "pundit," "bungalow," "veranda," "seersucker," and "bandanna."

Eclectic (ih-KLEK-tik)

1 : selecting what appears to be best in various doctrines, methods, or styles 2 : composed of elements drawn from various sources; also : heterogeneous "Eclectic" comes from a Greek verb meaning "to select" and was originally applied to ancient philosophers who were not committed to any single system of philosophy; instead, these philosophers selected whichever doctrines pleased them from every school of thought. Later, the word's use broadened to cover other selective natures. "Hard by, the central slab is thick with books / Diverse, but which the true eclectic mind / Knows how to group, and gather out of each / Their frequent wisdoms...." In this 19th century example from a poem by Arthur Joseph Munby, for example, the word is applied to literature lovers who cull selective works from libraries.

Anodyne (AN-uh-dyne)

1 : serving to alleviate pain 2 : not likely to offend or arouse tensions : innocuous Anodyne came to English via Latin from Greek anṓdynos (meaning "free from pain, causing no pain, harmless, allaying pain"), and it has been used as both an adjective and a noun ("something that soothes, calms, or comforts") since the 16th century. It has sometimes been used of things that dull or lull the senses and render painful experiences less so. British statesman Edmund Burke used it this way, for example, in 1790 when he referred to flattery as an "anodyne draft of oblivion" that renders one (in this particular case, the deposed King Louis XVI) forgetful of the flatterer's true feelings. Nowadays, in addition to describing things that dull pain, anodyne can also refer to that which doesn't cause discomfort in the first place.

Gallant (GAL-unt)

1 : showy in dress or bearing : smart 2 a : splendid, stately b : spirited, brave c : nobly chivalrous and often self-sacrificing 3 : courteously and elaborately attentive Gallant exists in modern English primarily as an adjective, but it entered the language first as a noun. In the 14th century, when tales of Camelot populated the mythology of English speakers, a gallant was a young man of fashion—imagine perhaps a young and smartly dressed Arthur or Lancelot. The word had been borrowed in the forms galaunt and gallaunt from Middle French, the ultimate source being Middle French galer, a verb meaning "to squander in pleasures, have a good time, enjoy oneself." Galer also bestowed upon English the adjective gallant, which joined the language in the 15th century. A verb gallant meaning "to pay court to a lady" entered the language in the late 17th century as a derivative of the English adjective, but it is rarely encountered today.

Blarney (BLAR-nee)

1 : skillful flattery : blandishment 2 : nonsense, humbug The village of Blarney in County Cork, Ireland, is home to Blarney Castle, and in the southern wall of that edifice lies the famous Blarney Stone. Legend has it that anyone who kisses the Blarney Stone will gain the gift of skillful flattery, but that gift must be attained at the price of some limber maneuvering—you have to lie down and hang your head over a precipice to reach and kiss the stone. One story claims the word blarney gained popularity as a word for "flattery" after Queen Elizabeth I of England used it to describe the flowery (but apparently less than honest) cajolery of McCarthy Mor, who was then the lord of Blarney Castle.

Cordial (KOR-jul)

1 : tending to revive, cheer, or invigorate 2 a : sincerely or deeply felt b : warmly and genially affable "Cordial" shares the Latin root "cor" with "concord" (meaning "harmony") and "discord" (meaning "conflict"). "Cor" means "heart," and each of these "cor" descendants has something to do with the heart, at least figuratively. "Concord," which comes from "con-" (meaning "together" or "with") plus "cor," suggests that one heart is with another. "Discord" combines the prefix "dis-" (meaning "apart") with "cor," and it implies that hearts are apart. When "cordial" was first used in the 14th century, it literally meant "of or relating to the heart," but this sense has not been in use since the 17th century. Today anything that is "cordial," be it a welcome, a hello, or an agreement, comes from the heart in a figurative sense.

Sinew (SIN-yoo)

1 : tendon; especially : one dressed for use as a cord or thread 2 a : solid resilient strength : power b : the chief supporting force : mainstay -- usually used in plural Many parts of the body have come to have figurative meanings in English. One can have an eye for interior design, for example, or the stomach for a fight. "Muscle," of course, can mean "strength," and so can "sinew," a word for the tissue that ties muscle to bone -- more commonly known as a tendon. (For a while, "sinew" also meant "nerve," but that usage is obsolete.) The use of "sinew" to mean "the chief supporting force" ties into its anatomical function as a stabilizing unit. "Sinew" derives via Middle English from Old English "seono"; it is also related to Old High German "senawa" ("sinew") and Sanskrit "syati" ("he binds").

Spilth (SPILTH)

1 : the act or an instance of spilling 2 a : something spilled b : refuse, rubbish "Spilth" is formed from the verb "spill" and the noun suffix "-th." This suffix comes to us from Old English and is used to indicate an act or process (as in "spilth" or the more familiar "growth") or a state or condition (as in "breadth" or "length"). The earliest known use of "spilth" is in Shakespeare's Timon of Athens (c. 1607-08): "When our vaults have wept / With drunken spilth of wine...." In the senses of an act of spilling or of something spilled, English speakers today are much more likely to use the noun "spill" or sometimes "spillage," a word which, like "spilth," combines the verb "spill" with a suffix ("-age," this time borrowed from Old French) that can indicate an act or process.

Valhalla (val-HAL-uh)

1 : the great hall in Norse mythology where the souls of heroes slain in battle are received 2 : a place of honor, glory, or happiness : heaven In Norse mythology, the souls of warriors who died nobly in battle were brought to a magnificent palace, where they spent their days fighting for diversion, immune from lasting injury, and their evenings lustily feasting on freshly killed boar and quaffing the free-flowing mead. In Old Norse, the word for this warrior heaven is "Valhǫll" (literally, "hall of the slain"); in German, it is "Walhalla." English speakers picked up the name as "Valhalla" in the 18th century. Nowadays, we can use the word figuratively, and induction or admission into a modern-day Valhalla doesn't require passing from this life. It can be a place of honor (a hall of fame, for example) or a place of bliss (as in "an ice cream lover's Valhalla").

Danelaw (DAYN-law)

1 : the law in force in the part of England held by the Danes before the Norman Conquest 2 : the part of England under the Danelaw When the Vikings invaded the east coast of England in the late 800s, their conquests reached as far as the southern kingdom of Wessex, where they were halted by the army of Alfred the Great. The invaders, many of whom were Danish, retreated back north and east to the lands they had conquered, and settled there. This region -- stretching from Essex, just above London, through East Anglia and the eastern Midlands, all the way up to Northumbria -- was distinguished from the surrounding territory by its unique legal practices, which, because they were decidedly Danish in influence, made up what Old English folks down south called the "Dena lagu" or, in today's English, the "Danes' law." Historians later applied the term "Danelaw" not only to the legal system of the region but to that geographical area itself.

Dog Days (DAWG-DAYZ)

1 : the period between early July and early September when the hot sultry weather of summer usually occurs in the northern hemisphere 2 : a period of stagnation or inactivity Dogs aren't the only creatures uncomfortable in oppressive heat, so why does a dog get singled out in "dog days"? The dog here is actually the Dog Star, which is also called "Sirius." The star has long been associated with sultry weather in the northern hemisphere because it rises simultaneously with the sun during the hottest days of summer. In the ancient Greek constellation system, this star (called "Seirios" in Greek) was considered the hound of the hunter Orion and was given the epithet "Kyon," meaning "dog." The Greek writer Plutarch referred to the hot days of summer as "hēmerai kynades" (literally, "dog days"), and a Latin translation of this expression as "dies caniculares" is the source of our English phrase.

Impresario (im-pruh-SAHR-ee-oh)

1 : the promoter, manager, or conductor of an opera or concert company 2 : a person who puts on or sponsors an entertainment (such as a television show or sports event) 3 : manager, director English borrowed impresario directly from Italian, whose noun impresa means "undertaking." A close relative is the English word emprise ("an adventurous, daring, or chivalric enterprise"), which, like impresario, traces back to the Latin verb prehendere, meaning "to seize." (That verb is also the source of apprehend, comprehend, and prehensile.) English speakers were impressed enough with impresario to borrow it in the 1700s, at first using it, as the Italians did, especially of opera company managers. It should be noted that, despite their apparent similarities, impress and impresario are not related. Impress is a descendant of the Latin pressare, a form of the verb premere, which means "to press."

Synchronicity (sing-kruh-NISS-uh-tee)

1 : the quality or fact of being simultaneous 2 : the coincidental occurrence of events and especially psychic events "It happens to everyone sooner or later: A certain number pops up wherever you go; an old friend you haven't seen in 20 years since high school appears the same day you're looking at her picture in a yearbook; you're singing a song and turn on the radio -- and the same song is playing." Such coincidences, here described by Thomas Ropp in the Arizona Republic, March 29,1999, are examples of synchronicity. The concept is linked to the psychology of Carl Jung. Jung didn't coin the word (the "simultaneousness" sense of "synchronicity" was already in use), but he gave it special importance in his writings. Jung believed that such "meaningful coincidences" play an important role in our lives. Today, some people even look to synchronicities for spiritual guidance.

Jurisprudence (joor-us-PROO-dunss)

1 : the science or philosophy of law 2 a : a system or body of law b : the course of court decisions as distinguished from legislation and doctrine 3 : a department of law "For a farewell to our jurisprudent, I wish unto him the gladsome light of jurisprudence...." With this valedictory to English jurist Sir Thomas Littleton, another jurist, Sir Edward Coke, welcomed two new words into English. In 1628, his jurisprudence meant "knowledge of or skill in law," a now archaic sense that reflects the meaning of the word's root. Jurisprudence goes back to Latin prudentia juris (literally "skill in law"), from which was derived the Late Latin formation jurisprudentia, and subsequently the English word. The noun jurisprudent means "one skilled in law"—in other words, a jurist. There's also jurisprude, a somewhat rare 20th-century back-formation created from jurisprudence with influence from prude. It means "one who makes ostentatious show of jurisprudential learning."

Funambulism (fyoo-NAM-buh-liz-um)

1 : tightrope walking 2 : a show especially of mental agility Back in ancient Rome, tightrope walking was a popular spectacle at public gatherings. The Latin word for "tightrope walker" is "funambulus," from the Latin "funis," meaning "rope," plus "ambulare," meaning "to walk." It doesn't take any funambulism on our part to see how the word for an impressive act of physical skill and agility came to mean an impressive act of mental skill or agility. That extended sense of the word has been around since at least 1886, when British academic and writer Augustus Jessopp described the act of diagramming sentences as "horrible lessons of ghastly grammar and dreary funambulism."

Shrive (SHRYVE)

1 : to administer the sacrament of reconciliation to 2 : to free from guilt We wouldn't want to give the history of shrive short shrift, so here's the whole story. It began when the Latin verb scribere (meaning "to write") found its way onto the tongues of certain Germanic peoples who brought it to Britain in the early Middle Ages. Because it was often used for laying down directions or rules in writing, Old English speakers used their form of the term, scrīfan, to mean "to prescribe or impose." The Church adopted scrīfan to refer to the act of assigning penance to sinners and, later, to hearing confession and administering absolution. Today shrift, the noun form of shrive, makes up half of "short shrift," a phrase meaning "little or no attention or consideration." Originally, "short shrift" was the barely adequate time for confession before an execution.

Conjecture (kun-JEK-cher)

1 : to arrive at or deduce by surmise or guesswork : guess 2 : to form a supposition or inference When the noun conjecture entered English in the 14th century, it referred to the act of interpreting signs or omens especially to make prognostications. That sense is now obsolete, but by the 16th century both the noun and verb conjecture had acquired the meanings of speculation and inference that we use today. Conjecture derives via Middle English and Middle French from the Latin verb conicere ("to throw together"), a combination of com- ("together") and jacere ("to throw").

Drub (DRUB)

1 : to beat severely 2 : to berate critically 3 : to defeat decisively Sportswriters often use drub, but the term's history reveals that it wasn't always a sporting word. When drub was first used in English, it referred to a method of punishment that involved beating the soles of a culprit's feet with a stick or cudgel. The term was apparently brought to England in the 17th century by travelers who reported observing the punitive practice in Asia. The ultimate origin of drub is uncertain, but some etymologists have speculated that it may have evolved from the Arabic word ḍaraba, meaning "to beat."

Burgle (BER-gul)

1 : to break into and steal from 2 : to commit burglary against "Burglary," which means "forcible entry into a building especially at night with the intent to commit a crime (as theft)," and "burglar" ("one who commits burglary") have been with us since the 16th century. "Burgle" and its synonym "burglarize" didn't break into the language until the 19th century, however, arriving almost simultaneously around 1870. "Burgle" is a back-formation (that is, a word formed by removing a suffix or prefix) from "burglar." "Burglarize" comes from "burglar" as well, with the addition of the familiar "-ize" ending. Both verbs were once disparaged by grammarians ("burgle" was considered to be "facetious" and "burglarize" was labeled "colloquial"), but they are now generally accepted. "Burglarize" is slightly more common in American English, whereas "burgle" seems to be preferred in British English.

Exact (ig-ZAKT)

1 : to call for forcibly or urgently and obtain 2 : to call for as necessary or desirable Exact derives from a form of the Latin verb exigere, meaning "to drive out, to demand, or to measure." (Another descendant of exigere is the word exigent, which can mean "demanding" or "requiring immediate attention.") Exigere, in turn, was formed by combining the prefix ex- with the verb agere, meaning "to drive." Agere has been a prolific source of words for English speakers; it is the ancestor of agent, react, mitigate, and navigate, just to name a few. Incidentally, if you are looking for a synonym of the verb exact, you could try demand, call for, claim, or require.

Abdicate (AB-dih-kayt)

1 : to cast off : discard 2 : to relinquish (as sovereign power) formally 3 : to renounce a throne, high office, dignity, or function Give it up. English includes many words for the process of throwing in the towel, especially for relinquishing a job or elected office. "Abdicate," a derivative of the prefix "ab-" (meaning "from," "away," or "off") and the Latin verb "dicare" (meaning to "proclaim"), has been used primarily for those who give up sovereign power or who evade a very serious responsibility (such as parental responsibility). "Renounce" is often used as a synonym of "abdicate," but it adds to that term the suggestion that an individual is giving up something as a sacrifice to achieve a far greater end. "Resign" is another option when you are describing a more matter-of-fact departure from a job, office, or trust.

Supersede (soo-per-SEED)

1 : to cause to be set aside 2 : to take the place or position of 3 : to displace in favor of another "Supersede" ultimately derives from the Latin verb "supersedēre," meaning "to be superior to," but it came to us through Middle English, where it was rendered "superceden." It may be no surprise that modern English speakers can be confused about how to spell this word -- it sometimes turns up as "supercede." In fact, the earliest record of the word in English shows it spelled with a "c" (although the "s" spelling has been the dominant choice since it first appeared in the 16th century). Although both spellings can be etymologically justified, "supersede" continues to be regarded as the "correct" version. "Supercede" can be considered a variant (albeit the less frequent one) after several centuries of use, but it still draws criticism.

Adjure (uh-JOOR)

1 : to command solemnly under or as if under oath or penalty of a curse 2 : to urge or advise earnestly "Adjure" and its synonyms "entreat," "importune," and "implore" all mean "to ask earnestly." "Entreat" implies an effort to persuade or overcome resistance. "Importune" goes further, adding a sense of annoying persistence in trying to break down resistance to a request. "Implore," on the other hand, suggests a great urgency or anguished appeal on the part of the speaker. "Adjure" implies advising as well as pleading, and is sometimes accompanied by the invocation of something sacred. Be careful not to confuse "adjure" with "abjure," meaning "to renounce solemnly" or "to abstain from." Both words are rooted in Latin "jurare," meaning "to swear," but "adjure" includes the prefix "ad-," meaning "to" or "toward," whereas "abjure" draws on "ab-," meaning "from" or "away."

Embarrass (im-BAIR-us)

1 : to confuse or disconcert 2 : to involve in financial difficulties 3 : to cause to experience self-conscious distress 4 : to hinder or impede If you've ever been so embarrassed that you felt like you were caught up in a noose of shame you may have some insight into the origins of the word "embarrass." The word can be traced back through French and Spanish to the Portuguese word "embaraçar," which was itself probably formed as a combination of the prefix "em-" (from Latin "in-") and "baraça," the Portuguese word for "noose." Though "embarrass" has had various meanings throughout its history in English, these days it most often implies making someone feel or look foolish.

Corrode (kuh-ROHD)

1 : to eat away by degrees as if by gnawing; especially : to wear away gradually usually by chemical action 2 : to weaken or destroy gradually : undermine 3 : to undergo corrosion "Corrode" comes from Latin "corrodere" ("to gnaw to pieces"), a combination of the suffix "cor-" (used here as an intensifier with the meaning of "completely") and the verb "rodere" ("to gnaw"). At one time, "corrode" was used to literally indicate the action of gnawing away, as in "woodworms corroded the wood." But it is the more figurative senses from the action of gnawing or eating away that have persisted, as in "salt water corroded the iron" or "graphic content on television and the Internet is corroding the moral fabric of society."

Scintillate (SIN-tuh-layt)

1 : to emit sparks : spark 2 : to emit quick flashes as if throwing off sparks : sparkle In addition to its literal use, "scintillate" can mean "to sparkle" in a figurative sense -- that is, to be lively, or to perform brilliantly. It is also frequently seen in its adjectival form, "scintillating," with the meaning "very clever, amusing, and interesting," as in "a scintillating discussion." The history of "scintillate" began with a spark -- or with the Latin word for "spark," at least. That word, "scintilla," is also the source of other words in English. There is "scintilla" itself (used as a noun meaning "a little bit"), "scintillant" (an adjective describing something that scintillates), and "scintillation" (which, among other things, means "a brilliant outburst").

Regale (rih-GAIL)

1 : to entertain sumptuously : to feast with delicacies 2 : to give pleasure or amusement to "Regale" has been an English verb since at least 1656; it was adapted from French "régaler," which has the same meaning as "regale." The French verb goes back to Middle French "galer," which means "to have a good time," and to Old French "gale," meaning "pleasure." ("Gala," meaning "a festive celebration," is from the same source.) "Regale" also has a history as a noun meaning "a sumptuous feast." That use dates back to at least 1670, when someone penned the following notice for posterity: "My Lord Duke will not be able to get away yet..., all the regales that are intended for him not being yet at an end." (The lord referred to is the Duke of Buccleuch, whose regales ended once and for all 15 years later when he was beheaded.)

Delegate (DEL-uh-gayt)

1 : to entrust to another 2 : to appoint as one's representative 3 : to assign responsibility or authority To "delegate" is literally or figuratively to send another in one's place, an idea that is reflected in the word's origin; it is a descendant of Latin "legare," meaning "to send as an emissary." Other English words that can be traced back to "legare" include "legate" ("a usually official emissary"), "legacy," "colleague," and "relegate." The noun "delegate," meaning "a person acting for another," entered English in the 15th century, followed by the verb in the next century.

Repine (rih-PYNE)

1 : to feel or express dejection or discontent : complain 2 : to long for something In longing, one can "repine over" something ("repining over her lost past"), or one can "pine for" something. The two words, used thus, mean close to the same thing, but not exactly. "Pining" is intense longing for what one once knew. "Repine" adds an element of discontent to any longing -- an element carried over from its first sense ("to feel or express dejection or discontent"), which has been in use since the 16th century. (Washington Irving used the first sense in his 1820 work The Sketch Book: "Through the long and weary day he repines at his unhappy lot.") "Pine" and "repine" are from Old English "pinian" ("to suffer") and probably ultimately from Latin "poena" ("punishment"). "Poena" also gave us our word "pain."

Fester (FESS-ter)

1 : to generate pus 2 : putrefy, rot 3 a : to cause increasing poisoning, irritation, or bitterness : rankle b : to undergo or exist in a state of progressive deterioration "Fester" first entered English as a noun in the early 14th century. It was originally used as we now use the word "fistula," for an abnormal passage leading from an abscess or hollow organ and permitting passage of fluids or secretions. It later came to refer to a sore that discharges pus. The connection between "fester" and "fistula" is no accident -- both descend from Latin "fistula," which has the same meaning as the English word but can also mean "pipe" or "tube" or "a kind of ulcer." "Fester" made the trip from Latin to English by way of Anglo-French. By the end of the 14th century, it was also being used as a verb meaning "to generate pus," a use that has since developed extended senses implying a worsening state.

Deep-six (DEEP-SIKS)

1 : to get rid of : discard, eliminate 2 slang : to throw overboard Before the introduction of shipboard sonar, water depth was measured by hand with a sounding line [a line or wire weighted at one end for sounding]. This was generally a rope weighted at one end, with bits of leather called marks tied on at intervals to measure the fathoms [a unit of length equal to six feet (1.83 meters) used especially for measuring the depth of water —sometimes used in the singular when qualified by a number]. Between the marks, fathoms were estimated by deeps [any of the fathom points on a sounding line other than the marks]. The leadsman (pronounced LEDZ-mun) [a man who uses a sounding lead to determine depth of water] lowered the line into the water and called out the depth as the rope passed through his hands: "By the mark twain!" at two fathoms; "By the deep six!" at six fathoms. Perhaps due to an association with "six feet under" (dead and buried), to give something the deep six (or to deep-six it) was to throw it overboard, or, by extension, to discard it. In the mid-20th century, deep-six made landfall; since then it has been used as much by landlubbers as by old salts.

Advise (ud-VYZE)

1 : to give advice to : counsel 2 : inform, notify 3 : consult, confer "Advise" was borrowed into Middle English in the 14th century from Anglo-French "aviser," itself from "avis," meaning "opinion." That "avis" is not to be confused with the Latin word "avis," meaning "bird" (an ancestor of such English words as "avian" and "aviation"). Instead, it results from the Old French phrase "ce m'est a vis" ("that appears to me"), a partial translation of Latin "mihi visum est," "it seemed so to me" or "I decided." We advise you to remember that "advise" is spelled with an "s," whereas the related noun "advice" includes a stealthy "c."

Herald (HAIR-uld)

1 : to give notice of : announce 2 a : to greet especially with enthusiasm : hail b : publicize 3 : to signal the approach of : foreshadow While herald the verb is more common today, herald the noun is older. When the word was first used in the early 14th century, it referred to an official at a tournament (one of those knightly sporting events the Middle Ages are famous for); the herald's duties included making announcements, hence the word's uses relating to announcements, literal and metaphorical. The word is ultimately Germanic in origin, coming from a long-lost word that can be translated as "one directing or having authority over a body of armed men," though like so many words of 14th century vintage, it came to English by way of Anglo-French. The resemblance between herald and the name Harold is not coincidental: Harold is a modern form of Chariovalda, the name of a 1st century C.E. leader of the Batavi, a tribe who lived on the lower Rhine. The Germanic source of Chariovalda, turned into a generic noun, is also the source of herald.

Retrocede (ret-roh-SEED)

1 : to go back : recede 2 : to cede back (something, such as a territory) Retrocede is a 17th-century adaptation of Latin retrocēdere, which was formed by combining the prefix retro-, meaning "back" or "backward," with the verb cēdere, "to go or move away." Retrocede has a bit of a twist, however, because cēdere can also mean "cede" ("to yield or assign") and English cede traces back through French and Latin to this other meaning of cēdere. Other descendants of cēdere include accede, concede, intercede, precede, recede, secede, and even cede itself.

Hie (HYE)

1 : to go quickly : hasten 2 : to cause (oneself) to go quickly "Hie" has been part of English since the 12th century, and it stems from the even hoarier "hīgian," an Old English word meaning "to strive" or "to hasten." "Hie" enjoyed a high popularity period from the 16th to the 19th centuries, and you're sure to encounter it in the literature of those times -- writers from Shakespeare to Twain penned it into their prose. But don't get the idea that "hie" is just a word of the past; it regularly pops up in current publications as well -- often, though not always, in contexts in which the author is wanting to approximate an old-timey way of communicating.

Enthrall (in-THRAWL)

1 : to hold in or reduce to slavery 2 : to hold spellbound : charm In Middle English, "enthrallen" meant "to hold in thrall." "Thrall" then, as now, meant "bondage" or "slavery"; it comes from an Old Norse word, "thraell," which is probably related to an Old High German word for servant. In the 16th century, the first known figurative use of "enthrall" appeared in the following advice, translated from a Latin text by Thomas Newton: "A man should not . . . enthrall his credit and honour to Harlots." But we rarely use even this sense of mental or moral enslavement anymore. Today the word is often used in its participle form, "enthralled," which sometimes means "temporarily spellbound" ("we listened, enthralled, to the old woman's oral history"), but more often suggests a state of being generally captivated, delighted, or taken by some particular thing.

Ferret (FAIR-ut)

1 : to hunt game with ferrets 2 : to drive out of a hiding place 3 : to find and bring to light by searching -- usually used with out Since the 14th century, English speakers have used "ferret" as the name of a small domesticated animal of the weasel family. The word came to us by way of Anglo-French and can be traced back to Latin "fur," meaning "thief." These days ferrets are often kept as pets, but prior to that they were typically used to hunt rabbits, rats, and other vermin, and to drive them from their underground burrows. By the 15th century, the verb "ferret" was being used of the action of hunting with ferrets. By the late 16th century, the verb had taken on figurative uses as well. Today, we most frequently encounter the verb "ferret" in the sense of "to find and bring to light by searching."

Suborn (suh-BORN)

1 : to induce secretly to do an unlawful thing 2 : to induce to commit perjury; also : to obtain (perjured testimony) from a witness The Latin word that gave us "suborn" in the early part of the 16th century is "subornare," which translates literally as "to secretly furnish or equip." The "sub-" that brings the "secretly" meaning to "subornare" more commonly means "under" or "below," but it has its stealthy denotation in the etymologies of several other English words, including "surreptitious" (from "sub-" and "rapere," meaning "to seize") and the verb "suspect" (from "sub-" or "sus-" and "specere," meaning "to look at"). The "ornare" of "subornare" is also at work in the words "ornate," "adorn," and "ornament."

Chastise (chass-TYZE)

1 : to inflict punishment on (as by whipping) 2 : to censure severely : castigate "Chastise," "castigate," "chasten," "correct," "discipline," and "punish" all imply the infliction of a penalty in return for wrongdoing. "Chastise" often applies to verbal censure or denunciation ("he chastised his son for neglecting his studies"). "Castigate" usually implies a severe, typically public censure ("an editorial castigating the entire city council"), while "chasten" suggests any affliction or trial that leaves someone humbled or subdued ("chastened by a landslide election defeat"). "Correct" implies punishment aimed at reforming an offender ("the function of prison is to correct the wrongdoer"), and "discipline," a punishment or chastisement intended to bring a wrongdoer under control ("parents disciplining their children"). Finally, "punish" implies the imposition of a penalty for a misdeed ("punished for stealing").

Fathom (FA-thum)

1 : to make a searching exploratory investigation : probe 2 : to take soundings 3 : to measure by a sounding line 4 : to penetrate and come to understand Fathom comes from Old English fæthm, meaning "outstretched arms." The noun fathom, which now commonly refers to a measure (especially of depth) of six feet, was originally used for the distance, fingertip to fingertip, created by stretching one's arms straight out from the sides of the body. In one of its earliest uses, the verb fathom was a synonym of our modern embrace: to fathom someone was to clasp the person in your arms. By the 1600s fathom had taken to the seas, as the verb was used to mean "to measure by a sounding line." At the same time, the verb also developed senses synonymous with probe or investigate, and it is now frequently used to refer to the act of getting to the bottom of something, figuratively speaking.

Scour (SKOW-er)

1 : to move about quickly especially in search 2 : to go through or range over in or as if in a search There are two verbs "scour" in English. One means to clean something by rubbing it hard with a rough object; that sense, from the 14th century, probably derives via Middle Dutch and Old French from a Late Latin verb meaning "to clean off." Today's "scour," however, dates from the 13th century and is believed to derive via Middle English from Old Norse "skŪr," meaning "shower" (it also shares a distant relationship with our word "shower"). Many disparate things can be scoured. For example, one can scour an area (as in "scoured the woods in search of the lost dog") or publications (as in "scouring magazine and newspaper articles").

Stand pat (STAND-PAT)

1 : to play one's hand as dealt in draw poker without drawing 2 : to oppose or resist change If you stand pat in draw poker you're betting on the cards in your hand being better than any you're likely to draw. It didn't take long for "stand pat" to move from the poker table, where it first appeared in the late 1800s, to the realm of politics; by the early 20th century, to stand pat was to oppose any change in U.S. tariff policy. The term continues to be used mainly in U.S. English, where it's applied to everything from a coach's decision not to change out players during a game to a homeowner's decision not to refinance. The nouns "standpatter" ("one who resists or opposes change") and "standpattism" ("resistance to change" or "reluctance to take positive action") are also used, although generally only in political contexts.

Countermand (KOUNT-er-mand)

1 : to revoke (a command) by a contrary order 2 : to recall or order back by a superseding contrary order In the military, one's mandate is to follow the commands (and sometimes the "countermands") of the officers. Doing their bidding is not particularly commendable -- it's simply mandatory. The Latin verb "mandare," meaning "to entrust" or "to order," is the authority behind "countermand." It's also behind the words "mandate," "command," "demand," "commend" (which can mean "to entrust" as well as "to praise"), and "mandatory." "Countermand" came to English via Anglo French, where the prefix "cuntre-" ("against") was combined with the verb "mander" ("to command"). It has been a part of our language since the 1400s.

Irrupt (ih-RUPT)

1 : to rush in forcibly or violently 2 : to undergo a sudden upsurge in numbers especially when natural ecological balances and checks are disturbed 3 : to become active or violent especially suddenly : erupt "Irrupt" and "erupt" have existed as discrete words since the 1800s. Both are descendants of the Latin verb "rumpere," which means "to break," but "irrupt" has affixed to it the prefix "ir-" (in the sense "into") while "erupt" begins with the prefix "e-" (meaning "out"). So "to irrupt" was originally to rush in, and "to erupt" was to burst out. But it's sometimes hard to distinguish the precise direction of a violent rush, and "irrupt" came to be used as a synonym of "erupt" in the senses "to become active or violent especially suddenly" and "to break forth," as in our example sentence.

Absolve (ub-ZAHLV)

1 : to set (someone) free from an obligation or the consequences of guilt 2 : to pardon or forgive a sin usually as a sacrament The act of absolving can be seen as releasing someone from blame or sin, or "loosening" the hold that responsibility has on a person, which provides a hint about the word's origins. Absolve was adopted into Middle English in the 15th century from the Latin verb absolvere, formed by combining the prefix ab- ("from, away, off") with solvere, meaning "to loosen." Absolve also once had additional senses of "to finish or accomplish" and "to resolve or explain," but these are now obsolete. Solvere is also the ancestor of the English words solve, dissolve, resolve, solvent, and solution.

Shilly-shally (SHIL-ee-SHAL-ee)

1 : to show hesitation or lack of decisiveness or resolution 2 : dawdle Shall I? Shall I? When you just don't know what to do, it may feel as if asking that question twice will somehow help you decide. The early 1600s saw the use of the phrase "stand shall I, shall I" to describe vacillation or indecision. By 1700, the phrase had been altered to "shill I, shall I," most likely because people just liked the vowel alteration (that's the same process that gave us "dillydally" and "wishy-washy"). Soon after, the adverbial "shilly-shally" made the jump from slang to literature, and by the late 1700s it was being used not only as an adverb, but also as an adjective, a noun, and a verb.

Burke (BERK)

1 : to suppress quietly or indirectly 2 : bypass, avoid When an elderly pensioner died at the Edinburgh boarding house of William Hare in 1827, the proprietor and his friend William Burke decided to sell the body to a local anatomy school. The sale was so lucrative that they decided to make sure they could repeat it. They began luring nameless wanderers (who were not likely to be missed) into the house, getting them drunk, then smothering or strangling them and selling the bodies. The two disposed of at least 15 victims before murdering a local woman whose disappearance led to their arrest. At Burke's execution (by hanging), irate crowds shouted "Burke him!" As a result of the case, the word "burke" became a byword first for death by suffocation or strangulation and eventually for any cover-up.

Advert (ad-VERT)

1 : to turn the mind or attention 2 : to call attention in the course of speaking or writing : make reference You may be familiar with the noun "advert," which is used, especially in British sources, as a shortened form of "advertising." That's one way to use "advert," but it has also been used as a verb in English since the 15th century. There's a hint about the origin of the verb in the idea of "turning" the mind or attention to something; the word derives via Anglo-French from the Latin verb "advertere," which in turn comes from Latin "vertere," meaning "to turn." "Vertere" is the ancestor of a number of words in English, including "controversy," "divert," "invert," "revert," and even "versatile." In addition, we'd like to turn your attention to one particular ''vertere" descendant: "avert," meaning "to avoid." Be careful to avoid mixing this one up with "advert."

Succumb (suh-KUM)

1 : to yield to superior strength or force or overpowering appeal or desire 2 : to be brought to an end (such as death) by the effect of destructive or disruptive forces If the idea of someone succumbing brings to mind the image of a person lying down before more powerful forces, you have an excellent grasp of the Latin that gave English succumb. Succumb derives from the French word succomber, which is itself from the Latin word succumbere, meaning "to fall down" or "to yield." Succumbere was formed by combining sub-, meaning "under," with -cumbere, meaning "to lie down." The earliest application of succumb in the late 15th century was as a transitive verb meaning "to bring down" or "to overwhelm," but this sense is now obsolete. The current sense of "to yield" first appeared in print in the early 17th century; the more specific use—yielding to a disease or other destructive force—followed decades later.

Palimpsest (PAL-imp-sest)

1 : writing material (as a parchment or tablet) used one or more times after earlier writing has been erased 2 : something having usually diverse layers or aspects apparent beneath the surface In olden days, writing surfaces were so rare that they were often used more than once. "Palimpsest" originally described an early form of recycling in which an old document was erased to make room for a new one when parchment ran short. Fortunately for modern scholars, the erasing process wasn't completely effective, so the original could often be distinguished under the newer writing. De republica, by Roman statesman and orator Cicero, is one of many documents thus recovered from a palimpsest. Nowadays, the word "palimpsest" can refer not only to such a document but to anything that has multiple layers.

Pertain (per-TAYN)

1 a (1) : to belong as a part, member, accessory, or product (2) : to belong as an attribute, feature, or function (3) : to belong as a duty or right b : to be appropriate to something 2 : to have reference Pertain comes to English via Anglo-French from the Latin verb pertinēre, meaning "to reach to" or "to belong." Pertinēre, in turn, was formed by combining the prefix per- (meaning "through") and tenēre ("to hold"). Tenēre is a popular root in English words and often manifests with the -tain spelling that can be seen in pertain. Other descendants include abstain, contain, detain, maintain, obtain, retain, and sustain, to name a few of the more common ones. Not every -tain word has tenēre in its ancestry, though. Ascertain, attain, and certain are among the exceptions. And a few tenēre words don't follow the usual pattern: tenacious and tenure are two.

Eddy (EDD-ee)

1 a : a current of water or air running contrary to the main current; especially : a circular current : whirlpool b : something moving similarly 2 : a contrary or circular current (as of thought or policy) "He walked by the stream, far from the houses, and in the light and warmth of the sun fell asleep on the bank. When he awoke and was afoot again, he lingered there yet a little longer, watching an eddy that turned and turned purposeless, until the stream absorbed it, and carried it on to the sea." This use of "eddy" (from A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens) reflects a sense that has been swirling around English for centuries; the earliest documented uses of "eddy" to refer to water currents date from the 15th century. Etymologists trace the word to the Scottish dialect term "ydy," which had the same basic meaning as our modern term and may in turn come from the Old Norse word "itha."

Waif (WAYF)

1 a : a piece of property found (as washed up by the sea) but unclaimed b : stolen goods thrown away by a thief in flight 2 a : something found without an owner and especially by chance b : a stray person or animal; especially : a homeless child Today's "waif" came from Anglo-French "waif," meaning "stray" or "unclaimed," and, further back, probably from a Scandinavian ancestor. It entered English in the 14th century and was followed approximately a century later by another "waif," this one meaning "a pennant or flag used to signal or to show wind direction," which English speakers derived independently, possibly from the same Scandinavian word. In its earliest uses, today's word referred to a piece of unclaimed property. It eventually developed other extended meanings before acquiring the "stray person or animal" sense. The skinny appearance typical of waifs resulted in the word being applied to people with skinny body types, beginning in the 1980s, though this sense hasn't yet found a home on the pages of our dictionaries.

Repartee (rep-er-TEE)

1 a : a quick and witty reply b : a succession or interchange of clever retorts : amusing and usually light sparring with words 2 : adroitness and cleverness in reply One person often noted for her repartee was Dorothy Parker, writer and legendary member of the Algonquin Round Table. Upon hearing that Calvin Coolidge had died, she replied, "How can they tell?" The taciturn Coolidge obviously didn't have a reputation for being the life of the party, but he himself came out with a particularly famous repartee on one occasion. When a dinner guest approached him and told him she had bet someone she could get him to say more than two words, he replied, "You lose." "Repartee," our word for such a quick, sharp reply (and for skill with such replies) comes from the French "repartie," of the same meaning. "Repartie" comes from the French verb "repartir," meaning "to retort."

Fustian (FUSS-chun)

1 a : a strong cotton and linen fabric b : a class of cotton fabrics usually having a pile face and twill weave 2 : high-flown or affected writing or speech; broadly : anything high-flown or affected in style Fustian first entered English in the 13th century, by way of Anglo-French, as a term for a kind of fabric. (Its ultimate Latin source is probably the word fustis, meaning "tree trunk.") Several centuries into use as a noun and an attributive noun, fustian spread beyond textiles to describe pretentious writing or speech. Christopher Marlowe was a pioneer in the word's semantic expansion: in his 16th-century play Doctor Faustus, he employs the word in this new way when the student Wagner says, "Let thy left eye be diametarily [sic] fixed upon my right heel, with quasi vestigiis nostris insistere," and the clown replies, "God forgive me, he speaks Dutch fustian." And later, the titular doctor himself is called "Dr. Fustian" repeatedly by a horse dealer—an apt misnomer considering the Doctor's speech habits.

Caveat (KAV-ee-aht)

1 a : a warning enjoining one from certain acts or practices b : an explanation to prevent misinterpretation c : a modifying or cautionary detail to be considered when evaluating, interpreting, or doing something 2 : a legal warning to a judicial officer to suspend a proceeding until the opposition has a hearing You may be familiar with the old saying caveat emptor, nowadays loosely translated as "let the buyer beware." In the 16th century, this adage was imparted as a safeguard for the seller: allow the buyer to examine the item (for example, a horse) before the sale is completed, so the seller can't be blamed if the item turns out to be unsatisfactory. Caveat in Latin means "let him beware" and comes from the verb cavēre, meaning "to be on guard." Perhaps you've also heard caveat lector: "let the reader beware," a warning to take what one reads with a grain of salt. English retained caveat itself as a noun for something that serves to warn, explain, or caution. The word caution is another descendant of cavēre.

Bravado (bruh-VAH-doh)

1 a : blustering swaggering conduct b : a pretense of bravery 2 : the quality or state of being foolhardy "Bravado" ultimately traces to the Old Italian adjective "bravo," meaning "courageous" or "wild." Nowadays, the wildness once associated with "bravado" has been tamed to an overbearing boldness that comes from arrogance or a position of power. Celebrities, political or corporate giants, and the schoolyard bully may all show "bravado" (though they often turn out to be not so tough after all). "Bravado" is also used for show-offish, daring acts that seem reckless and inconsistent with good sense, but might, nonetheless, be applauded with shouts of "Bravo!" when successful. The spectacular feats of stuntmen come to mind, for example.

Risible (RIZZ-uh-bul)

1 a : capable of laughing b : disposed to laugh 2 : arousing or provoking laughter; especially : laughable 3 : associated with, relating to, or used in laughter If someone makes a ridiculous remark about your "risible muscles," he or she is not necessarily deriding your physique. "Risible" can also mean "associated with laughter," so "risible muscles" can simply be the ones used for laughing. (You've also got a set of risorius muscles around your mouth that help you smile.) Next time you find something laughable, tip your hat to "ridēre," the Latin verb meaning "to laugh" that gave us "risible" (and "ridiculous" and "deride," by the way).

Abrupt (uh-BRUPT)

1 a : characterized by or involving action or change without preparation or warning : unexpected b : unceremoniously curt c : lacking smoothness or continuity 2 : giving the impression of being cut or broken off; especially : involving a sudden steep rise or drop We'll break it to you gently: "abrupt" derives from "abruptus," the past participle of the Latin verb "abrumpere," meaning "to break off." "Abrumpere" combines the prefix "ab-" with "rumpere," which means "break" and which forms the basis for several other words in English that suggest a kind of breaking, such as "interrupt," "rupture," and "bankrupt." Whether being used to describe a style of speaking that seems rudely short (as in "gave an abrupt answer"), something with a severe rise or drop ("abrupt climate change"), or something that seems rash and unprecipitated ("made the abrupt decision to quit college"), "abrupt," which first appeared in English in the 16th century, implies a kind of jarring unexpectedness that catches people off guard.

Artifice (AHR-tuh-fus)

1 a : clever or artful skill : ingenuity b : an ingenious device or expedient 2 a : an artful stratagem : trick b : false or insincere behavior Do great actors display artifice or art? Sometimes a bit of both. "Artifice" stresses creative skill or intelligence, but also implies a sense of falseness and trickery. "Art" generally rises above such falseness, suggesting instead an unanalyzable creative force. Actors may rely on some of each, but the personae they display in their roles are usually artificial creations. Therein lies a lexical connection between "art" and "artifice." "Artifice" derives from "artificium," Latin for "artifice" (that root also gave English "artificial"). "Artificium" in turn developed from "ars," the Latin root underlying the word "art" (and related terms such as "artist" and "artisan").

Sigmoid (SIG-moyd)

1 a : curved like the letter C b : curved in two directions like the letter S 2 : of, relating to, or being the sigmoid colon The shape sense of "sigmoid" is most often used in scientific contexts to describe an s-shaped curve on a graph. Usually, though, "sigmoid" is used in contexts relating to the sigmoid colon-the contracted and crooked part of the colon immediately above the rectum. "Sigmoid" comes from "sigma," the name of the 18th letter of the Greek alphabet. At one time sigma had a common form that was shaped like the Roman letter C (hence sense 1a), but sigma is equivalent to the English letter S (hence sense 1b).

Didactic (dye-DAK-tik)

1 a : designed or intended to teach b : intended to convey instruction and information as well as pleasure and entertainment 2 : making moral observations "Didaktikos" is a Greek word that means "apt at teaching." It comes from "didaskein," meaning "to teach." Something "didactic" does just that: teaches or instructs. "Didactic" conveyed that neutral meaning when it was first borrowed in the 17th century, and still does; a didactic piece of writing is one that is meant to be instructive as well as artistic. Parables are generally didactic because they aim to teach a moral lesson. "Didactic" now sometimes has negative connotations, too, however. Something "didactic" is often overburdened with instruction to the point of being dull. Or it might be pompously instructive or moralistic.

Plummy (PLUMM-ee)

1 a : full of plums b : choice, desirable 2 a : having a plum color b : rich and mellow often to the point of affectation During the 18th century the word "plum" became a delectable ingredient in the English language. The word for the sweet, juicy fruit denoted such things as a fortune of 100,000 pounds, a rich person, and, by the early 19th century, anything desirable. "Plummy" blossomed in the mid-18th century with the meaning "full of plums" and had branched out as an adjective for desirable things by the century's end. By the late 19th century it was being used to describe rich, mellow voices. The sweetness of the word did eventually sour, however, when people began to use it to describe stilted or affected speech, as in "the teacher used a plummy voice when he talked to the students' parents."

Pullulate (PUL-yuh-layt)

1 a : germinate, sprout b : to breed or produce freely 2 : swarm, teem To remember the history of "pullulate," think chickens. This may sound like odd advice, but it makes sense if you know that "pullulate" traces ultimately to the Latin noun "pullus," which means not only "sprout," but also "young of an animal" and, specifically, "chick." "Pullus" is also an ancestor of "pullet" ("young hen"), "poult" (meaning "young fowl" and especially "young turkey"), and even "poultry" ("domesticated fowl"). At first "pullulate" referred to sprouting, budding, and breeding around the farm; only later did it gain its "swarm" sense.

Auxiliary (awg-ZILL-yuh-ree)

1 a : offering or providing help b : functioning in a subsidiary capacity 2 : constituting a reserve : supplementary "Auxiliary" can be used in a wide range of capacities in English to describe a person or thing that assists another. A fire department may bring in auxiliary units, for example, to battle a tough blaze, or a sailboat may be equipped with auxiliary engines to supply propulsion when the wind disappears. In grammar, an auxiliary verb assists another (main) verb to express person, number, mood, or tense, as "have" in "They have been informed." The Latin source of "auxiliary" is "auxilium," meaning "help."

Reputation (rep-yuh-TAY-shu)

1 a : overall quality or character as seen or judged by people in general b : recognition by other people of some characteristic or ability 2 : a place in public esteem or regard : good name For reputation, the attainment of lexical esteem begins in 14th-century Middle English in the character of reputacion, which is a borrowing of an Anglo-French word with meanings similar to the English word (referring to such things as celebrity, distinction, good name, or estimation of character). The Anglo-French is from Latin reputation-, reputatio, meaning "consideration," and ultimately from reputare, "to reckon up or to think over." That Latinate verb couples the well-known "again" prefix re- with the verb putare ("to reckon"). Renowned celebrities of the putare family are the verb repute ("to believe or consider"), the identical noun (synonymous with reputation), the adjectives reputable and reputed, and the adverb reputedly. Other putare cousins of notoriety are dispute, disreputable, imputation, and putative, along with their kin.

Chatelaine (SHAT-uh-layn)

1 a : the wife of a castellan : the mistress of a château b : the mistress of a household or of a large establishment 2 : a clasp or hook for a watch, purse, or bunch of keys The original chatelaine's domain was a castle or fort, and the chatelaine's duties were many. To complete them, she certainly needed keys. In the 18th century, the word "chatelaine" (borrowed from the French "châtelaine") took on an additional meaning in English that alluded to this: the word came to be used for a decorative clasp or hook from which chains holding a watch, purse, keys, etc. were suspended. These popular accessories evoked the bunch of keys the original chatelaine had worn of necessity.

Foist (FOIST)

1 a : to introduce or insert surreptitiously or without warrant b : to force another to accept especially by stealth or deceit 2 : to pass off as genuine or worthy An early sense of the word foist, now obsolete, referred to palming a phony die and secretly introducing it into a game at an opportune time. The action involved in this cheating tactic reflects the etymology of foist. The word is believed to derive from the obsolete Dutch verb vuisten, meaning "to take into one's hand." Vuisten in turn comes from vuyst, the Middle Dutch word for "fist," which itself is distantly related to the Old English ancestor of fist. By the late 16th century, foist was being used in English to mean "to insert surreptitiously," and it quickly acquired the meaning "to force another to accept by stealth or deceit."

Contaminate (kun-TAM-uh-nayt)

1 a : to soil, stain, corrupt, or infect by contact or association b : to make inferior or impure by admixture 2 : to make unfit for use by the introduction of unwholesome or undesirable elements Contaminate, taint, pollute, and defile mean to make impure or unclean. Contaminate implies intrusion of or contact with dirt or foulness from an outside source (logically enough, it derives from the Latin word tangere, meaning "to touch"). Taint stresses a loss of purity or cleanliness that follows contact ("tainted meat"). Pollute, sometimes interchangeable with contaminate, may imply that the process which begins with contamination is complete and that what was pure or clean has been made foul, poisoned, or filthy ("the polluted waters of the river"). Defile implies befouling of what could or should have been kept clean and pure or held sacred, and commonly suggests violation or desecration ("vandals defiled the mausoleum").

Slipshod (SLIP-SHAHD)

1 a : wearing loose shoes or slippers b : down at the heel : shabby 2 : careless, slovenly The word shod is the past tense form of the verb shoe, meaning "to furnish with a shoe"; hence, we can speak of shoeing horses and horses that have been shod or shodden. When the word slipshod was first used in the late 1500s, it meant "wearing loose shoes or slippers"—such slippers were once called slip-shoes—and later it was used to describe shoes that were falling apart. By the early 1800s, slipshod was used more generally as a synonym for shabby—in 1818, Sir Walter Scott wrote about "the half-bound and slip-shod volumes of the circulating library." The association with shabbiness then shifted to an association with sloppiness, and the word was used to mean "careless" or "slovenly."

Forfend (for-FEND)

1 a archaic : forbid b : to ward off : prevent 2 : protect, preserve When forfend was first used in the 14th century, it meant "to forbid." The term is still used with this meaning in phrases like "heaven forfend" or "God forfend," but it bears an antiquated patina communicated in our dictionary with an "archaic" label. Other uses of the word are current, though somewhat uncommon. Forfend comes from Middle English forfenden, from for- (meaning "so as to involve prohibition, exclusion, omission, failure, neglect, or refusal") and fenden, a variant of defenden, meaning "to defend."

Prepossessing (pree-puh-ZESS-ing)

1 archaic : creating prejudice 2 : tending to create a favorable impression : attractive If you've heard of the word unprepossessing, it probably comes as no surprise to you that there's also a prepossessing. You may not know, however, that both derive from the verb prepossess, which is also still used in English, although it's quite rare. When prepossess first appeared in print in English in the early 17th century it meant "to take previous possession of," but that sense is now obsolete. The adjective prepossessing came into use later in that century and is based on a later sense, "to influence favorably beforehand." Someone or something that is prepossessing, therefore, makes a good first impression.

Felicitate (fih-LISS-uh-tayt)

1 archaic : to make happy 2 a : to consider happy or fortunate b : to offer congratulations to Felix, a Latin adjective meaning "happy" or "fruitful," is the root of the English words felicity and felicitate. The former, which is by far the more common of the pair, refers to the state of being happy or to something that makes people happy; like felix itself, it's also used as a name. Felicitate has always played second fiddle to its cousin, but enjoyed more use in centuries past than it does today. At one time it functioned as an adjective meaning "made happy" (William Shakespeare used it this way in King Lear), but the adjective fell out of favor and is no longer in use. Felicitate today is most commonly used as a verb especially in the English of South Asia where its "to offer congratulations" meaning is often extended beyond simple congratulations to the honoring of someone with an award or prize.

Megillah (muh-GHIL-uh)

1 slang : a long involved story or account 2 slang a : an elaborate, complicated production or sequence of events b : everything involved in what is under consideration : ball of wax Although megillah is a slang word in English, it has perfectly respectable Hebrew origins. Megillah derives from the Yiddish megile, which itself comes from the Hebrew word mĕgillāh, meaning "scroll" or "volume." (Mĕgillāh is especially likely to be used in reference to the Book of Esther, which is read aloud at Purim celebrations.) It makes sense, then, that when megillah first appeared in English in the mid-20th century, it referred to a story that was so long (and often tedious or complicated) that it was reminiscent of the length of the mĕgillāh scrolls. The Hebrew word is serious, but the Yiddish megile can be somewhat playful, and our megillah has also inherited that lightheartedness.

Amoret

1. A sweetheart, lover, or paramour; esp. a female one. Cf. amoretto n. 2. Chiefly archaic and literary in later use. a1425 (1400) G. Chaucer Romaunt Rose(Hunterian) (1891) l. 4755 Eke as wel by [read be] amourettes In mournyng blak as bright burnettes [Fr. ausinc bien sunt amoretes Sous buriaus comme sous brunetes].

Meta-Analysis

1. Philosophy. Analysis of the grounds and assumptions on which a theory, explanation, or account is based; an instance of this. 1953 Philos. Rev. 62 462 We are told that the definition of cardinal number is 'one of Russell's best known accomplishments'.., yet there is nothing in the meta-analysis to indicate why it should be. 2. Statistics. Analysis of data from a number of independent studies of the same subject (published or unpublished), esp. in order to determine overall trends and significance; an instance of this. 1976 G. V. Glass in Educ. Res. Nov. 3/2 My major interest currently is in what we have come to call..the meta-analysis of research. The term is a bit grand, but it is precise and apt... Meta-analysis refers to the analysis of analyses.

Sotong [Singapore English and Malaysian English.]

1. Squid or cuttlefish. 1833 Singapore Chron. 24 Oct. 4/2 Exports... By the Dutch Brig Sala Sala Madura... Sotong Fish. 2. Used to denote a stereotypically stupid, clumsy, or ignorant person, esp. in blur as (a) sotong, blur like (a) sotong. Cf. blur adj. Additions. 1988 New Paper (Singapore) 7 Sept. 17/1 Last night's Brainstorm started with the defending champion claiming he was 'blur as a sotong'.

Kitchen-sinking

1. The action of bringing up all of one's grievances or complaints in an argument with someone about an unrelated issue. 1975 Poughkeepsie (N.Y.) Jrnl. 18 Dec. 29/5 Kitchen sinking. This means that when you get into a fight, one or both spouses starts bringing up all sorts of things which have nothing to do with the immediate argument. 2015 B. Frankel I suck at Relationships so you don't have To ii. 55 Your old habits of kitchen-sinking, name-calling, defending, etc. will color your carefully chosen words an angry, attacking red. 2. Business. The action or practice of announcing losses and other negative financial results all at the same time in the hope of lessening their impact. 1990 Independent on Sunday 15 July (Business section) 4/1 Ferranti International..is expected by City analysts to reveal losses..and extraordinary write-offs..when it releases its annual results this week... There's going to be a lot of kitchen-sinking in the results and they'll look terrible. 2019 Investors Chron.(National ed.) (Nexis) 19 July The group's disastrous 2019 continues... The kitchen-sinking from June seems to have demolished what little shareholder confidence remained

Parsnip (PAHR-snip)

: a Eurasian biennial herb (Pastinaca sativa) of the carrot family with large pinnate leaves and yellow flowers that is cultivated for its long tapered edible root which is cooked as a vegetable; also : the root The word "parsnip" was borrowed into Middle English in the 14th century as a modification of the Old French word "pasnaie," itself derived from the Latin noun "pastinaca," meaning "parsnip" or "carrot." The scientific name for the parsnip, "Pastinaca sativa," still reflects this history. "Pastinaca," in turn, traces back to "pastinum," a Latin word for a small gardening tool used to make holes in the ground for the insertion of plants, seeds, or bulbs. "Parsnip" may also remind you of the name of another edible root, "turnip," and there's a possible explanation for the resemblance. The Middle English spelling of "parsnip" ("passenep") may have been influenced by "nepe," the old form of "turnip."

Maxixe (muh-SHEESH)

: a ballroom dance of Brazilian origin that resembles the two-step The maxixe was in vogue for only a few decades in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, but its influence has lived on in the still-popular samba. Born out of the marriage of Afro-Brazilian and European dance, maxixe is sometimes described as Africanized polka. Both Brazilian music and the tunes of Tin Pan Alley accompanied the dancers of the maxixe, which was brighter and snappier than the also then-popular Argentine tango. The maxixe in some ways put Brazil on the dancing map. As Sanjoy Roy put it in a July 7, 2006 article in The Guardian, "The maxixe was one of Brazil's first musical exports, spawning brief crazes in Paris in 1914, and London in 1922."

Funicular (fyoo-NIK-yuh-ler)

: a cable railway ascending a mountain; especially : one in which an ascending car counterbalances a descending car You may have fun on a funicular, but the word is not related to "fun" (which comes to us from an English dialect verb meaning "to hoax"). The noun "funicular" descends from an earlier adjective "funicular," meaning "relating to a cord under tension." It was also influenced by "funiculaire," a French word used for a type of railway that is dependent upon cables (or on "cords under tension"). Ultimately, these terms trace back to the Latin noun "funiculus," meaning "small rope." "Funicular" first appeared in print as an adjective in English in 1664; the noun has been with us since the early 20th century.

Compadre (kum-PAH-dray)

: a close friend : buddy In Spanish, a child's father and godfather are, to each other, "compadres" -- that is, "co-fathers." "Compadre" is also a traditional term of reverence and friendship for a man. The equivalent feminine term in Spanish is "comadre." "Compadre" and "comadre" appeared simultaneously in the work that gives us our first known use of "compadre" in English: "'Busy as common, comadre!' said Lopez as he entered, addressing the mother, 'late and early I can find you at work.' 'Yes, compadre,' was the answer." (Albert Pike, "A Mexican Tale," 1834). In English, "compadre" means "friend" and can refer to a person of either sex. "Comadre" continues to appear occasionally in English contexts, but it is not yet well enough established to merit entry in English dictionaries.

Caucus (KAW-kus)

: a closed meeting of a group of persons belonging to the same political party or faction usually to select candidates or to decide on policy; also : a group of people united to promote an agreed-upon cause In February of 1763, John Adams reported that the Boston "caucus club," a group of politically active city elders, would meet in the garret of Tom Dawes to choose "Assessors, Collectors, Wardens, Fire Wards, and Representatives." He wrote that at the meetings, those present would "smoke tobacco till you [could not] see from one end of the garret to the other." A similarly opaque smoke screen seems to shroud the history of the word "caucus." Linguists can see that it is clearly an Americanism; Adams's use is the first known to link the word to such a political meeting. Beyond that, details are uncertain, but some scholars think "caucus" may have developed from an Algonquian term for a group of elders, leaders, or advisers.

Augean Stable (aw-JEE-un-STAY-bul)

: a condition or place marked by great accumulation of filth or corruption "Augean stable" most often appears in the phrase "clean the Augean stable," which usually means "clear away corruption" or "perform a large and unpleasant task that has long called for attention." Augeas, the mythical king of Elis, kept great stables that held 3,000 oxen and had not been cleaned for thirty years -- until Hercules was assigned the job. Hercules accomplished this task by causing two rivers to run through the stables. The word "Augean" is sometimes used by itself, too -- it has come to mean "extremely difficult and usually distasteful." We can refer to "Augean tasks," "Augean labor," or even "Augean clutter."

Farrago (fuh-RAH-goh)

: a confused mixture : hodgepodge "Farrago" might seem an unlikely relative of "farina" (the mealy breakfast cereal), but the two terms have their roots in the same Latin noun. Both derive from "far," the Latin name for "spelt" (a type of grain). In Latin, "farrago" meant "mixed fodder" -- cattle feed, that is. It was also used more generally to mean "mixture." When it was adopted into English in the early 1600s, "farrago" retained the "mixture" sense of its ancestor. Today, we often use it for a jumble or medley of disorganized, haphazard, or even nonsensical ideas or elements.

Waterloo (waw-ter-LOO)

: a decisive or final defeat or setback The Battle of Waterloo, which occurred on June 18, 1815, has given its name to the very notion of final defeat. Why? Maybe because it ended one of the most spectacular military careers in history (Napoleon's), as well as 23 years of recurrent conflict between France and the rest of Europe. In addition, it was Napoleon's second "final defeat." He was defeated and exiled in 1814, but he escaped his confinement, returned to France, and was restored to power for three months before meeting defeat at the hands of the forces allied under the Duke of Wellington near the Belgian village of Waterloo. The word "waterloo" first appeared in casual use the following year, 1816.

Balletomane (ba-LET-uh-mayn)

: a devotee of ballet If you suspected that "balletomane" originated with the idea of a "mania" for ballet, you are correct. What you may not have guessed is that the language that inspired English speakers to borrow the word in the 1930s was Russian. "Balletomane" derives from the Russian noun "baletoman," which in turn combines the word for "ballet" ("balet") and the suffix "-man," from "maniya" (meaning "mania"). The English words "mania" and "ballet" did not, however, come from Russian. ("Mania" comes from Latin and Greek, and "ballet" comes from French and Italian.) "Balletomane" is therefore somewhat unusual, both for its Russian origins and for the fact that it does not follow the more traditional "-phile" model for words meaning "someone who likes a specified thing."

Greasy Sppon (GREE-see-SPOON)

: a dingy small cheap restaurant In the decades following its first use in 1902, the surrounding context of "greasy spoon" usually included words along the lines of "lousy," "wind up eating in," "slinging hash," "the underside of society," "settle for," or "rather starve." And while things haven't changed entirely, a recent wave of nostalgia has elevated the status of greasy spoons. Since the 1970s, the descriptions might contain words like "fabled," "distinction," "beloved," "classic," "an institution," "fondness for," and "comfort food." Now you can consult a "Greasy Spoon Guide" and read up on "Best Greasy Spoons," or lunch at a diner "restored to look like a greasy spoon." Some of these eateries are now even named "The Greasy Spoon."

Agita (AJ-uh-tuh)

: a feeling of agitation or anxiety Judging by its spelling and meaning, you might think that "agita" is simply a shortened version of "agitation," but that's not the case. Both "agitation" and the verb "agitate" derive from Latin "agere" ("to drive"). "Agita," which first appeared in American English in the early 1980s, comes from a dialectical pronunciation of the Italian word "acido," meaning "heartburn" or "acid," from Latin "acidus." ("Agita" is also occasionally used in English with the meaning "heartburn.") For a while the word's usage was limited to New York City and surrounding regions, but the word became more widespread in the mid-90s.

Dossier (DOSS-yay)

: a file containing detailed records on a particular person or subject Gather together various documents relating to the affairs of a certain individual, sort them into separate folders, label the spine of each folder, and arrange the folders in a box. "Dossier," the French word for such a compendium of spine-labeled folders, was picked up by English speakers in the late 19th century. It comes from "dos," the French word for "back," which is in turn derived from "dorsum," Latin for "back." Our word "dorsal" ("situated on the back"), as in the dorsal fin of a whale, comes from the same Latin source.

Rapport (ra-POR)

: a friendly, harmonious relationship; especially : a relationship characterized by agreement, mutual understanding, or empathy that makes communication possible or easy The word rapport bears a resemblance to a more common English word, report, which is no coincidence: both words come ultimately from the Latin verb portare, meaning "to carry," and both traveled through French words meaning "to bring back" on their way to English. Report has been in use since the 14th century, when it entered Middle English by way of Anglo-French, the French language as it was spoken in medieval England. Rapport was first used in the mid-15th century as a synonym of report in its "an account or statement" meaning, but that meaning had become obsolete by the mid-19th century.

Golden parachute (GOHL-dun-PAIR-uh-shoot)

: a generous severance agreement for a corporate executive in the event of a sudden dismissal (as because of a merger) In 1981 an employee of a major company undergoing a corporate merger referred cynically to the huge severance packages given ejected executives as "golden parachutes." It isn't clear whether the employee actually coined the term, but it is well documented that both "golden" and "parachute" were already part of corporate parlance by that time. Since the 1960s, the business world had been using "golden handshake" for a compensatory package accompanying a termination or forced retirement. The image of the parachute, evoking a comfortable and painless landing, may have been inspired by the popular book about career change by Richard Bolles, titled What Color Is Your Parachute?

Calumet (KAL-yuh-met)

: a highly ornamented ceremonial pipe of the American Indians The calumet has long been an important component of the ceremonies of Native American groups, but the first inhabitants of the Americas did not give the venerated pipe (also known as the "peace pipe") that name. English speakers borrowed "calumet" from American French, which had carried it from the dialects of France to North America. "Chalumet," the French ancestor of "calumet," traces to the Latin "calamus" and the Greek "kalamos," both of which mean "reed" or "pen." French baron Louis-Armand de Lom d'Arce La Hontan, who explored North America in the 17th century, noted that French speakers had applied "calumet" to the highly ornamented clay pipes of Native Americans by the 1670s; English speakers followed suit before the turn of that century.

Bolide (BOH-lyde)

: a large meteor : fireball; especially : one that explodes "Bolide," like "fireball," is a name applied to very bright meteors that often trail sparks. A clue to the origins of "bolide" can be found in the missile-like appearance of these meteors. The Greek "bolis," which comes from "bolē" ("throw" or "stroke"), literally means "missile" or "javelin." "Bolis" is the source of the Latin name given to these spectacular meteors, which is also "bolis." The word became "bolide" in French, from which it was borrowed by the English language in the mid-19th century.

Precentor (prih-SEN-ter)

: a leader of the singing of a choir or congregation The history of "precentor" leads to the Latin verb "praecinere," meaning "to lead in singing," which was formed by adding the "prae-" prefix to the verb "canere" ("to sing"). "Canere" is also an ancestor of the English word "chant," as well as the source of the Latin noun "cantor," which was also borrowed into English and is used both as a synonym of "precentor" and for an individual in a synagogue who sings or chants the liturgical music and leads the congregation in prayer.

Ekphrasis (EK-fruh-sis)

: a literary description of or commentary on a visual work of art Although "ekphrasis" (also spelled "ecphrasis") is a relatively new entry in our dictionary, the practice of using words to comment on a piece of visual art is an ancient one. One of the earliest and most commonly cited forms of ekphrasis occurs in The Iliad, when Homer provides a long and discursive account of the elaborate scenes embossed on the shield of Achilles. It should be no surprise, then, that the term "ekphrasis" derives from Greek, where it literally means "description" and was formed by combining the prefix "ex-" ("out") with the verb "phrazein" ("to point out or explain"). "Ekphrasis" first appeared in English in the early 18th century.

Sea change (SEE-CHAYNJ)

: a marked change : transformation In Shakespeare's "The Tempest," a "sea-change" is a change brought about by sea: "Full fathom five thy father lies ... / Nothing of him that doth fade / But doth suffer a sea-change." This meaning is the original one, but it's now archaic. Long after "sea change" had gained its figurative meaning, however, writers continued to allude to Shakespeare's literal one; Charles Dickens, Henry David Thoreau, and P.G. Wodehouse all used the term as an object of the verb "suffer." Today you're most likely to see the word as it's used in the two examples given above.

Hobbit (HAH-bit)

: a member of a fictitious peaceful and genial race of small humanlike creatures that dwell underground "What is a hobbit?" wrote J.R.R. Tolkien in the 1937 fantasy novel that introduced Mr. Bilbo Baggins. The author then answered himself: "They are (or were) little people, about half our height, and smaller than the bearded Dwarves.... There is little or no magic about them, except the ordinary everyday sort which helps them to disappear when large stupid folk like you and me come blundering along...." Tolkien tells us that hobbits "are inclined to be fat," and that they "dress in bright colours"; they "have good-natured faces, and deep fruity laughs (especially after dinner)." Tolkien, a professional linguist who taught at Oxford, coined the word hobbit (and many other terms—in fact, a whole new language) for The Hobbit and for his enormously popular series The Lord of the Rings.

Omnium-gatherum (ahm-nee-um-GA-thuh-rum)

: a miscellaneous collection (as of things or persons) English abounds in Latin phrases. They roll off the learned tongue like peas off a fork. "Tabula rasa"; "ab ovo"; "a posteriori"; "deus ex machina"; "ex cathedra"; "mea culpa"; "terra firma"; "vox populi"; "ad hominem"; "sub rosa." "Omnium-gatherum" belongs on that list too, right? Not exactly. "Omnium-gatherum" sounds like Latin, and indeed "omnium" (the genitive plural of Latin "omnis," meaning "all") is the real thing. But "gatherum" is simply English "gather" with "-um" tacked on to give it a classical ring. We're not suggesting, however, that the phrase is anything less than literate. After all, the first person known to have used it was John Croke, a lawyer educated at Eton and Cambridge in the 16th century.

Callithump (KAL-uh-thump)

: a noisy boisterous band or parade "Callithump" and the related adjective "callithumpian" are Americanisms, but their roots stretch back to England. In the 19th century, the noun "callithumpian" was used in the U.S. of boisterous roisterers who had their own makeshift New Year's parade. Their band instruments consisted of crude noisemakers such as pots, tin horns, and cowbells. The antecedent of "callithumpians" is an 18th-century British dialect term for another noisy group, the "Gallithumpians," who made a rumpus on election days in southern England. Today, the words "callithump" and "callithumpian" see occasional use, especially in the names of specific bands and parades. The callithumpian bands and parades of today are more organized than those of the past, but they retain an association with noise and boisterous fun.

Werewolf (WAIR-woolf)

: a person transformed into a wolf or capable of assuming a wolf's form Though some doubts about the word's etymology still remain, "werewolf" probably comes from a prehistoric West Germanic compound whose constituent parts gave Old English "wer" ("man") and "wulf" ("wolf"). The word is related to Middle Dutch "weerwulf" and Old High German "werwolf." Another word for "werewolf" is "lycanthrope," which traces back through Latin to a Greek combination of "lyk-" (from "lykos," meaning "wolf") and "anthropos" (meaning "man"). English also sometimes makes use of the French-derived word "loup-garou," from Old French "leu" ("wolf") and "garoul" or "garulf" (a word of Germanic origin meaning "werewolf").

Gadabout (GAD-uh-bout)

: a person who goes from place to place in social activity If you had to pick the insect most closely related to a gadabout, you might wryly guess the "social butterfly." But there's another bug that's commonly heard buzzing around discussions of the gadabout: the gadfly. Gadfly is a term used for any of a number of winged pests (such as horseflies) that bite or annoy livestock. Since gadflies are known for their nasty bite, it's not surprising that they are named after a sharp chisel or pointed bar used by miners to loosen rock and ore called a "gad." But, although a gadabout's gossip can bite, gadfly doesn't have any clear etymological relation to gadabout, which traces back to the Middle English verb gadden, whose etymology etymologists are still trying to catch.

Cognoscente (kahn-yuh-SHEN-tee)

: a person who has expert knowledge in a subject : connoisseur Cognoscente and connoisseur are more than synonyms; they're also linguistic cousins. Both terms descend from the Latin verb cognōscere, meaning "to know," and they're not alone. You might guess that cognizance and cognition are members of the cognōscere clan. Do you also recognize a family resemblance in recognize? Can you see through the disguise of incognito? Did you have a premonition that we would mention precognition? Cognoscente itself came to English by way of Italian and has been a part of the language since the late 1700s.

Gretna Green (gret-nuh-GREEN)

: a place where many eloping couples are married In the England of the 1700s, a person could not marry without parental consent until age 21. The Scottish were more lenient, allowing young people to marry without parental permission at 16. England also had rules that made it difficult to marry quickly, but Scottish law required only that couples declare their desire to be married in front of witnesses before tying the knot. So it isn't surprising that many English couples ran to Gretna Green, a small village on the English-Scottish border, when they decided to elope. In Gretna Green, the wedding ceremony was typically performed by the blacksmith at a roadside tollhouse, but it was all perfectly legal.

Ragamuffin (RAG-uh-muf-in)

: a ragged often disreputable person; especially : a poorly clothed often dirty child If you've guessed that rag or ragged is related to ragamuffin, you may be correct, but the origins of the word are somewhat murky. In Middle English, ragamuffin functioned both as a surname and generically to denote a ragged (and sometimes stupid) person, and in the Middle English alliterative poem Piers Plowman William Langland used the word to serve as the name of a demon. The muffin part of ragamuffin may have its origin in either of two Anglo-Norman words for a devil or scoundrel, but that too is uncertain. No matter its muddied history—the word has continued to develop in modern times. It can also refer to a type of music with rap lyrics and a reggae beat.

Tu quoque (TOO-KWOH-kwee)

: a retort charging an adversary with being or doing what he or she criticizes in others A typical tu quoque involves charging your accuser with whatever it is you've just been accused of rather than refuting the truth of the accusation -- an evasive strategy that may or may not meet with success. The term has been active in the English language for about 400 years and has been put to use by a number of English writers, including C.S. Lewis, who penned, "your condemnation of my taste is insolent; only manners deter me from a tu quoque." The term is Latin in origin and translates as "you too," although the translation "you're another" is sometimes used as well (as in our second example sentence). "Tu quoque" functions in English as a noun, but it's often used attributively to modify other nouns, as in "a tu quoque argument."

Chlamys (KLAM-us)

: a short oblong mantle worn by young men of ancient Greece If you had been a man of ancient Greece, you'd likely have worn a chlamys from time to time. This cloak was a short, oblong mantle, typically made of dark wool, and worn draped over the left shoulder and fastened with a fibula at the right shoulder, leaving the right arm uncovered. The chlamys was popular especially among soldiers and messengers. Modern encounters with the chlamys are most likely to occur at museums where a statue of the messenger god Hermes or the Greco-Roman god Apollo might be seen garbed in such. As deities frequently on the move, these two would have appreciated the fact that the garment provided both protection from the elements and freedom of movement.

Gimcrack (JIM-krak)

: a showy object of little use or value : gewgaw "Gimcrack" is only one of many peculiar-sounding words that have pervaded our language to refer to something ornamental and of little value. Others include "bauble," "trinket," "knickknack," "gewgaw," "kickshaw" and "tchotchke." "Bauble" appears to be the oldest among the group, with usage dating back to the 14th century. "Gewgaw" and "kickshaw" first appeared in the 16th century, whereas "gimcrack" and "knickknack" established themselves in the 17th century. "Tchotchke," borrowed from the Yiddish, is by far the most recent addition to our language, only first appearing as an English word in the 1970s.

Nosegay (NOHZ-gay)

: a small bunch of flowers "Nosegay" is a homegrown word -- that is, it originated in English. Fifteenth-century Middle English speakers joined "nose" (which meant then what it does today) with "gay" (which at the time meant "ornament"). That makes "nosegay" an appropriate term for a bunch of flowers, which is indeed an ornament that appeals to the nose. Today the word "nosegay" is especially common in the bridal business, where it usually refers to a specific type of bouquet: a round, tight bunch of flowers as opposed to a cascading bouquet or other type of arrangement. Occasionally, the word is used metaphorically for things that somehow resemble a bouquet. For example, a compact collection of enjoyably lighthearted short stories might be called "a nosegay of a book."

Prothalamion (proh-thuh-LAY-mee-un)

: a song in celebration of a marriage In 1595, the newly-wed Edmund Spenser wrote a poem to his young bride. He gave this poem the title Epithalamion, borrowing a Greek word for a song or poem in honor of a bride and bridegroom. Epithalamion, which eventually became established as an English word, can be traced to Greek words that mean "upon the bridal chamber." A year later, Spencer was inspired to write another nuptial poem—this time in celebration of the marriages of the Earl of Worcester's two daughters. But since the ceremonies had not yet taken place, he did not want to call it an epithalamion. After some reflection, Spencer decided to separate epi- from thalamion and wed the latter with pro- ("before"), inventing a word that would become established in the language with the meaning "a song in celebration of a marriage."

Disaster (dih-ZAS-ter)

: a sudden calamitous event bringing great damage, loss, or destruction; broadly : a sudden or great misfortune or failure "Disaster" has its roots in the belief that the positions of stars influence the fate of humans, often in destructive ways; its original meaning in English was "an unfavorable aspect of a planet or star." The word comes to us through Middle French and the Old Italian word "disastro," from the Latin prefix "dis-" and Latin "astro," meaning "star." Another unfortunate word that comes to us from astrological beliefs is "ill-starred." Now generally used in the sense of "unlucky" or "having or destined to a hapless fate," "ill-starred" was originally used literally to describe someone born under or guided by an evil star. We also have "star-crossed," meaning "not favored by the stars" or "ill-fated."

Ponzu (PAHN-zoo)

: a tangy sauce made with citrus juice, rice wine vinegar, and soy sauce and used especially on seafood The word "ponzu" is relatively new to English; our earliest English-language evidence of the word -- which we borrowed from Japanese -- is from 1972. But the word's history isn't as simple as that fact suggests. The Japanese word, which literally means "juice squeezed from sour oranges" is itself from the Dutch word "pons." And "pons" comes from (and shares the meaning of) the English word "punch" as it's used to refer to the beverage concoction that's often served at parties, weddings, and wakes.

pied-à-terre (pee-ay-duh-TAIR)

: a temporary or second lodging In French, "mettre pied à terre" means "to dismount." In the cavalry, dismounting at the end of the day meant occupying whatever temporary quarters were available. French speakers began using "pied-à-terre" (literally, "foot to the ground") for a temporary lodging of any sort back in the 1700s. English speakers adopted the term in the early 1800s, using it, as the French did, for a home away from home. Depending on who you are, a pied-à-terre can be anything from a sprawling villa in Naples to a one-room cabin on the Snake River, but nowadays it most frequently refers to an apartment maintained in the city.

Ecotone (EE-kuh-tohn)

: a transition area between two adjacent ecological communities "Every modification of climate, every disturbance of the soil, every interference with the existing vegetation of an area, favours some species at the expense of others." As Sir Joseph Dalton Hooker observed in Flora Indica (1855), all ecological communities are subject to some kind of disturbance, ranging from the simple, yet significant, loss of a tree to a catastrophic wildfire. Each disturbance creates an opportunity for a new species to colonize or flourish within the ecosystem in a process known as "ecological succession." Scientists refer to the area of overlapping landscapes where the "foreign" species encounter each other and blend together as "ecotones," an apparent allusion to the tension created when competing species come together (in Greek "tonos" means "tension").

Ambuscade (AM-buh-skayd)

: a trap in which concealed persons lie in wait to attack by surprise; also : the persons so concealed or their position "Ambuscade" derives from Middle French "embuscade," a modification of an Old Italian word formed by combining the prefix "in-" and the Latin noun "bosco," meaning "forest." This is appropriate, since many such surprise attacks have involved the attacking force hiding out in and emerging from a wooded area. "Ambuscade" has not changed in meaning since General Washington's day, though nowadays we are more likely to use its synonym "ambush." That word actually took a slightly different path to English -- via Middle English "embushen," from Anglo-French "en-" ("in-") and "busche" ("log" or "firewood") -- though the two words ultimately share a relationship.

Eisteddfod (eye-STETH-vawd)

: a usually Welsh competitive festival of the arts especially in poetry and singing In Medieval times, Welsh bards and minstrels would assemble together for an "eisteddfod" (the Welsh word for "session") of poetry and music competition. Over time, participation and interest in these competitions lessened, and by the 17th century an eisteddfod was far from the courtly affair it once was. The competition was revived in the 19th century as a way to showcase Wales's artistic culture. It was also in that century that an official council was formed to organize the annual National Eisteddfod of Wales, an event still held each summer alternately in North or South Wales. There are awards for music, prose, drama, and art, but the one for poetry remains the eisteddfod's pinnacle.

Nostrum (NAHSS-trum)

: a usually questionable remedy or scheme : panacea "Whether there was real efficacy in these nostrums, and whether their author himself had faith in them, is more than can safely be said," wrote 19th-century American writer Nathaniel Hawthorne, "but, at all events, the public believed in them." The word nostrum has often been linked to quack medicine and false hopes for miracle cures, but there's nothing deceitful about its etymology. It has been a part of English since at least the early 17th century, and it comes from the Latin noster, meaning "our" or "ours." Some think that specially prepared medicinal concoctions came to be called nostrums because their purveyors marketed them as "our own" remedy. In other words, the use of nostrum emphasized that such a potion was unique or exclusive to the pitchman peddling it.

Brainiac (BRAY-nee-ak)

: a very intelligent person As Superman fans know, "Brainiac" was the superintelligent villain in the Action Comics series and its spin-offs. You don't need x-ray vision to see the connection here -- etymologists think Superman's brainy adversary was probably the inspiration for our term "brainiac." We didn't coin the term right away though. The comic-book series was launched in 1938, and the general use of "brainiac" was first recorded in print in 1982.

Clitic (KLIT-ik)

: a word that is treated in pronunciation as forming a part of a neighboring word and that is often unaccented or contracted We hear clitics every day in sentences like "This'll be fine" and "C'mon over here." There are two kinds of clitics: "enclitics" and "proclitics." An enclitic is a clitic that is associated with the word that comes before it. Contractions, such as the "ve" in "would've" and the "ll" in "it'll," are enclitics. A proclitic is associated with the word that follows it. Proclitics are transcribed into print far less often than enclitics are, but we hear them frequently in speech. For example, the sentence "They love to dance" is typically pronounced with the "to" truncated to a "t" that gets tacked onto the front of "dance."

Durable (DUR-uh-bul)

: able to exist for a long time without significant deterioration; also : designed to be durable Something durable lasts a long time, so it's no surprise that the word comes to us, via Anglo-French, from the Latin verb durare, meaning "to last." Other descendants of durare in English include during, endure, and durance (which now mostly turns up in the phrase "in durance vile," a fancy way of saying "in prison"). Durable even has a near synonym in the much rarer perdurable, which combines durare with the prefix per- (meaning "throughout") to create a word that can mean "lasting a very long time or indefinitely" or "eternal."

Congeries (KAHN-juh-reez)

: aggregation, collection What do "epitome," "circus," "tribunal," and "congeries" have in common? All are part of a relatively small collection of English nouns that made the transition from Latin to English unaltered in both spelling and meaning. "Congeries" joined this group in our language in the early 1600s. Latin "congeries" comes from the Latin verb "congerere," which means "to carry or bring together" and which is also the source of our word "congest." In English, "congeries" stands out because it is a singular word with a plural appearance -- and its plural is also spelled "congeries."

Optimization (ahp-tuh-muh-ZAY-shun)

: an act, process, or methodology of making something (such as a design, system, or decision) as fully perfect, functional, or effective as possible; specifically : the mathematical procedures (such as finding the maximum of a function) involved in this Optimization started its gradual perfection in mid-19th-century English, when it was derived from optimize, a word first used in the early part of that same century with the meaning "to make the best or most of." In basic applications, optimization refers to the act or process of making something as good as it can be. In the 21st century, it has seen much use in technical contexts having to do with attaining the best possible functionality, as in "network optimization" and "search engine optimization" (SEO). Like the words optimum and optimism (which refer, respectively, to the amount or degree of something that is best or most effective, and to a feeling or belief that good things will happen in the future), optimize and optimization derive from Latin optimus, meaning "best."

Predilection (pred-uh-LEK-shun)

: an established preference for something Do you have a predilection for words whose histories conjure up colorful images of Wild West heroes, medieval knaves, Arabian princes, and intemperate gods, or are words with straightforward Latin roots more your style? If you favor the latter, you'll love "predilection." It's based on the Latin verb "legere," which means "to gather" or "to read." That versatile root is also the source of many other familiar English words, including "collect," "lesson," "sacrilege," and "legume."

Wellerism (WELL-uh-riz-um)

: an expression of comparison comprising a usually well-known quotation followed by a facetious sequel Sam Weller, Mr. Pickwick's good-natured servant in Charles Dickens' The Pickwick Papers, and his father were fond of following well-known sayings or phrases with humorous or punning conclusions. For example, in one incident in the book, Sam quips, "What the devil do you want with me, as the man said, w[h]en he see the ghost?" Neither Charles Dickens nor Sam Weller invented that type of word play, but Weller's tendency to use such witticisms had provoked people to start calling them "Wellerisms" by 1839, soon after the publication of the novel.

Poetaster (POH-uh-tass-ter)

: an inferior poet In Latin, the suffix "-aster" indicates partial resemblance. In both Latin and English, that often translates to "second-rate," or maybe even "third-rate." Not surprisingly, "poetaster" often goes hand in hand with "doggerel," meaning "verse marked by triviality or inferiority." "Most of the people who send me thick sheaves of handwritten or word-processed doggerel," Ms. Greer tells us in the Independent article we quote above, "appear never to have read any poetry, good or bad.... Every week poetasters, like literary flashers seeking to amaze and appal hapless passers-by with the sight of their grey flaccidities, send their effusions to people like me." Are there are other kinds of "-asters" out there? Yes indeed -- we have criticasters, philosophasters, and politicasters, among others.

Hawthorn (HAW-thorn)

: any of a genus (Crataegus) of spring-flowering spiny shrubs or small trees of the rose family with glossy and often lobed leaves, white or pink fragrant flowers, and small red fruits A hawthorn is a thorny shrub or tree which can be planted into a hedge, and this fact provides a hint about the origins of the plant's name. The word "hawthorn" traces back to the Old English word "hagathorn," a combination of "haga" ("hedge") and "thorn" (same meaning as the modern "thorn" or "thornbush"). "Haga" was also used in Old English for the hawthorn itself, but by the 12th century the "thorn" had been added to its name.

Sirenian (sye-REE-nee-un)

: any of an order (Sirenia) of aquatic herbivorous mammals (as a manatee, dugong, or Steller's sea cow) that have large forelimbs resembling paddles, no hind limbs, and a flattened tail resembling a fin "Sirenian" traces back via Latin to Greek "seirēn," which is equivalent to our word for the sirens of Greek mythology. And what is the connection between sirens and sirenians? Modern sirenians do not resemble the half bird, half woman creatures who lured sailors to their doom with their sweet singing. But as our example sentence states, sirenians are considered by some to underlie the ancient legends about mermaids. In European folklore mermaids were sometimes called "sirens," and apparently this confusion resulted in the granting of sirenians the name they bear today.

Rectrix (REK-triks)

: any of the quill feathers of a bird's tail that are important in controlling flight direction Although "rectrix" (from the Latin word "rectrix," the feminine of "rector," meaning "one that directs") has been an English word since the late 18th century, it has clung to its Latin plural "rectrices." This is not terribly unusual for a technical term like "rectrix." (Note also "cilium," whose more common plural "cilia" refers especially to the hairlike extensions on the exterior of some cells.) "Rectrix" has another meaning wholly unrelated to birds. It's also used (albeit rarely) to refer to a woman who rules or governs.

Demeanor (dih-MEE-ner)

: behavior toward others : outward manner There's a long trail from Latin "minari" (which means "to threaten" and has been connected to the threatening cries of cattle drivers) to English "demeanor." Along the way, we first encounter Latin "minare"; it means "to drive" and was once used specifically of driving animals for herding. From there, the path leads us to Anglo-French, where we pass by "mener" ("to lead") and then "demener" ("to conduct"). Next comes Middle English "demenen" and then Modern English "demean," both meaning "to conduct (oneself) in a certain manner." And, finally, we take one last step, and add the suffix "-or" to "demean" to get "demeanor."

Infra dig (IN-fruh-DIG)

: being beneath one's dignity : undignified In her autobiography, Eleanor Roosevelt wrote "No one can make you feel inferior without your consent." In other (less eloquent) words, don't put up with any treatment or situation that is unendurably infra dig. The word "infra dig" is used in relatively casual, sometimes sarcastic contexts (e.g., "Apparently, drugstore-purchased shampoo is too infra dig for my glamorous sister -- only the most expensive salon shampoos will do!"). "Infra dig" is a shortened version of the Latin phrase "infra dignitatem," meaning "beneath dignity."

Circadian (ser-KAY-dee-un)

: being, having, characterized by, or occurring in approximately 24-hour periods or cycles (as of biological activity or function) Just over fifty years ago, no one talked about "circadian rhythms" -- because "circadian" hadn't even been coined yet. In 1959, a scientist formed the word from the Latin words "circa" ("about") and "dies" ("day"), and it caught on quickly. "Circadian" appeared in periodicals throughout the sixties, and appeared in a Merriam-Webster dictionary before the decade was up. Most often, it's seen and heard in the term "circadian rhythm," which refers to the inherent cycle of about 24 hours that appears to control various biological processes, such as sleep, wakefulness, and digestive activity. If you want to impress your friends, you can also use the term "circadian dysrhythmia," a fancy synonym of "jet lag."

Gasconade (gas-kuh-NAYD)

: bravado or exaggerated boasting The citizens of Gascony in southwestern France have proverbially been regarded as prone to bragging. Their reputation has been immortalized in such swashbuckling literary works as Alexandre Dumas' The Three Musketeers and Edmond Rostand's Cyrano de Bergerac. Linguistically, the legend survives in the word "gascon," meaning "braggart," as well as in "gasconade" itself.

Permeable (PER-mee-uh-bul)

: capable of being permeated : penetrable; especially : having pores or openings that permit liquids or gases to pass through Synonyms "permeable" and "pervious" both make good use of the Latin prefix "per-," meaning "through" "Permeate" traces back to a combination of "per-" and the Latin verb "meare," meaning "to go" or "to pass," whereas the history of "pervious" calls upon Latin "via," meaning "way." Both "permeable" and its more common relative, the verb "permeate," still retain the original Latin idea of "passing through." The prefix "per-" also gave English "pervade," meaning "to become diffused throughout every part of." "Meare" also has other English descendants, including "congé," which can mean "a formal permission to depart," and "irremeable," meaning "offering no possibility of return."

Fatuous (FATCH-oo-us)

: complacently or inanely foolish : silly "I am two fools, I know, / For loving, and for saying so / In whining Poetry," wrote John Donne, simultaneously confessing to both infatuation and fatuousness. As any love-struck fool can attest, infatuation can make buffoons of the best of us. So it should come as no surprise that the words fatuous and infatuation derive from the same Latin root, fatuus, which means "foolish." Both terms have been part of English since the 17th century. Infatuation followed the earlier verb infatuate, a fatuus descendant that once meant "to make foolish" but that now usually means "to inspire with a foolish love or admiration."

Ferraginous (fuh-RAJ-uh-nus)

: consisting of a confused mixture : formed of various materials in no fixed order or arrangement "Farraginous" is the adjective connected with "farrago," a word we featured in September. In Latin, the stem "farragin-" and the noun "farrago" both mean "mixture" or (specifically) "a mixture of grains for cattle feed." They derive from "far," the Latin name for spelt, a type of grain. In the 1600s, English speakers began using "farrago" as a noun meaning "hodgepodge" and "farraginous" as an adjective meaning "consisting of a mixture." The creation of the adjective was simply a matter of adding the adjectival suffix "-ous" to "farragin-" (although at least one writer had previously experimented with "farraginary," employing a different adjectival suffix).

Friable (FRYE-uh-bul)

: easily crumbled or pulverized "Friable" entered into English in the mid-1500s, and was borrowed either from Middle French or directly from Latin "friabilis." This Latin adjective comes from the verb "friare," which means "to crumble." "Fiare" in turn is related to the verb "fricare" ("to rub"), the source of the English noun "friction." "Friable" is used to describe something that can be easily reduced to a powdered form. In contemporary usage, it is often found in the discussion of asbestos. Health concerns about asbestos primarily center around friable asbestos -- that is, asbestos that is easily pulverized into tiny fibers which may remain suspended in the air and become a potential health risk to those who inhale them.

Peculation (pek-yuh-LAY-shun)

: embezzlement "Peculation" has some peculiar relatives. It derives from Latin "peculatus" ("misappropriation of property"), which belongs to a family of Latin words having to do with property and possession. The most basic members of the family, "pecu" ("cattle") and "pecus"("livestock"), reflect the fact that animals were a fundamental form of wealth in ancient societies. Other members of the family include "pecunia" ("money"), which gave English "pecuniary" ("monetary"), and "peculiaris" ("of private property" or "special"), which led to our "peculiar."

Gulosity (goo-LAH-suh-tee)

: excessive appetite : greediness "Gulosity" is a rare word for gluttony that sees only occasional use in English these days. It derives via Middle English and Anglo-French from the Latin adjective "gulosus" ("gluttonous") and ultimately from the noun "gula" ("gullet"). It was apparently a favorite word of famed 18th-century author and lexicographer Samuel Johnson, who has been falsely credited with coining "gulosity," even though evidence for the word's use dates back to the 15th century. According to his biographer, James Boswell, Johnson was no light eater himself: he "indulged with such intenseness, that while in the act of eating, the veins of his forehead swelled, and generally a strong perspiration was visible."

Gulosity

: excessive appetite : greediness Gulosity is a rare word for "gluttony" that sees only occasional use in English these days. It derives via Middle English and Anglo-French from the Latin adjective gulosus ("gluttonous") and ultimately from the noun gula ("gullet"). It was apparently a favorite word of famed 18th-century author and lexicographer Samuel Johnson, who has been falsely credited with coining gulosity, even though evidence for the word's use dates back to the 15th century. According to his biographer, James Boswell, Johnson was no light eater himself: he "indulged with such intenseness, that while in the act of eating, the veins of his forehead swelled, and generally a strong perspiration was visible."

Impunity (im-PYOO-nuh-tee)

: exemption or freedom from punishment, harm, or loss Impunity (like the words pain, penal, and punish) traces to the Latin noun poena, meaning "punishment." The Latin word, in turn, came from Greek poinē, meaning "payment" or "penalty." People acting with impunity have prompted use of the word since the 1500s. An illustrative example from 1660 penned by Englishman Roger Coke reads: "This unlimited power of doing anything with impunity, will only beget a confidence in kings of doing what they [desire]." While royals may act with impunity more easily than others, the word impunity can be applied to the lowliest of beings as well as the loftiest: "The local hollies seem to have lots of berries this year.... A single one won't harm you, but eating a handful would surely make you pretty sick, and might kill you. Birds such as robins, mockingbirds, and cedar waxwings eat them with impunity." (Karl Anderson, The Gloucester County Times, 22 Dec. 2002).

Cohesive (koh-HEE-siv)

: exhibiting or producing a condition in which people or things are closely united Our first example sentence contains a hint about the "sticky" origins of today's word -- "cohesive" ultimately derives from Latin "haerēre," meaning "to stick." Other descendants of "haerēre" in English include "adhere" ("to stick"), "inhere" ("to belong by nature or habit"), and even "hesitate." "Haerēre" teamed up with the prefix "co-" to form "cohaerēre," an ancestor of "cohesive," "cohesion" ("a sticking together"), "cohere" ("to stick together"), and "coherent" ("able to stick together" or "logically consistent").

Plaintive (PLAYN-tiv)

: expressive of suffering or woe : melancholy Like its relative "plangent," "plaintive" is often used to describe sad sounds. "A plaintive wail," for example, is a common use. "Plaintive" and "plangent" (along with relatives "plaintiff" and "complain") ultimately derive from the Latin verb "plangere," meaning "to strike," "to beat one's breast," or "to lament." This Latin verb led to "plaint," an Anglo-French word (and now also an English word) meaning "lamentation." "Plaint" is the root of Middle English "plaintif" (meaning "lamenting" or "complaining"), which gave rise to "plaintive" as well as the noun "plaintiff."

Triskaidekaphobia (triss-kye-dek-uh-FOH-bee-uh)

: fear of the number 13 It's impossible to say just how or when the number thirteen got its bad reputation. There are a number of theories, of course. Some say it comes from the Last Supper because Jesus was betrayed afterwards by one among the thirteen present. Others trace the source of the superstition back to ancient Hindu beliefs or Norse mythology. But if written references are any indication, the phenomenon isn't all that old (at least, not among English speakers). Known mention of fear of thirteen in print dates back only to the late 1800s. By circa 1911, however, it was prevalent enough to merit a name, which was formed by attaching the Greek word for "thirteen" -- "treiskaideka" (dropping that first "e") -- to "phobia" ("fear of").

Whilom (WYE-lum)

: former "Whilom" shares an ancestor with the word "while." Both trace back to the Old English word "hwil," meaning "time" or "while." In Old English "hwilum" was an adverb meaning "at times." This use passed into Middle English (with a variety of spellings, one of which was "whilom"), and in the 12th century the word acquired the meaning "formerly." The adverb's usage dwindled toward the end of the 19th century, and it has since been labeled "archaic." The adjective first appeared on the scene in the 15th century, with the now-obsolete meaning "deceased," and by the end of the 16th century it was being used with the meaning "former." It's a relatively uncommon word, but it does see occasional use.

Frenetic (frih-NET-ik)

: frenzied, frantic When life gets frenetic, things can seem absolutely insane -- at least that seems to be what folks in the Middle Ages thought. "Frenetik," in Middle English, meant "insane." When the word no longer denoted stark raving madness, it conjured up fanatical zealots. Today its seriousness has been downgraded to something more akin to "hectic." But if you trace "frenetic" back through Anglo-French and Latin, you'll find that it comes from Greek "phrenitis," a term describing an inflammation of the brain. "Phrēn," the Greek word for "mind," is a root you will recognize in "schizophrenic." As for "frenzied" and "frantic," they're not only synonyms of "frenetic" but relatives as well. "Frantic" comes from "frenetik," and "frenzied" traces back to "phrenitis."

Comity (KAH-muh-tee)

: friendly civility : courtesy "Our country soweth also in the field of our breasts many precious seeds, as ... honest behavior, affability, comity," wrote English clergyman Thomas Becon in 1543. Becon's use is the earliest documented appearance of "comity" -- a word derived from Latin "comitas," meaning "courteousness" (and probably related to the Sanskrit word for "he smiles"). "Comity" is largely used in political and judicial contexts. Since 1862 "comity of nations" has referred to countries bound by a courteous relationship based on mutual recognition of executive, legislative, and judicial acts. And, in legal contexts, "comity" refers to the recognition by courts of one jurisdiction of the laws and judicial decisions of another.

Cap-a-pie (kap-uh-PEE)

: from head to foot Think of a medieval knight riding off to battle completely encased (from head to foot, as it were) in armor. Knights thus outfitted were said to be "armed cap-a-pie." The term "cap-a-pie," which has been used in English since at least the 16th century, descends from the Middle French phrase "de cap a pe," meaning "from head to foot." Nowadays, it is generally extended to more figurative armor, as in "armed cap-a-pie against criticism." "Cap-a-pie" has also been credited with parenting another English phrase. Some people think the expression "apple-pie order," meaning "perfect order," may have originated as a corruption of "cap-a-pie order." The evidence for that theory is far from orderly, however, and it must be regarded as speculative.

Fructuous (FRUK-chuh-wus)

: fruitful In Latin the word "fructus" means both "fruit" and "enjoyment" or "use." A rich crop of English derivatives grew from that root, including "fructuous," "fructose" (a sugar found in fruits), "fruition" ("the state of bearing fruit"), "usufruct" ("the right to use or enjoy something"), and even "fruit" itself. "Fructuous" comes from the Middle French adjective "fructueux" and the Latin adjective "fructuosus," both ultimately derived from "fructus."

Parlous (PAR-lus)

: full of danger or risk : hazardous "Parlous" is both a synonym and a derivative of "perilous"; it came to be as an alteration of "perilous" in Middle English. ("Perilous" is derived from the Anglo-French "perilleus," which ultimately comes from the Latin word for "danger": "periculum.") Both words are documented in use from at least the 14th century, but by the 17th century "parlous" had slipped from common use and was considered more or less archaic. It experienced a resurgence in popularity in the 20th century (although some critics still regarded it as an archaic affectation), and today it appears in fairly common use, often modifying "state" or "times."

Susurrous (soo-SUR-us)

: full of whispering sounds "Susurrous" derives from the Latin noun "susurrus," meaning "a hum" or "a whisper," and may be a distant relative of "swarm" (think of the collective hum of a beehive). "Susurrus" also occurs as an English noun, with the meaning "a whispering or rustling sound." Of the two English words, the noun is the older (it debuted in 1826); "susurrous" came onto the scene about thirty years later. Both of these were preceded by the noun "susurration," which appeared in the 14th century and means "a whispering sound," or "murmur." Today "susurrous" is used to describe any kind of sound that resembles a whisper: a light breeze through a tree, perhaps, or the murmurs of intrigued theatergoers.

mendacious (men-DAY-shusz)

: given to or characterized by deception or falsehood or divergence from absolute truth "Mendacious" and "lying" have very similar meanings, but the two are not interchangeable. "Mendacious" is more formal and literary, suggesting a deception harmless enough to be considered bland. "Lying" is more blunt, accusatory, and often confrontational. You might yell, "You lying rat!" in an argument, but you would most likely stick to the more diplomatic, "Aren't you being somewhat mendacious?" in a business meeting. "Mendacious" can also imply habitual untruthfulness, whereas "lying" is more likely to be used to identify specific instances of dishonesty.

Beaucoup (BOH-koo)

: great in quantity or amount : many, much In French, as you may know, "beaucoup" is an adverb meaning "a lot" or "much" (as in "merci beaucoup," meaning "thanks a lot"). "Beaucoup" isn't used on its own as an adjective in French; if you want to say "many" in French, you would use the phrase "beaucoup de." In other words, you would say "beaucoup de livres" ("a lot of books"), not "beaucoup livres." But French grammar was thrown to the wind when English speakers borrowed this word. "Beaucoup" has been used as a playful slang adjective in English since at least 1918.

Cacophony (ka-KAH-fuh-nee)

: harsh or discordant sound : dissonance; specifically : harshness in the sound of words or phrases Words that descend from the Greek word "phōnē" are making noise in English. Why? Because "phōnē" means "sound" or "voice." "Cacophony" comes from a joining of the Greek prefix "kak-," meaning "bad," with "phōnē", so it essentially means "bad sound." "Symphony," a word that indicates harmony or agreement in sound, traces to "phōnē" and the Greek prefix "syn-," which means "together." "Polyphony" refers to a style of musical composition in which two or more independent melodies are juxtaposed in harmony, and it comes from a combination of "phōnē" and the Greek prefix "poly-," meaning "many." And "euphony," a word for a pleasing or sweet sound, combines "phōnē" with "eu-," a prefix that means "good."

Zaftig (ZAHF-tig)

: having a full rounded figure : pleasingly plump "Real women have curves," as a 2002 movie title proclaimed. They are pleasingly plump, full-figured, shapely, womanly, curvy, curvaceous, voluptuous, statuesque. They are, in a word, zaftig. "Zaftig" has been juicing up our language since the 1930s (the same decade that gave us Yiddish-derived "futz," "hoo-ha," "nosh," and "schmaltz," not to mention "lox"). It comes from the Yiddish "zaftik," which means "juicy" or "succulent" and which in turn derives from "zaft," meaning "juice" or "sap."

Polyonymous (pah-lee-AH-nuh-mus)

: having or known by various names "Polyonymous" comes to us from Greek. The "poly-" part means "many," and the "-onymous" part derives from the Greek word "onoma" or "onyma," meaning "name" -- so a reasonable translation of "polyonymous" is, in fact, "having many names." There are a number of other descendants of "onoma" or "onyma" in English, including "anonymous" ("having no name"), "pseudonym" ("false name"), "eponym" (someone who lends their name to something, or a word that comes from someone's name), and "patronymic" (a name taken from one's father). Even "name" itself is derived from the same ancient word that gave rise to Greek "onyma," making it a distant cousin of all these name-related words.

Substantive (SUB-stun-tiv)

: having substance : involving matters of major or practical importance to all concerned "Substantive" was borrowed into Middle English from the Anglo-French adjective "sustentif," meaning "having or expressing substance," and can be traced back to the Latin verb "substare," which literally means "to stand under." Figuratively, the meaning of "substare" is best understood as "to stand firm" or "to hold out." Since the 14th century, we have used "substantive" to speak of that which is of enough "substance" to stand alone, or be independent. By the 19th century the word evolved related meanings, such as "enduring" and "essential." It also shares some senses with "substantial," such as "considerable in quantity."

Mimesis (muh-MEE-sis)

: imitation, mimicry Mimesis is a term with an undeniably classical pedigree. Originally a Greek word, it has been used in aesthetic or artistic theory to refer to the attempt to imitate or reproduce reality since Plato and Aristotle. Mimesis is derived from the Greek verb mimeisthai, which means "to imitate" and which itself comes from mimos, meaning "mime." The English word mime also descends from mimos, as do mimic and mimicry. And what about mimeograph, the name of the duplicating machine that preceded the photocopier? We can't be absolutely certain what the folks at the A. B. Dick Company had in mind when they came up with Mimeograph (a trademark name that has since expired), but influence from mimos and its descendants certainly seems probable.

Sub rosa (sub-ROH-zuh)

: in confidence : secretly "Sub rosa" literally means "under the rose" in New Latin. Since ancient times, the rose has often been associated with secrecy. In ancient mythology, Cupid gave a rose to Harpocrates, the god of silence, to keep him from telling about the indiscretions of Venus. Ceilings of dining rooms have been decorated with carvings of roses, reportedly to remind guests that what was said at the table should be kept confidential. Roses have also been placed over confessionals as a symbol of the confidentiality of confession. "Sub rosa" entered the English language in the 17th century, and even before then, people were using the English version, "under the rose." Earlier still, "unter der Rose" was apparently used in Germany, where the phrase is thought to have originated.

Inenarrable (in-ih-NAIR-uh-bul)

: incapable of being narrated : indescribable "Ineffable," "inenarrable," "indescribable" -- English has quite a few words for expressing that which can't be expressed. The prefix "in-," meaning "not," teamed up with Latin "enarrare" ("to explain in detail") to give us "inenarrable," and the same prefix joined with Latin "effabilis" ("capable of being expressed") to create "ineffable." English speakers have used "ineffable" since the 14th century, and "inenarrable" made its way into the language from French in the 15th century. "Indescribable" was a late arrival, relatively speaking -- it has only been with us since the 18th century.

Woolgathering (WOOL-gath-uh-ring)

: indulgence in idle daydreaming "Woolgathering" once literally referred to the act of gathering loose tufts of wool that had gotten caught on bushes and fences as sheep passed by. Woolgatherers must have seemed to wander aimlessly, gaining little for their efforts, for in the mid-16th century "woolgathering" began to appear in figurative phrases such as "my wits (or my mind) went a-woolgathering" -- in other words, "my mind went wandering aimlessly." From there, it wasn't long before the word "woolgathering" came to suggest the act of indulging in purposeless mind-wandering.

Saxicolous (sak-SIK-uh-lus)

: inhabiting or growing among rocks "Saxicolous." It's not a word that exactly rolls off the tongue, but it's a useful designation for botanists. The word is from Latin, naturally. "Saxum" is Latin for "rock," and "colous" (meaning "living or growing in or on") traces back to Latin "-cola" meaning "inhabitant." Other "colous" offspring include "arenicolous" ("living, burrowing, or growing in sand"), "cavernicolous" ("inhabiting caves"), and "nidicolous" ("living in a nest" or "sharing the nest of another kind of animal"). All of these words were coined in the late 19th and early 20th centuries to describe the flora and fauna of our world.

Lily-livered (LILL-ee-LIV-erd)

: lacking courage : cowardly The basis of the word "lily-livered" lies in an old belief. Years ago, people thought that health and temperament were the products of a balance or imbalance of four bodily fluids, or humors: blood, phlegm, black bile, and yellow bile. It was believed that a deficiency of yellow bile, or choler, the humor that governed anger, spirit, and courage, would leave a person's liver colorless or white. Someone with this deficiency, and so white-livered, would be spiritless and a coward. "Lily-livered" and "white-livered" have been used synonymously since the 16th century, but "lily-livered" is now the more common expression, probably because of its alliteration.

Nidifugous (nye-DIFF-yuh-gus)

: leaving the nest soon after hatching "Nidifugous" hatched from the Latin words "nidus," meaning "nest," and "fugere," meaning "to flee." Its contrasting word "nidicolous," meaning "reared for a time in a nest," combines "nidus" with the English combining form "-colous" ("living or growing in or on"). Another relevant term is "precocial." A precocial bird is capable of a high degree of independent activity as soon as it emerges from the egg. While all nidifugous birds are also necessarily precocial, some nidicolous birds are also precocial -- that is, they are capable of leaving the nest soon after hatching, but instead they stick around. Other nidicolous birds are "altricial," which is to say they are hatched in a very immature and helpless condition and require care for some time.

Insouciance (in-SOO-see-unss)

: lighthearted unconcern : nonchalance Don't worry -- be insouciant. Perhaps your mind will rest easier if we explain that English speakers learned "insouciance" from the French in the 1700s (and the adjective "insouciant" has been part of our language since the 1800s). The French word comes from a combination of the negative prefix "in-" and "soucier," meaning "to trouble or disturb." "Soucier" in turn traces to "sollicitus," the Latin word for "anxious." If it seems to you that "sollicitus" looks a lot like some other English words you've seen, you're right. That root also gave us "solicit" (which now means "to entreat" but which was once used to mean "to fill with concern or anxiety"), "solicitude" (meaning "uneasiness of mind"), and "solicitous" ("showing or expressing concern").

Tendentious (ten-DEN-shus)

: marked by a tendency in favor of a particular point of view : biased "Tendentious" is one of several words English speakers can choose when they want to suggest that someone has made up his or her mind in advance. You may be partial to "predisposed" or prone to favor "partisan," but whatever your leanings, we're inclined to think you'll benefit from adding "tendentious" to your repertoire. A derivative of the Medieval Latin word "tendentia," meaning "tendency," plus the English suffix "-ious," "tendentious" has been used in English as an adjective for biased attitudes since at least 1900.

Disheveled (dih-SHEV-uld)

: marked by disorder or disarray It's common to wake up after a long night's sleep with your hair disheveled -- which is appropriate, considering the origins of the word "disheveled." First appearing in English in the late 16th century, "disheveled" derived from Middle English "discheveled," meaning "bareheaded" or "with disordered hair." It is a partial translation of the Anglo-French word "deschevelé," formed by combining the prefix "des-" ("dis-") with "chevoil," the word for hair. Since the early 17th century, however, "disheveled" has been used for things other than hair, including such disparate items as grammar and reputations, that are far from tidy.

Vociferous (voh-SIF-uh-rus)

: marked by or given to vehement insistent outcry "Vociferous" derives from the word Latin "vox," which means "voice." But other English words can be used to describe those who compel attention by being loud and insistent. "Vociferous" implies a vehement shouting or calling out, but to convey the insistency of a demand or protest, "clamorous" might be a better choice. You could also use "strident" to suggest harsh and discordant noise in a protest, or "obstreperous" to imply loud, unruly and aggressive resistance to restraint. But someone who is noisy and turbulent due to high spirits rather than dissatisfaction might more aptly be called "boisterous."

Flagitious (fluh-JISH-us)

: marked by scandalous crime or vice : villainous "Flagitious" derives from the Latin noun "flagitium," meaning "shameful thing," and is akin to the Latin noun "flagrum," meaning "whip." "Flagrum" is also the source of "flagellate" ("to whip" or "to scourge"), but despite the superficial resemblance it is not the source of "flagrant," meaning "conspicuously bad." "Flagrant" and its cousins derive instead from Latin "flagrare," meaning "to burn." "Flagitious" first appeared in the late 14th century, and it was originally applied to people who were horribly criminal or wicked. These days, it can also describe intangibles, such as actions ("flagitious promiscuity"), ideas ("a flagitious notion"), and principles ("flagitious motives").

Panglossian (pan-GLAH-see-un)

: marked by the view that all is for the best in this best of possible worlds : excessively optimistic Dr. Pangloss was the pedantic old tutor in Voltaire's satirical novel Candide. Pangloss was an incurable, albeit misguided, optimist who claimed that "all is for the best in this best of all possible worlds." So persistent was he in his optimism that he kept it even after witnessing and experiencing great cruelty and suffering. The name "Pangloss" comes from Greek "pan," meaning "all," and "glossa," meaning "tongue," suggesting glibness and talkativeness.

Wigged-out (WIGD-OUT)

: mentally or emotionally discomposed : upset, crazy The wig in wigged-out is the one you don to change or enhance your appearance. Wig has been in use since the late 17th century, when it was adopted as a clipped form of periwig, itself denoting a manufactured covering of natural or synthetic hair for the head. The source of periwig is Middle French perruque (source also of the synonym peruque). In the American slang of the mid-20th century, the word wig was moving into new territory: wig became a word for the mind, and to "wig out" was to lose one's composure or reason. The idiom "flip one's wig" also came into use (sharing the "to become crazy or very angry" meaning of the very similar "flip one's lid"), and the adjective wigged-out found a home in the language too, describing anyone who was mentally or emotionally discomposed.

Meld (MELD)

: merge, blend As a verb meaning "to blend or merge," "meld" dates only to the 1930s. In its early days, the word attracted some unfavorable attention. Those who didn't like it tended to perceive it as a misuse of an older "meld" meaning "to declare or announce (a card or cards) for a score in a card game (as pinochle or gin rummy)." But the new "meld," a blend of "melt" and "weld," was an entirely new coinage suggesting a smooth and thorough blending of two or more things into a single, homogeneous whole. The word is no longer controversial.

Ear candy (EER-KAN-dee)

: music that is pleasing to listen to but lacks depth "Ear candy" made its debut (in print, at least) as the title of a 1977 album by pop singer Helen Reddy. The album has long since faded from the charts, but the term endures and it is now used widely enough to have gained entry into abridged dictionaries. Although "ear candy" is sometimes used critically to describe tunes that are considered "gooey," "sweet," or "saccharine," the people who make the music and their fans find it tasty. As one 90s band member sagely put it, does it really matter if ear candy "isn't about the secret of life"?

Inimitable (in-IM-it-uh-bul)

: not capable of being imitated : matchless Something that is inimitable is, literally, not able to be imitated. In actual usage the word describes things so uniquely extraordinary as to not be copied or equaled, which is why you often hear it used to praise outstanding talents or performances. (The antonym imitable describes things that are common or ordinary and could easily be replicated or surpassed.) Inimitable derives via Middle English from Latin inimitabilis. Be careful not to confuse it with inimical or inimicable, two adjectives meaning "hostile" or "harmful"; those words derive from the same Latin root that gave English enemy—inimīcus.

Indissoluble (in-dih-SAHL-yuh-bul)

: not dissoluble; especially : incapable of being annulled, undone, or broken : permanent Indissoluble and its antonym dissoluble ("capable of being dissolved or disintegrated") both date their first print appearances to the 16th century, and both owe a debt to Latin dissolubilis, which means "dissoluble; capable of being dissolved." While the word dissolve in that gloss may call to mind the chemical process by which something mixed with a liquid becomes part of the liquid (as when salt or sugar dissolve in water), indissoluble primarily relates to other meanings of dissolve: "destroy" and "disintegrate," "terminate" and "annul." Something indissoluble—such as a treaty, contract, or vow—is permanent. The English word dissolve, in all its meanings, is a cousin to indissoluble and dissoluble. Dissolubilis derives from Latin dissolvere (from dis- + solvere, "to loosen") the source of our word dissolve.

Struthious (STROO-thee-us)

: of or relating to the ostriches and related birds "Struthious" can be scientific and literal, or it can be figurative with the meaning "ostrich-like," as in our example sentence. The extended use suggests a tendency to bury one's head in the sand like an ostrich. But do ostriches really do this? No -- the bird's habit of lying down and flattening its neck and head against the ground to escape detection gave rise to the misconception. The word "struthious" has been fully visible in English since the 18th century. "Ostrich" is much older. Anglo-French speakers created "ostriz" from Vulgar Latin "avis struthio" ("ostrich bird"); Middle English speakers made it "ostrich" in the 13th century. Scientists seeking a genus word for ostriches turned back to Latin, choosing "struthio."

Coeval (koh-EE-vul)

: of the same or equal age, antiquity, or duration "Coeval" comes to English from the Latin word "coaevus," meaning "of the same age." "Coaevus" was formed by combining the "co-" prefix ("in or to the same degree") with Latin "aevum" ("age" or "lifetime"). The root "ev" comes from "aevum," making words such as "longevity," "medieval," and "primeval" all near relations to "coeval." Although "coeval" can technically describe any two or more entities that coexist, it is most typically used to refer to things that have existed together for a very long time (such as galaxies) or that were concurrent with each other in the distant past (parallel historical periods of ancient civilizations, for example).

Phatic (FATT-ik)

: of, relating to, or being speech used for social or emotive purposes rather than for communicating information "Phatic" was coined in the early 20th century by people who apparently wanted to label a particular quirk of human communication-the tendency to use certain rote phrases (such as the standard greeting "how are you?") merely to establish a social connection without sharing any actual information. It probably won't surprise you, then, to learn that "phatic" derives from the Greek "phatos," a form of the verb "phanai," meaning "to speak." Other descendants of "phanai" in English include "apophasis" ("the raising of an issue by claiming not to mention it"), "euphemism," "prophet," and the combining suffix "-phasia" (used to denote a speech disorder). You may also have spotted a similarity to "emphatic," but that turns out to be purely coincidence; "emphatic" traces back to a different Greek verb which means "to show."

Uxorial (uk-SOR-ee-ul)

: of, relating to, or characteristic of a wife With help from "-ial," "-ious," and "-icide," the Latin word "uxor," meaning "wife," has given us the English words "uxorial," "uxorious" (meaning "excessively fond of or submissive to a wife"), and "uxoricide" ("murder of a wife by her husband" or "a wife murderer"). Do we have equivalent "husband" words? Well, sort of. "Maritus" means "husband" in Latin, so "marital" can mean "of or relating to a husband and his role in marriage" (although "maritus" also means "married," and the "of or relating to marriage or the married state" sense of "marital" is far more common). And while "mariticide" is "spouse killing," it can also be specifically "husband-killing."

Perfidious (per-FID-ee-us)

: of, relating to, or characterized by faithlessness or disloyalty : treacherous We wouldn't lie to you about the history of "perfidious" -- even though the word itself suggests deceitfulness. The modern English meaning of "perfidious" remains faithful to that of its Latin ancestor, "perfidus," which means "faithless." English speakers have used "perfidious" to mean "treacherous" since at least 1572. One of the earliest known uses of the term can be found in Act V, scene iii of Shakespeare's All's Well That Ends Well: the "perfidious slave" Parolles is thought to be an unreliable witness; he'll say whatever suits his purpose, whether true or not. In contemporary usage, "perfidious" not only implies treacherousness, but an inability to be reliable or honorable.

Promethean (pruh-MEE-thee-un)

: of, relating to, or resembling Prometheus, his experiences, or his art; especially : daringly original or creative As some versions of the story go in Greek mythology, Prometheus (one of the Titan giants) modeled humans from clay and then taught them agriculture and all the arts of civilization. He also stole fire from the gods and gave it to humans. So inventive was he that anything that bears the stamp of creativity and originality can still be called "Promethean." Zeus, however, had wanted the human race to perish, so Prometheus' actions were also disobedient. Hence "Promethean" can also mean defiant of authority or limits. As punishment for his disobedience, Zeus chained Prometheus to a rock where an eagle daily tore at his liver. Thus, any suffering on a grand scale can also be called Promethean -- though this sense is not as common as the others.

Sisyphean (sis-uh-FEE-un)

: of, relating to, or suggestive of the labors of Sisyphus; specifically : requiring continual and often ineffective effort In Greek mythology, Sisyphus was a king who annoyed the gods with his trickery. As a consequence, he was condemned for eternity to roll a huge rock up a long, steep hill in the underworld, only to watch it roll back down. The story of Sisyphus is often told in conjunction with that of Tantalus, who was condemned to stand beneath fruit-laden boughs, up to his chin in water. Whenever he bent his head to drink, the water receded, and whenever he reached for the fruit, the branches moved beyond his grasp. Thus to "tantalize" is to tease or torment by offering something desirable but keeping it out of reach -- and something "Sisyphean" (or "Sisyphian," pronounced \sih-SIFF-ee-un) demands unending, thankless, and ultimately unsuccessful efforts.

Mrs. Grundy (MISS-uz-GRUN-dee)

: one marked by prudish conventionality in personal conduct "What would Mrs. Grundy say?" Dame Ashfield, a character in Thomas Morton's 1798 play Speed the Plough, was continually asking that question and worrying about invoking the sneering condemnation of her prudish neighbor, Mrs. Grundy. Although Mrs. Grundy never actually appeared on stage during the play, her critical attitude exerted a significant influence on the actions of other characters, and ultimately on the English language. By 1813, English speakers had adopted her name as a byword for anyone with extremely rigid standards of propriety that he or she applied in judging the actions of others.

Antecessor (an-tih-SESS-er)

: one that goes before "Antecessor" may remind you of "predecessor," its synonymous and more familiar cousin -- and there's a good reason for that. Both words ultimately derive from the Latin verb "cedere," meaning "to go." "Antecessor" ultimately derives from a combination of "cedere" and the Latin prefix "ante-," meaning "before." "Predecessor" traces back to a different Latin prefix, "prae-," which also means "before," combined with "decessor," a "cedere" descendant meaning "retiring governor." Cedere" has many other descendants in English, including "decease," "necessary," and "succeed." Descendants of both "ante-" and "cedere" include "antecedent," "ancestor," and the verb "antecede," a synonym of "precede."

Toady (TOH-dee)

: one who flatters in the hope of gaining favors : sycophant We can thank old-time toadeaters for toady. In 17th-century Europe, a toadeater was a showman's assistant whose job was to make the boss look good. The toadeater would eat (or pretend to eat) what were supposed to be poisonous toads. The charlatan in charge would then "save" the toad-afflicted assistant by expelling the poison. It's little wonder that such assistants became symbolic of extreme subservience, and that toadeater became a word for any obsequious underling. By the early 1800s, it had been shortened and altered to toady, our current term for a servile self-seeker. By the mid-1800s, toady was also being used as a verb meaning "to engage in sycophancy.

Spelunker (spih-LUNK-er)

: one who makes a hobby of exploring and studying caves "Spelunker" sounds like the noise a pebble makes when you drop it down a deep hole and into dark, hidden water far below. But there's nothing dark or obscure about the etymology of the term. We borrowed "spelunker" from Latin "spelunca," which in turn derives from Greek "spelynx." When you get to the bottom of things, you find that both the Latin and Greek words mean "cave." Although "spelunker" might sound neat, be careful: some cave-exploring enthusiasts prefer the term "caver."

Alterity (awl-TAIR-uh-tee)

: otherness; specifically : the quality or state of being radically alien to the conscious self or a particular cultural orientation You're probably familiar with the verb "alter," meaning "to make or become different," and you may not be surprised to learn that it is a relative of "alterity." Both words descend from the Latin word "alter," meaning "other (of two)." That Latin "alter," in turn, comes from a prehistoric Indo-European word that is also an ancestor of our "alien." "Alterity" has been used in English as a fancy word for "otherness" ("the state of being other") since at least 1642. It remains less common than "otherness" and tends to turn up most often in the context of literary theory or cultural studies.

Prolegomenon (proh-lih-GAH-muh-nahn)

: prefatory remarks; specifically : a formal essay or critical discussion serving to introduce and interpret an extended work "Prolegomenon" is the singular and "prolegomena" is the plural of this scholarly word, though people sometimes mistakenly interpret "prolegomena" as the singular. The word, which comes from the Greek verb "prolegein" ("to say beforehand"), first appeared in print around 1652. It has appeared in the titles of noteworthy scholarly and philosophical works, but it has never been as common in general use as its older cousin "prologue." "Prologue" usually refers to an introduction to a literary work or to a speech addressed to the audience at the beginning of a play. "Prolegomenon" is most often used of the introduction to a work of scholarly analysis. Both words can also be used in a broader sense to refer generally to something that serves as an introduction.

Barmecidal (bahr-muh-SYE-dul)

: providing only the illusion of abundance "Barmecide" is the name of a family of princes in a tale from The Thousand and One Nights (also known as The Arabian Nights' Entertainment). One prince in the family torments a beggar by inviting him to a fabulous feast, at which all the dishes are imaginary. The poor man plays along with his malicious host, pretending to get drunk on the imaginary wine; he then gets even by knocking down the patronizing royal.

Dorsal (DOR-sul)

: relating to or situated near or on the back especially of an animal or of one of its parts The most famous use of "dorsal" is with "fin," whether it conjures the ominous dorsal fin of sharks or the benign, even benevolent, image of porpoises and dolphins. Less well-known is the botanical sense of "dorsal," meaning "facing away from the stem" (thus the underside of a leaf can be the dorsal side), or the linguistic sense referring to articulations made with the back part of the tongue (\k\ and \g\, for example). "Dorsal" can be used of non-living things too (in particular, the backs of airplanes), as can its opposite, "ventral," which means "relating to the belly." "Dorsal" descends from Latin "dorsum" ("back"), which also gave us "dossier" (via French, for a bundle of documents labeled on the back) and "reredos" ("an ornamental screen or partition wall behind an altar").

Scuttlebutt (SKUTT-ul-butt)

: rumor, gossip Nowadays, office workers catch up on the latest scuttlebutt around the water cooler, and when they do, they are continuing a long-standing (although not necessarily honorable) tradition. That kind of gossip sharing probably also occurred on the sailing ships of yore. Back in the early 1800s, the cask containing a ship's daily supply of freshwater was called a "scuttlebutt"; that name was later applied to a drinking fountain on a ship or at a naval installation. By the early 20th century, the term for the water source was also applied to the gossip and rumors generated around it, and the latest chatter has been called "scuttlebutt" ever since.

Soi-disant (swah-dee-ZAHNG [the NG is not pronounced, but the vowel is nasal])

: self-proclaimed, so-called "Soi-disant," which in French means literally "saying oneself," is one of hundreds of French terms that entered English in the 17th and 18th centuries, during the period known as the Enlightenment. Even as political antipathies between France and England were being played out on battlefields in Europe and America, English speakers were peppering their speech and writing with French. "Soi-disant" first began appearing in English texts in 1752 as a disparaging term for someone who styles or fancies him- or herself in some role. "Crepe," "vis-a-vis," "etiquette," and "sang-froid" are a few of the other French terms that became naturalized in English at that time.

Esemplastic (es-em-PLAS-tik)

: shaping or having the power to shape disparate things into a unified whole "Unusual and new-coined words are, doubtless, an evil; but vagueness, confusion, and imperfect conveyance of our thoughts, are a far greater," wrote English poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge in Biographia Literaria, 1817. True to form, in that same work, he assembled "esemplastic" by melding the Greek phrase "es hen," meaning "into one," with "plastic" to fulfill his need for a word that accurately described the imagination's ability to shape disparate experiences into a unified whole (e.g., the poet's imaginative ability to communicate a variety of images, sensations, emotions, and experiences in the unifying framework of a poem). The verb "intensify" was another word that Coleridge was compelled to mint while writing Biographia. Coinages found in his other writings include "clerisy" and "psychosomatic," among others.

Forte (FORT)

: something in which one excels : one's strong point "Forte" derives from the sport of fencing -- when English speakers borrowed the word from French in the mid-17th century, it referred to the strongest part of a sword blade, between the middle and the hilt. It is therefore unsurprising that "forte" eventually developed an extended metaphorical sense for a person's strong point. (Incidentally, "forte" has its counterpoint in the word "foible," meaning both the weakest part of a sword blade and a person's weak point.) There is some controversy over how to correctly pronounce "forte"; common choices in American English are "FOR-tay" and "for-TAY," but many usage commentators recommend rhyming it with "fort." None of these is technically true to the French, in which "forte" would sound more like "for." You can take your choice, knowing that someone somewhere will dislike whichever variant you choose. All, however, are standard.

Magniloquent (mag-NIL-uh-kwunt)

: speaking in or characterized by a high-flown often bombastic style or manner "Magnus" means "great" in Latin; "loqui" is a Latin verb meaning "to speak." Combine the two and you get "magniloquus," the Latin predecessor of "magniloquent." English speakers started using "magniloquent" in the 1600s -- even though we'd had its synonym "grandiloquent" since the 1500s. ("Grandiloquent" comes from Latin "grandiloquus," which combines "loqui" and "grandis," another word for "great" in Latin.) Today, these synonyms continue to exist side by side and to be used interchangeably, though "grandiloquent" is the more common of the two.

Wanderlust (WAHN-der-lust)

: strong longing for or impulse towards wandering "For my part," writes Robert Louis Stevenson in Travels with a Donkey, "I travel not to go anywhere, but to go. I travel for travel's sake. The great affair is to move." Sounds like a case of wanderlust if we ever heard one. Those with "wanderlust" don't necessarily need to go anywhere in particular; they just don't care to stay in one spot. The etymology of "wanderlust" is a very simple one that you can probably figure out yourself. "Wanderlust" is lust (or "desire") for wandering. The word comes from German, in which "wandern" means "to wander," and "Lust" means "desire."

Armistice (AHR-muh-stus)

: temporary suspension of hostilities by agreement between the opponents : truce "Armistice" descends from Latin "sistere," meaning "to come to a stand" or "to cause to stand or stop," combined with "arma," meaning "weapons." An armistice, therefore, is literally a cessation of arms. Armistice Day is the name that was given to the holiday celebrated in the United States on November 11 before it was renamed Veterans Day by Congress in 1954. The original name refers to the agreement between the Allied Powers and Germany to end hostilities that constituted the first World War, designated to take effect on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month. Other armistices, involving Romania, Bulgaria, Turkey, and Austria-Hungary, were effected on other dates before and after November 11.

Conciliatory (kun-SILL-yuh-tor-ee)

: tending to win over from a state of hostility or distrust : intended to gain the goodwill or favor of someone If you are conciliatory towards someone, you're trying to win that person over to your side. The verb conciliate was borrowed into English in the mid-16th century and descends from the Latin verb conciliare, meaning "to assemble, unite, or win over." Conciliare, in turn, comes from Latin concilium, meaning "assembly" or "council." Conciliatory, which appeared in English a bit later in the 16th century, also traces back to conciliare. Another word that has conciliare as a root is reconcile, the earliest meaning of which is "to restore to friendship or harmony."

Supererogation (soo-per-air-uh-GAY-shun)

: the act of performing more than is required by duty, obligation, or need English speakers took "supererogation" from the Medieval Latin verb "supererogare," which means "to perform beyond the call of duty." That Latin word, in turn, derives from the prefix "super-," meaning "over and above," plus "erogare," meaning "to expend public funds after asking the consent of the people." The earliest English uses of "supererogation" occurred in religious contexts, where it often referred to the doing of good deeds beyond those required for salvation. By the late 1500s, "supererogation" was being applied to any act performed above and beyond obligation.

Asterisk (ASS-tuh-risk)

: the character * used in printing or writing as a reference mark, as an indication of the omission of letters or words, to denote a hypothetical or unattested linguistic form, or for various arbitrary meanings If someone asked you to associate the word "asterisk" with a heavenly body, you would probably have no problem relating it to a star -- even if you didn't know that the word "asterisk" derives from "asteriskos," a Greek word meaning "little star." "Asterisk" has been a part of the constellation of English since at least the late 1300s, but it is far from the only shining star in our language. The Greek forms "astēr," "astro," and "astrum" (all of which mean "star") still cast their light in English by way of such words as "asteroid," "astral," and "disaster" (which originally meant "an unfavorable aspect of a planet or star"). Even "star" itself is a distant relative of "asterisk."

Apex (AY-peks)

: the highest point : peak "Apex" entered English from Latin, where it originally meant "a small rod at the top of a flamen's cap." What's a flamen's cap? Flamens were priests who devoted themselves to serving just one of the many ancient Roman gods (for instance, just Jupiter or Mars). Those priests wore distinctive conical caps that English speakers dubbed "flamen's caps." Sixteenth- and seventeenth-century dramatist Ben Jonson was one of the few English writers known to have used "apex" in its flamen's-cap sense: "Upon his head a hat of delicate wool, whose top ended in a cone, and was thence called apex."

Peloton (pel-uh-TAHN)

: the main body of riders in a bicycle race If you've ever watched the Tour de France on television, you've seen the peloton, the brightly colored pack of riders making up the central group. You may have also gained some inadvertent insight into the word itself, which as you may have guessed is French in origin. In French, "peloton" literally means "ball," but it is most often used with the meaning "group." It's frequently used in the bicycling context, just as in English, but it can also refer to a group in a marathon or other sporting event. French "peloton" can also mean "squad" or "platoon," and since we've told you that you probably won't be too surprised to learn that it is also the source of our word "platoon."

Gravamen (gruh-VAY-mun)

: the material or significant part of a grievance or complaint "Gravamen" is not a word you hear every day, but it does show up occasionally in modern-day publications. It comes from the Latin verb "gravare," meaning "to burden," and ultimately from the Latin adjective "gravis," meaning "heavy." Fittingly, "gravamen" refers to the part of a grievance or complaint that gives it weight or substance. In legal contexts, "gravamen" is used, synonymously with "gist," to refer to the grounds on which a legal action is sustainable. "Gravis" has given English several other weighty words, including "gravity," "grieve," and the adjective "grave," meaning "important" or "serious."

Archetype (AHR-kih-type)

: the original pattern or model of which all things of the same type are representations or copies : prototype; also : a perfect example "Archetype" derives via Latin from the Greek adjective "archetypos" ("archetypal"), formed from the verb "archein" ("to begin" or "to rule") and the noun "typos" ("type"). ("Archein" also gave us the prefix "arch-," meaning "principal" or "extreme" and used to form such words as "archenemy," "archduke," and "archconservative.") "Archetype" has specific uses in the fields of philosophy and psychology. The ancient Greek philosopher Plato, for example, believed that all things have ideal forms (aka archetypes) of which real things are merely shadows or copies. And in the psychology of C. G. Jung, "archetype" refers to an inherited idea or mode of thought that is present in the unconscious of the individual. In everyday prose, however, "archetype" is most commonly used to mean "a perfect example of something."

Psephology (see-FAH-luh-jee)

: the scientific study of elections "Psephology" is from the Greek word "psēphos," meaning "pebble." (One relative of "psephology" is "psephomancy," meaning "divination by pebbles.") "Psephology" merited election as the name for the work of analysts of elections, or psephologists, because pebbles were used by the ancient Greeks in voting. Similarly, the word "ballot" was an excellent choice for a means of voting since it is derived from "balla," the Italian word for "ball," and Italians placed balls in a container to cast votes.

Vexillology (vek-suh-LAH-luh-jee)

: the study of flags "The flag is the embodiment, not of sentiment, but of history." Woodrow Wilson was speaking of the U.S. flag when he made that statement in an address in June of 1915, but those who engage in vexillology -- that is, vexillologists -- would likely find the comment applicable to any national banner. Vexillologists undertake scholarly investigations of flags, producing papers with titles such as "A Review of the Changing Proportions of Rectangular Flags since Medieval Times, and Some Suggestions for the Future." In the late 1950s, they coined "vexillology" as a name for their field of research from "vexillum," the Latin term for a square flag or banner of the ancient Roman cavalry. The adjectives "vexillologic" and "vexillological" and the noun "vexillologist" followed soon thereafter.

Jawboning (JAW-boh-ning)

: the use of public appeals (as by a president) to influence the actions especially of business and labor leaders; broadly : the use of spoken persuasion In the late 1800s, the noun "jawbone" meant "credit" (as in "his money's gone, so he lives on jawbone"), which was probably influenced by the practice of coaxing others to lend money by promising to pay it back. By the mid-1960s the verb "to jawbone," meaning "to talk about to gain some end," was appearing regularly in the media. The noun "jawboning" made its print debut at the end of that decade, in reference to rhetorical practices that influenced the actions of the wealthy and powerful. All of these uses were likely influenced by the verb "jaw," which has long been used with the meanings "to talk" or "to scold."

Boustrophedon (boo-struh-FEE-dahn)

: the writing of alternate lines in opposite directions (as from left to right and from right to left) Before the standardization of writing from left to right, ancient Greek inscribers once used a style called "boustrophedon," a word meaning literally "turning like oxen in plowing." When they came to the end of a line, the ancient Greeks simply started the next line immediately below the last letter, writing the letters and words in the opposite direction, and thus following the analogy of oxen plowing left to right, then right to left. "Reverse boustrophedon" writing has also been found in which the inscribers turned the document 180 degrees before starting a new line so that the words are always read left to right with every half turn. The word "boustrophedon" itself is formed from the Greek word for the ox or cow, "bous," and the verb "strephein," which means "to turn."

Embezzle (im-BEZZ-ul)

: to appropriate (as property entrusted to one's care) fraudulently to one's own use English has a lot of verbs that mean to steal -- some more specific than others. "Pilfer," "purloin," "rob," "swipe," "plunder," "filch," and "thieve" are some noted examples. "Embezzle" differs from these by stressing the improper appropriation of property to which a person is entrusted -- often in the form of company funds. First appearing in English in the 15th century, "embezzle" derives via Middle English from the Anglo-French "embesiller," meaning "to make away," formed from the prefix "en-" and the verb "besiller," meaning "to steal or plunder." Related to "embezzle" is "bezzle," a verb used in some British English dialects to mean "to waste or plunder" or "to drink or eat to excess."

Attitudinize (at-uh-TOO-duh-nyze)

: to assume an affected mental attitude : pose The English word attitude was first used in the 17th century to refer to the way a sculptured or painted figure was positioned—that is, to its posture. The word was borrowed from French, which had taken the word from Italian attitudine, meaning "aptitude." Eventually, the word moved from artistic representation to the real world, with attitude being also used for the postures a person might assume for a specific purpose, or effect—be those purposes sincere or not. By the mid-18th century, the word attitudinarian had been coined to label those in the habit of practicing such attitudes—those we might also call poseurs. By the end of that same century the word attitudinize was available for complaints about such behavior.

Interdigitate (in-ter-DIJ-uh-tayt)

: to become interlocked like the fingers of folded hands It probably won't surprise you to learn that "interdigitate" comes from the prefix "inter-," as in "interlock," and the Latin word "digitus," meaning "finger." "Digitus" also gave us "digit," which is used in English today to refer to (among other things) the finger or toe of any animal. "Interdigitate" usually suggests an interlocking of things with fingerlike projections, such as muscle fibers or the teeth of an old-fashioned bear trap. The word can also be used figuratively to imply a smooth interweaving of disparate things, such as the blending of two cultures within a shared region.

Transmogrify (transs-MAH-gruh-fye)

: to change or alter greatly and often with grotesque or humorous effect We know that the prefix "trans-" means "across" or "beyond" and appears in many words that evoke change, such as "transform" and "transpire," but we don't know the exact origins of "transmogrify." The 17th-century dramatist, novelist, and poet Aphra Behn, who is regarded as England's first female professional writer, was among the first English authors to use the word. In her 1671 comic play The Amorous Prince, Behn wrote, "I wou'd Love would transmogriphy me to a maid now." A century later, Scottish poet Robert Burns plied the word again in verse, aptly capturing the grotesque and sometimes humorous effect of transmogrification: "Social life and Glee sit down, . . . Till, quite transmugrify'd, they're grown Debauchery and Drinking."

Conn (KAHN)

: to conduct or direct the steering of (as a ship) In the 19th century, warships (and, later, submarines) began to be built with structures known as "conning towers." These structures were so called because it was from them that an officer could "conn" the vessel. The verb "conn" (also spelled "con") is first known to have appeared in English in the 1600s. It is an alteration of "cond," which is probably an alteration of Middle English "condien" or "conduen," meaning "to conduct." Since the 19th century, "conn" has also been used as a noun ("the control exercised by one who conducts or directs the steering of a ship"). This noun, though seldom encountered in general English, is likely familiar to fans of the various Star Trek series in which the directive "You have the conn" is sometimes given from the starship captain to another officer on the bridge.

Perdure (per-DUR)

: to continue to exist : last Perdure may be an unfamiliar word for many of our readers, but those who suspect they see hints of its ancestry in the more familiar synonym endure are correct. Perdure was borrowed into Middle English from Anglo-French and traces back to the Latin verb perdurare, meaning "to continue." Perdurare, in turn, was formed by combining the intensifying prefix per- with the verb durare, meaning "to last." Durare is also an ancestor of the English words endure, durable, indurate, and during, among others.

Retarget (\ree-TAHR-gut\)

: to direct (something) toward a different target The verb retarget first appeared in 20th-century English with the basic meaning "to direct toward a different target." In digital advertising, retargeting has to do with directing people who have left your website back to the site by displaying ads that remind them of your site on other sites they subsequently visit. The base word target is from the early French noun targe, which was used for a light shield carried especially by footmen and archers. French targette, a diminutive form of targe, was taken into English as target in the early 15th century with its French sense. In the 18th century, the word acquired the extended sense of "a shieldlike object to shoot at for practice." In the following century, the figurative senses referring to a thing or person that is marked for attack (especially of ridicule or criticism) begin to develop. The sense of "a goal to be achieved" originated in the 20th century, often in connection with a quantity or date (as in "production targets" or "target dates").

Flat-hat (FLAT-hat)

: to fly low in an airplane in a reckless manner : hedgehop Legend has it that the term "flat-hat" originated with an incident back in the days of barnstormers in which a pedestrian's hat was crushed by a low-flying airplane. According to one version of the tale, the reckless pilot was subsequently required to purchase a new hat for the hapless pedestrian. It seems unlikely that such an event actually took place, but we can well imagine how fear of having one's hat smashed flat by a passing airplane might have given rise to such a vivid verb. "Flat-hat" first appeared in English in 1940; another word for flying low to the ground, "hedgehop," debuted 14 years earlier.

Propitiate (proh-PISH-ee-ayt)

: to gain or regain the favor or goodwill of : appease, conciliate Like its synonym "appease," "propitiate" means "to ease the anger or disturbance of," but there are subtle differences between the two terms as well. "Appease" usually implies quieting insistent demands by making concessions, whereas "propitiate" tends to suggest averting the anger or malevolence of a superior being. In fact, "propitiate" often occurs -- as in our first example sentence -- in contexts involving deities, spirits, or other preternatural forces. You might "appease" your hunger, but to speak more colorfully, you could "propitiate the gods of hunger."

Exhilarate (ig-ZIL-uh-rayt)

: to make (someone) very happy and excited or elated Many people find exhilarate a difficult word to spell. It's easy to forget that silent "h" in there, and is it an "er" or "ar" after the "l"? It may be easier to remember the spelling if you know that exhilarate ultimately derives from the Latin adjective hilarus, meaning "cheerful." (This also explains why the earliest meaning of exhilarate is "to make cheerful.") Exhilarate comes from exhilaratus, the past participle of exhilarare, which is formed by combining ex- and hilarare, a verb that derives from hilarus and means "to cheer or gladden." If hilarus looks familiar, that may be because it's also the source of hilarious and hilarity (as well as hilariously and hilariousness, of course).

Cosmeticize (kahz-MET-uh-syze)

: to make (something unpleasant or ugly) superficially attractive "Cosmeticize" first appeared in print in the early 19th century as a descendant of the noun "cosmetic." Originally, its use was often literal, with the meaning "to apply a cosmetic to," but today it is often used figuratively. "Cosmeticize" does occasionally draw criticism; usage commentators are sometimes irritated by verbs coined using "-ize" as they can sound like silly, nonce words. "Cosmeticize" is fairly well-established, however, in contrast with the two other, rarer verbs that have been derived from "cosmetic": "cosmetize," which often turns up in the literal sense ("cosmetize the face"), and "cosmetic," which can be literal or figurative ("cosmeticked with bright rouge"; "embellished and cosmeticked").

Pungle (PUNG-gul)

: to make a payment or contribution of money -- usually used with up "Pungle" is from the Spanish word "pongale," meaning "put it down," which itself is from "poner," meaning "to put" or "to place," or more specifically "to contribute money." The earliest uses of "pungle" are from the 1850s and are in reference to anteing up in games of chance. It did not take long for the word to be used in other contexts. It was in Huckleberry Finn's deadbeat dad's vocabulary: "I'll make [Judge Thatcher] pungle, too, or I'll know the reason why," Huck quotes his father in Mark Twain's famous novel. Nowadays, "pungle" is mainly used in the western part of the United States.

Tittup (TITT-up)

: to move in a lively manner often with an exaggerated or affected action "Tittup" has been used as noun naming an imitation of the sound of horses' hooves moving at a pace between a canter and a gallop since as early as 1703. The rhythmic sound and bounce of such movement was infectious enough to lead people to apply the word to other bouncy gaits, and to lively or restless behavior in general. "Tittup" was first used as a verb in 1785. In 1862, William Makepeace Thackeray recalled the word's equine origins when he wrote of "a magnificent horse dancing, and tittupping." The word is not common today, but it does see occasional use, especially in British sources.

Galumph (guh-LUMF)

: to move with a clumsy heavy tread Bump, thump, thud. There's no doubt about it, when someone or something galumphs onto the scene, ears take notice. "Galumph" first lumbered onto the English scene in 1872 when Lewis Carroll used the word to describe the actions of the vanquisher of the Jabberwock in Through the Looking Glass: "He left it dead, and with its head / He went galumphing back." Etymologists suspect Carroll created "galumph" by altering the word "gallop," perhaps throwing in a pinch of "triumphant" for good measure (in its earliest uses, "galumph" did convey a sense of exultant bounding). Other 19th-century writers must have liked the sound of "galumph," because they began plying it in their own prose, and it has been clumping around our language ever since.

Amerce (uh-MERSS)

: to punish by a fine whose amount is fixed by the court; broadly : punish If you break the law, you could find yourself "at the mercy" of the court. As you await your punishment (hoping that the judge will in fact be merciful), you may want to ponder the history of "amerce." It begins with the Old French phrase "a merci," meaning "at (one's) mercy," which in turn gave rise to the Anglo-French verb "amercier" (same meaning as "amerce"). Middle English speakers adopted the French word as "amercien," which was later modernized to "amerce." In addition to the legal use, "amerce" can also be used in a more general sense for the infliction of any sort of punishment, monetary or otherwise.

Abhor (ub-HOR)

: to regard with extreme repugnance : to feel hatred or loathing for : loathe Abhor implies strong feelings of repugnance, disgust, and aversion. This degree of distaste is seen in the word's history. In earlier use, abhor sometimes implied an actual shrinking away from something in horror or repugnance. Appropriately, the word's Latin source, the verb abhorrēre, comes from the prefix ab- ("from, away") and the verb horrēre ("to bristle, shiver, or shudder"). As you may have guessed, the Latin horrēre is also the source of the English words horror, horrify, and horrible.

Frog-March (FROG-march)

: to seize from behind roughly and forcefully propel forward There are a couple variations of the "frog's march" used to carry off an unruly person. The first involves carrying the person face downward by the arms and legs; when this is done by four people each holding a limb, the person's body resembles a stretched out frog. In another version the person is carried off by his collar and the seat of his pants, again giving the image of a frog but this time with limbs uselessly flailing about. These ways of moving a person gave us the verb "frog-march" in the late 19th century. The verb was also extended to cover more general, less frog-like, methods of removal, such as forcing the intractable individual forward with arms held in back or at the sides.

Tantalize (TAN-tuh-lyze)

: to tease or torment by or as if by presenting something desirable to the view but continually keeping it out of reach Pity poor King Tantalus of Phrygia. The mythic monarch offended the ancient Greek gods. As punishment, he was plunged up to his chin in water in Hades, where he had to stand beneath overhanging boughs of a tree heavily laden with ripe, juicy fruit. But though he was always hungry and thirsty, Tantalus could neither drink the water nor eat the fruit. Anytime he reached for them, they would retreat from him. Our word "tantalize" is taken from the name of the eternally tormented king.

Misconstrue (miss-kun-STROO)

: to understand or explain wrongly : misinterpret In the 14th century, English speakers acquired the closely linked words "construe" and "construction." You may think of "construction" as a word having to do with building houses or highways, but it has long had other meanings, including "arrangement of words in a sentence" and "interpretation." Similarly, "construe" can mean "to analyze the arrangement and connection of words in a sentence" or "to interpret or explain." Both "construe" and "construction" come from the Latin verb "construere" ("to construct or construe"). The "mis-" of "misconstrue" was an English addition; it was added to "construe" in the 15th century to create a word meaning "to put a wrong construction (that is, a wrong interpretation) on."

Retrodict (ret-ruh-DIKT)

: to utilize present information or ideas to infer or explain (a past event or state of affairs) We predict that you will guess the correct origins of "retrodict," and chances are we will not contradict you. English speakers had started using "predict" by at least the early 17th century; it's a word formed by combining "prae-" (meaning "before") and "dicere" (meaning "to say"). Since the rough translation of "predict" is "to say before," it's no surprise that when people in the 1950s wanted a word for "predicting" the past, they created it by combining the prefix for "backward" ("retro-") with the "-dict" of "predict." Other "dicere" descendants in English include "contradict," "benediction," "dictate," "diction," and "dictionary."

Itinerant (eye-TIN-uh-runt)

: traveling from place to place; especially : covering a circuit In Latin, iter means "way" or "journey." That root was the parent of the Late Latin verb itinerari, meaning "to journey." It was that verb which ultimately gave rise to the English word for traveling types: itinerant. The linguistic grandparent, iter, also contributed to the development of other English words, including itinerary ("the route of a journey" and "the plan made for a journey") and errant ("traveling or given to traveling," as in knight-errant).

Navel-gazing (NAY-vul-GAY-zing)

: useless or excessive self-contemplation If you are scratching your head over something, then you are probably in a state of puzzled contemplation. But if you are staring at your navel, you could either be indulging in some useless self-contemplation or in a state of deep meditation. If the latter, the technical term for your activity would be "omphaloskepsis," which is a form of meditation that has been practiced by mystics for centuries. Navel-gazing is a pop form of omphaloskepsis that is devoid of any serious meditative value. The word has been used more or less disparagingly since its first appearance in 1963.

Laconic (luh-KAH-nik)

: using or involving the use of a minimum of words : concise to the point of seeming rude or mysterious Laconia was an ancient country in southern Greece, bordering on the Aegean and the Mediterranean seas. Its capital city was Sparta, and the Spartans were famous for their terseness of speech. "Laconic" comes to us by way of Latin from Greek "Lakonikos," which is derived from "Lakon," meaning "native of Laconia." It has been with us since the 16th century and has sometimes been used with the basic meaning "of or relating to Laconia or its inhabitants" (though we're more apt to use "Laconian" for this meaning today). In current use, "laconic" means "terse" or "concise," and thus recalls the Spartan tendency to use the fewest words possible.

Copacetic (koh-puh-SET-ik)

: very satisfactory Theories about the origin of "copacetic" abound. The tap dancer Bill "Bojangles" Robinson believed he had coined the word as a boy in Richmond, Virginia. When patrons of his shoeshine stand would ask, "How's everything this morning?" he would reply, "Oh jes' copacetic, boss; jes' copacetic." But the word was current in Southern Black English perhaps as early as 1880, so it seems unlikely that Robinson (born in 1878) could have invented the term. Another explanation is that the word is from the Hebrew phrase "kol be sedher," meaning "everything is in order." Possibly it was coined by Harlem blacks working in Jewish businesses. The word's popularity among Southern blacks, however, points to its originating in one of the Southern cities in which Jewish communities thrived, such as Atlanta.

Inane (ih-NAYN)

: void or empty space The adjective "inane" is now most commonly encountered as a synonym of "shallow" or "silly." But when this word first entered the English language in the early 17th century, it was used to mean "empty" or "insubstantial." It was this older sense that gave rise, in the latter half of the 17th century, to the noun "inane," which often serves as a poetic reference to the void of space ("the illimitable inane," "the limitless inane," "the incomprehensible inane"). This noun usage has not always been viewed in a favorable light. Samuel Johnson, in his Dictionary of the English Language (1755), says of "inane" that "it is used licentiously for a substantive," which in current English means that it is used as a noun without regard to the rules.

Blithesome (BLIGHTH-sum)

: with lightheartedness or unconcern : gay, merry Blithe had been bounding about in the language for six centuries before English speakers attached a -some to its tail to make blithesome. Poet Robert Greene appears to have been among the first to employ the extension. In his 1594 poem "A Looking Glasse for London and England" he wrote "these [large leather bottles] of the richest wine, / Make me think how blithesome we will be." The suffix -some has over the centuries produced a great number of adjectives (many less popular than they once were) but it typically does so by binding itself to a noun or a verb, as we see in irksome, awesome, fearsome, and bothersome. But blithesome came from blithe—also an adjective—and is in fact a synonym of that word. A few other -some words, such as gladsome and lonesome, were formed likewise.

Incognito (in-kahg-NEE-toh)

: with one's identity concealed The ancient Greeks and Romans knew that there were times when you didn't want to be recognized. For example, a myth tells how Zeus and Hermes visited a village incognito and asked for lodging. The apparently penniless travelers were turned away from every household except that of a poor elderly couple named Baucis and Philemon, who provided a room and a feast despite their own poverty. The Romans had a word that described someone or something unknown (like the gods in the tale): "incognitus," a term that is the ancestor of our modern "incognito."

Phrontistery

A place for thinking or studying; a school, college, or other educational institution.

Hongbao

A traditional Chinese good luck gift of money. Also: the red envelope in which this gift is presented. Cf. lucky money n. at lucky adj. Compounds, red packet n. at red adj. and n. Compounds 1f(c)(i). 1980 S. A. Carstens Images Community in Chinese Malaysian Settlement(Ph.D. diss., Cornell Univ.) iv. 114 Hong baos are given by guests at weddings and funerals to help defray the cost of these feasts. 1991 C. Stepanchuk & C. Wong Mooncakes & Hungry Ghosts 38 During the New Year, lucky lions are visible everywhere..promising good luck to merchants in exchange for red hongbao packets filled with money.

Garbure

A traditional thick soup or stew originating in southern France and north-eastern Spain, typically made from ham, cabbage, and a variety of other vegetables, and usually thickened with stale bread. The dish is especially associated with Gascony. 1829 'D. H. Secundus' Apician Morsels 260 On the Thursday evening he collected the gravies of the week to make his garbures of them on Friday.

Armamentorium Ineducable/ Educable legalese

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Petard (puh-TAHRD)

1 : a case containing an explosive to break down a door or gate or breach a wall 2 : a firework that explodes with a loud report Aside from historical references to siege warfare, and occasional contemporary references to fireworks, "petard" is almost always encountered in variations of the phrase "hoist with one's own petard," meaning "victimized or hurt by one's own scheme." The phrase comes from Shakespeare's Hamlet: "For 'tis the sport to have the enginer / Hoist with his own petar." "Hoist" in this case is the past participle of the verb "hoise," meaning "to lift or raise," and "petar(d)" refers to an explosive device used in siege warfare. Hamlet uses the example of the engineer (the person who sets the explosive device) being blown into the air by his own device as a metaphor for those who schemed against Hamlet being undone by their own schemes. The phrase has endured, even if its literal meaning has largely been forgotten.

Tare (TAIR)

1 : a deduction from the gross weight of a substance and its container made in allowance for the weight of the container; also : the weight of the container 2 : counterweight "Tare" came to English by way of Middle French from the Old Italian term "tara," which is itself from the Arabic word "ṭarḥa," meaning "that which is removed." The first known written record of the word "tare" in English is found in the 1489 naval inventories of Britain's King Henry VII. The records show two barrels of gunpowder weighing, "besides the tare," 500 pounds. When used of vehicles, "tare weight" refers to a vehicle's weight exclusive of any load. The term "tare" is closely tied to "net weight," which is defined as "weight excluding all tare."

Logomachy (loh-GAH-muh-kee)

1 : a dispute over or about words 2 : a controversy marked by verbiage It doesn't take much to start people arguing about words, but there's no quarrel about the origin of "logomachy." It comes from the Greek roots "logos," meaning "word" or "speech," and "machesthai," meaning "to fight," and it entered English in the mid-1500s. If you're a word enthusiast, you probably know that "logos" is the root of many English words ("monologue," "neologism," "logic," and most words ending in "-logy," for example), but what about other derivatives of "machesthai"? Actually, this is a tough one even for word whizzes. Only a few very rare English words come from "machesthai." Here are two of them: "heresimach" ("an active opponent of heresy and heretics") and "naumachia" ("an ancient Roman spectacle representing a naval battle").

Vendetta (ven-DET-uh)

1 : a feud between different clans or families : blood feud 2 : an often prolonged series of retaliatory, vengeful, or hostile acts or exchange of such acts Vendetta has been getting even in English since the 19th century, when it first was used to refer to feuds between different clans or families. It later extended in meaning to cover acts that are known to feature in feuds of all kinds. English speakers borrowed vendetta, spelling and all, from Italian, in which it means "revenge." It ultimately traces to the Latin verb vindicta, of the same meaning. That Latin word is also in the family tree of many other English terms related to getting even, including avenge, revenge, vengeance, vindicate, and vindictive.

Flotilla (floh-TILL-uh)

1 : a fleet of ships or boats; especially : a navy organizational unit consisting of two or more squadrons of small warships 2 : an indefinite large number "Flotilla" comes from the diminutive form of the Spanish noun "flota," meaning "fleet." "Flota" derives via Old French from Old Norse "floti" and is related to Old English "flota" ("ship"), an ancestor to our word "float." Much like other words referring to groups of particular things (such as "swarm"), "flotilla" has taken on expanded usage to refer simply to a large number of something not necessarily having to do with nautical matters, often with humorous effect (e.g., "a flotilla of rather mature-looking male models" -- Jed Perl, The New Republic).

Paranymph (PAIR-uh-nimf)

1 : a friend going with a bridegroom to fetch home the bride in ancient Greece; also : the bridesmaid conducting the bride to the bridegroom 2 a : best man b : bridesmaid "Paranymph" resulted from the marriage of the Greek prefix "para-" and the Greek word for bride, "nymphē." The prefix "para-" can mean "beside" or "alongside of," as is apparent in the word "parallel," from the Greek word "parallēlos," a union of "para-" and the word "allēnōn," meaning "of one another." At one time, the word "paranymph" also was used for a person who solicits or speaks for another -- that is, an advocate -- but that sense is now very rare.

Touchstone (TUTCH-stohn)

1 : a fundamental or quintessential part or feature : basis 2 : a test or criterion for determining the quality or genuineness of a thing 3 : a black siliceous stone related to flint and used to test the purity of gold and formerly silver by the streak left on the stone when rubbed by the metal Since the early 16th century, touchstone has referred to a particular kind of siliceous stone (that is, stone containing silica) used to do a particular job: determine the purity of precious metals. The process involves comparing marks made by rubbing a sample of a metal of known purity to marks made by a metal of unknown purity. The method is accurate enough in the case of determining the purity of gold that it is still in use today. Figurative use extended from this literal use, with touchstone functioning as a word for a test or criterion to determine the quality of a thing, and later to refer to a fundamental or quintessential part or feature of something.

Derrick (DAIR-ik)

1 : a hoisting apparatus employing a tackle rigged at the end of a beam 2 : a framework or tower over a deep drill hole (as of an oil well) for supporting boring tackle or for hoisting and lowering During the reign of Queen Elizabeth I, London was the home of a notorious executioner named Derick. Among those he beheaded was the Earl of Essex, Robert Devereux, who according to a street ballad of the time had once saved the life of the ungrateful executioner. While members of the nobility were accorded the courtesy of beheading, it was the lot of commoners to be hanged, and those sent to face the rope at the hands of the executioner Derick nicknamed the gallows at Tyburn after him. Throughout the 17th century, "derick" was used as a name for both hangman and gallows. After the days of public hangings, the word "derrick" was adopted as a name for a number of less ominous frameworks or towers.

Paean

1 : a joyous song or hymn of praise, tribute, thanksgiving, or triumph 2 : a work that praises or honors its subject : encomium, tribute According to the poet Homer, the Greek god Apollo sometimes took the guise of Paean, physician to the gods. The earliest musical paeans were hymns of thanksgiving and praise that were dedicated to Apollo. They were sung at events ranging from boisterous festivals to public funerals, and were the traditional marching songs of armies heading into battle. Over time, the word became generalized, and it is now used for any kind of tribute.

Smorgasbord (SMOR-gus-bord)

1 : a luncheon or supper buffet offering a variety of foods and dishes (such as hors d'oeuvres, hot and cold meats, smoked and pickled fish, cheeses, salads, and relishes) 2 : an often large heterogeneous mixture : mélange Although smorgasbord might make us think of a variety of foods, the Swedish word smörgås refers to a particular food item—an open sandwich or, alternatively, a slice of bread covered with butter—which is a staple of the traditional Swedish smorgasbord. (The word smör means "butter," and gås can mean "a lump of butter" as well as "goose.") Smörgås teamed up with the Swedish word bord, meaning "table" or "board," to form smorgasbord; the word first appeared in English in the later part of the 19th century. By the mid-20th century smorgasbord was being used outside of food-related contexts to refer to something that comprises a mixture or assemblage of different parts.

Hobgoblins (HAHB-gahb-lin)

1 : a mischievous goblin 2 : a source of fear, perplexity, or harassment While a goblin is traditionally regarded in folklore as a grotesque, evil, and malicious creature, a hobgoblin tends to be more about creating mischief. (The character of Puck from Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream might be regarded as one.) First appearing in English in 1530, "hobgoblin" combined "goblin" with "hob," a word meaning "sprite" or "elf" that derived from "Hobbe," a nickname for Robert. "Goblin" derived via Middle English and Medieval Latin from the Greek word "kobalos," meaning "rogue." The American writer Ralph Waldo Emerson famously applied the word's extended sense in his essay Self-Reliance: "A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, adored by little statesmen and philosophers and divines."

Gazette (guh-ZET)

1 : a paper that is printed and distributed usually daily or weekly and that contains news, articles of opinion, features, and advertising : newspaper 2 : an official journal 3 British : an announcement in an official gazette You are probably familiar with the word gazette from its use in the names of a number of newspapers, but the original Gazettes were a series of bulletins published in England in the 17th and early 18th centuries. These official journals contained notices of government appointments and promotions, as well as items like bankruptcies, property transfers, and engagements. In British English, gazette can also refer to the kind of announcement that one might find in such a publication. It can also be used as a verb meaning "to announce or publish in a gazette." The word derives via French from Italian gazetta. The related word gazetteer, which we now use for a dictionary of place names, once meant "journalist" or "publicist."

Reprobate (REP-ruh-bayt)

1 : a person foreordained to damnation 2 : a depraved person : scoundrel These days, calling someone a "reprobate" is hardly a condemnation to hellfire and brimstone, but the original reprobates of the 16th century were hardened sinners who had fallen from God's grace. By the 19th century, "reprobate" had acquired the milder, but still utterly condemnatory, sense of "a depraved person." Gradually, though, the criticism implied by "reprobate" became touched with tolerance and even a bit of humor. It is now most likely to be used as it was in this August 1995 New Yorker magazine article about the death of musician Jerry Garcia: "It was suddenly obvious that Garcia had become, against all odds, an American icon: by Thursday morning, the avuncular old reprobate had smuggled his way onto the front pages of newspapers around the world."

Mahatma (muh-HAHT-muh)

1 : a person to be revered for high-mindedness, wisdom, and selflessness 2 : a person of great prestige in a field of endeavor "Mahatma" is an adaptation of the Sanskrit word "mahātman," which literally meant "great-souled." As a general, uncapitalized English noun, "mahatma" can refer to any great person; in India, it is used as a title of love and respect. When capitalized, however, it usually refers to Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, the great leader who helped guide India to independence in 1947. Renowned for his policy of nonviolent protest, he was widely known as "Mahatma Gandhi" or "the Mahatma." The title was reportedly conferred on him by poet Rabindranath Tagore in 1915, but spiritual leader and author Paramahansa Yogananda claimed that Gandhi didn't embrace it himself. According to Yogananda, Gandhi never referred to himself as "Mahatma," but rather "made some humble, and witty, protests about the title."

Flehmen (FLAY-mun)

Flehmen is a mammalian behavior (as of horses or cats) in which the animal inhales with the mouth open and upper lip curled. This is done to expose the nose to a scent. // The vet explained that what appeared to be a display of anger in the cat was called flehmen. "Flehmen, sometimes also called the Flehmen response or the Flehmen reaction, is actually a way of smelling or scenting the air. It's not peculiar to horses: other ungulates exhibit the response, as well as cats, elephants, and bats. Lifting the upper lip gives them access to the vomeronasal organ on the roof of their mouth, which contains chemoreceptors that help them find mates and investigate other smells in their environment." — The McClusky (North Dakota) Gazette, 10 Sept. 2020 Flehmen comes from German, in which the word applies to animals and means "to curl the upper lip." The German source of the English word is a verb, and it is used, infrequently, as such, as in "the horse flehmened." More often, the English verb form is a gerund: "the horse's flehmening." Flehmen is sometimes capitalized in English because German nouns are capitalized; however, the English word tends to be lowercase.

Code-switching

Linguistics. The action of shifting between two or more languages, or between dialects or registers of a language, within a discourse, esp. in response to a change in social context. 1951 L. S. Freeland Lang. Sierra Miwok (Memoir 6: Suppl. Internat. Jrnl. Amer. Linguistics, Vol. 17 No. 1) 39 The extent to which cultural traits match will be very important for the ease with which code-switching takes place. 1959 E. Pulgram Introd. Spectrogr. Speech xi. 82 The hearer is able to perform what communication engineers call code switching, a process of adjustment to the articulatory habits of the speaker which permits the listener to learn quickly certain types and degrees of phonemic deviation. 2019 Res. Afr. Lit. 50 120 In this narrative Adichie repeatedly employs linguistic code-switching to lend dramatic sharpness to interpersonal conflict.

Danfo

Nigerian English. A yellow minibus that carries passengers for a fare as part of an informal transport system in Lagos, the most populous city in Nigeria. Also as a modifier, esp. in danfo bus. 1973 Afriscope May 53/1 I was in a 'Danfo' (a category of local buses that don't believe in traffic peak hours) the other day and three workers were arguing about the Rent Edict. 1976 Drum Aug. 35/3 Danfo drivers..are the worst set of road users.

Embarras de choix

Origin: A borrowing from French. Etymons: French L'embarras du choix, embarras de choix. Etymology:Originally (i) < French L'embarras du choix, the title of a comedy by L. de Boissy (1741) < le the + embarras embarras n. + du of the + choix choice n. In forms with medial de probably partly (ii) remodelled after embarras de richesse n., and partly (iii) < French embarras de choix (1831 or earlier, rare) < embarras embarras n. + de of + choix choice n. (The state of having) an (overwhelming or encumbering) excess or abundance of options from which to make a selection. Cf. embarras de richesse n. and embarrassment n. 1d. 1825 Dublin & London Mag. Mar. 27/1 It is not that I lack subjects, but that they crowd upon me in too great numbers. It is l'embarras du choix that I labour under.

Retcon

Origin: Formed within English, by clipping or shortening. Etymon: retroactive continuity n. at retroactive adj. Compounds. Etymology:Shortened < retroactive continuity n. at retroactive adj. Compounds. Compare retcon v. ['In a fictional work or series: a piece of new (and typically revelatory) information which imposes a different interpretation on previously described events, often employed to facilitate a dramatic plot shift or account for an inconsistency; (also) use of this as a narrative device.']

Precarious (prih-KAIR-ee-us)

Precarious means "characterized by uncertainty, insecurity, or instability that threatens with danger." // College debt leaves many students in a precarious financial situation after graduation. // The books were stacked high in a precarious tower. See the entry > "Staff may be anxious about returning to the office and want to be assured of their safety while leaders are in the precarious position of having to make what they think is the right call." — Bernard Coleman, Inc., 18 Aug. 2021 "This little happiness is so very precarious, that it wholly depends on the will of others." Joseph Addison, in a 1711 issue of Spectator magazine, couldn't have described the oldest sense of precarious more precisely—the original meaning of the word was "depending on the will or pleasure of another." Precarious comes from a Latin word meaning "obtained by entreaty," which itself is from the word for prayer, prex.

Min-Min

Pronunciation: Brit. /ˈmɪnmɪn/, U.S. /ˈmɪnˌmɪn/, Australian English /ˈmɪnmɪn/ Forms: also with lower-case initial(s). Origin: Of uncertain origin. Etymology:Origin uncertain; perhaps < an Australian Aboriginal language, although R. M. W. Dixon et al. Austral. Aboriginal Words in Eng. (1990) 195 note: 'This is said to be from a language in the Cloncurry area, but it does not appear in any of the materials for languages of the region, nor was it recognized by the last speakers of these languages.' Another theory found in some non-linguistic sources is that the word derives < Min-Min, the name of a former hotel in Boulia, north-western Queensland, Australia, where the light was first seen, but this has not been substantiated: compare Austral. Encycl. (1965) VI. 91. Australian. A mysterious, phosphorescent light observed sporadically in the Australian outback. Also Min-Min light. The light is similar to ignis fatuus. 1950 G. Farwell Land of Mirage xv. 131 He delighted in tales of the supernatural, telling us how he had seen the Min-Min light outside Winton. 1965 Austral. Encycl. VI. 91/2 Most of the features reported to be associated with the Min Min are similar to those recorded in relation to the ignis fatuus..which occurs, irregularly and unpredictably, over marshy ground or in graveyards in certain parts of Britain and the Continent.

Pantechnic

Relating to or including all the arts, or all subjects. 1848 J. R. Lowell Biglow Papers 1st Ser. Notices 2 Then do I perceive..the advantage of a pancratic or pantechnic education.

Craftivist

['A person who creates and displays handmade objects, esp. items incorporating knitted or sewn text or imagery, to promote a political message or raise awareness of a social issue.']

Tziganologue

['A student of or expert in Romani peoples and culture.'] Pronunciation: Brit. /(t)sɪˈɡɑːnəlɒɡ/, U.S. /(t)siˈɡɑnəˌlɔɡ/, /(t)siˈɡɑnəˌlɑɡ/ Forms: 1800s- tsiganologue, 1900s- tziganologue. Also with capital initial. Origin: A borrowing from French. Etymon: French tziganologue. Etymology: < French tziganologue, tsiganologue (1872 or earlier) < tzigane Tzigane n. + -o- -o- connective + -logue -logue comb. form. Compare earlier gypsyologist n. A student of or expert in Romani peoples and culture. 1884 R. F. Burton Bk. of Sword v. 78 A modern school of Tsiganologues would identify them with prehistoric Gypsies, who have still a tribe called Sindi.

Stromboli

['A type of savoury pastry made with dough (typically pizza dough) that is folded over or rolled up to enclose a filling of cheese and meat or vegetables.']

Gosht

['In Indian cookery: red meat; beef, lamb, mutton, or goat. Also (and in earliest use): a dish containing this.'] 1855 Bombay Times 27 June 314/2 The Natives described it [sc. pieces of the cyanobacteria nostoc, said to have fallen in a rain shower] as a shower of gosht (meat) which they said it resembled. In Indian cookery: red meat; beef, lamb, mutton, or goat. Also (and in earliest use): a dish containing this. 1982 Lawrence (Kansas) Daily Jrnl.-World 15 Apr. 21/1 (advt.) Cuisine... Chinese Egg Roll. Indian Chole... Pakistani Gosht. 1984 P. Chapman Indian Restaurant Cookbk. 181 Gosht , lamb. Gram Flour, chickpea flour.

Chary (CHAIR-ee)

a : discreetly cautious: as b : hesitant and vigilant about dangers and risks c : slow to grant, accept, or expend It was sorrow that bred the caution of "chary." In Middle English "chary" meant "sorrowful," a sense that harks back to the word's Old English ancestor "caru" (an early form of "care," and another term that originally meant "sorrow" or "grief"). In a sense switch that demonstrates that love can be both bitter and sweet, "chary" later came to mean "dear" or "cherished." That's how 16th century English dramatist George Peele used it: "the chariest and the choicest queen, That ever did delight my royal eyes." Both sorrow and affection have largely faded from "chary," however, and in Modern English the word is most often used as a synonym of either "careful" or "sparing."

Prescience (PRESH-ee-unss)

a : foreknowledge of events: b : divine omniscience c : human anticipation of the course of events : foresight If you know the origin of "science," you already know half the story of "prescience." "Science" comes from the Latin verb "scire," which means "to know" and which is the source of many English words ("conscience," "conscious," and "omniscience," just to name a few). "Prescience" comes from the Latin verb "praescire," which means "to know beforehand." "Praescire" joins the verb "scire" with the prefix "prae-," a predecessor of "pre-." A lesser-known "scire"-derived word is "nescience." "Nescience" means "ignorance" and comes from "scire" plus "ne-," which means "not" in Latin.

Phony (FOH-nee)

a : not genuine or real: as a *(1) : intended to deceive or mislead (2) : intended to defraud : counterfeit b : arousing suspicion : probably dishonest c : having no basis in fact : fictitious d : false, sham e : making a false show: as (1) : hypocritical (2) : specious It's the backstory of "phony" that deserves our attention. "Phony" (which dates from the early 1900s) is believed to be an alteration of the British "fawney," the word for a gilded brass ring used in a confidence game called the "fawney rig." In this game, the trickster drops a ring (or a purse with some valuables in it) and runs to pick the item up at the same time as the poor sap who notices it on the ground. The trickster asserts that the found treasure should be split between them. The one who's "found" the item, convinced now of its value, chooses instead to give the con artist some money in order to keep the item, which is, of course, phony.

橘子

noun 中国橘子很甜。 Chinese oranges are very sweet. júzi Zhōngguó júzi hěn tián. orange

笔

noun 这支笔好写。 This pen is good to write with. bǐ Zhè zhī bǐ hǎoxiě. pen

Epicure (EP-ih-kyur)

one with sensitive and discriminating tastes especially in food or wine The word epicure is currently associated with indulging the appetite, but that is a long way from the teachings of the man to whom we owe the word. The ancient Greek philosopher Epicurus taught a philosophy of simple pleasure, friendship, and a secluded life. He believed in the pursuit of pleasure, but pleasure for him comprised tranquility and freedom from pain—not the indulgence of the senses. Detractors of Epicurus in his own time and later, however, reduced his notions of pleasure to material and sensual gratification. When epicure entered English in the 16th century, it was synonymous with the modern term hedonist; later use carried the notion of refinement of palate that we see in the word today.

Eventuate (ih-VEN-chuh-wayt)

to come out finally : result, come about "Eventuate" started life as an Americanism in the late 18th century, and was stigmatized in the 19th century. A British commentator called it "another horrible word, which is fast getting into our language through the provincial press." Other British grammarians, and even some Americans, agreed that it was horrible. A few modern critics still consider "eventuate" to be pompous and unnecessary, but it is less controversial these days. In any case, "eventuate" has a perfectly respectable history. It is derived from the Latin noun "eventus" ("event"), which in turn traces to the verb "evenire," meaning "to happen."

Translate to Chinese: 1. My father likes black and white. 2. My mother likes yellow. 3. My elder brother likes blue. 4. My sister likes red. 5. I like pink.

一。我爸爸喜欢黑色和白色。 二。我妈妈喜欢黄色。 三。我哥哥喜欢蓝色。 四。我姐姐喜欢红色。 五。我喜欢粉红色。

Translate to Chinese: 1. school uniform 2. T-shirt 3. pants 4. shorts 5. sweater 6. coat

一。校服 (xiao fu) 二。汗衫 (han shan) 三。长裤 (chang ku) 四。短裤 (duan ku) 五。毛衣 (mao yi) 六。外套 (wai tao)

Translate to Chinese: 1. colour 2. orange 3. purple 4. brown 5. green 6. gray

一。颜 二。橙色 三。紫色 四。棕色 五。绿色 六。灰色

山

中国有很多大山。 There are many big mountains in China. shān Zhōngguó yǒu hěnduō dà shān. mountain

秋天

中国秋天很美。 Autumn is beautiful in China. qiūtiān Zhōngguó qiūtiān hěn měi. autumn

蓝

今天天真蓝。 The sky is really blue today. lán Jīntiān tiān zhēn lán. blue

暖和

今天很暖和。 It's warm today. nuǎnhuo Jīntiān hěn nuǎnhuo. warm

经理

今天经理有会。 The manager has a meeting today. jīnglǐ Jīntiān jīnglǐ yǒu huì. manager

刚才

他刚才来找过你。 He has just come to look for you. gāngcái Tā gāngcái lái zhǎoguò nǐ. just now

散步

他吃饭后常常散步。 He often takes a walk after meals. sànbù Tā chīfàn hòu chángcháng sànbù. to take a walk

回

他已经回家了。 He has already gone home. huí Tā yǐjīng huíjiā le. to return

热心

他很热心地帮助我。 He helps me enthusiastically. rèxīn Tā hěn rèxīn de bāngzhù wǒ. enthusiastic

租

他想租一间房。 He wants to rent a room. zū Tā xiǎng zū yī jiān fáng. to rent

衣服

他穿了一件黑衣服。 He wore one piece of black clothing. yīfu Tā chuānle yī jiàn hēi yīfu. clothing; clothes

住

你住在哪儿？ Where do you live? zhù Nǐ zhù zài nǎr? to live

夏天

北京夏天不热。 It is not hot in summer in Beijing. xiàtiān Běijīng xiàtiān bú rè. summer

凉快

北部夏天很凉快。 It is cool in the north in summer. liángkuài Běibù xiàtiān hěn liángkuài. cool

听说

听说她工作得很晚。 I hear she works very late. tīngshuō Tīngshūo tā gōngzuò de hěn wǎn. to hear of; to hear about

白

夏天我穿白衬衫。 I wear white shirts in the summer. bái Xiàtiān wǒ chuān bái chènshān. White

穿

孩子喜欢穿新衣。 Children like to wear new clothes. chuān Háizi xǐhuān chuān xīnyī. to wear

感冒

孩子感冒了。 The child has caught a cold. gǎnmào Háizi gǎnmào le. to have a cold; to catch a cold

锻炼

年轻人也要锻炼。 Young people also need to exercise. duànliàn Niánqīngrén yě yào duànliàn. to exercise

生病

我不常生病。 I do not get sick often. shēngbìng Wǒ bù cháng shēngbìng. to get sick; to fall ill

客厅

我们的客厅很大。 Our living room is very large. kètīng Wǒmén de kètīng hěn dà. living room

帮助

我可以帮助你吗？ May I help you? bāngzhù Wǒ kěyǐ bāngzhù nǐ ma? to help

紫

我喜欢紫色。 I like purple. zǐ Wǒ xǐhuan zǐ sè. purple

头

我头疼。 I have a headache. tóu Wǒ tóuténg. Head

可是

我很好，可是太忙。 I am well, but too busy. kěshì Wǒ hěnhǎo, kěshì tài máng. but

想

我想我妈妈。 I miss my mother. xiǎng Wǒ xiǎng wǒ māma. to miss, to think

办

我有很多事要办。 I have a lot to take care of. bàn Wǒ yǒu hěnduō shì yào bàn. to deal with, to do, to take care of, to manage

发烧

我有点儿发烧。 I have a bit of a fever. fāshāo #N/A! to have a fever

牙

我牙疼。 I have a toothache. yá Wǒ yá téng. tooth

胃

我的胃不舒服。 My stomach doesn't feel well. wèi Wǒ de wèi bù shūfu. Stomach

旧

我的衣服很旧。 My clothes are very old. jiù Wǒde yīfu hěn jiù. old

等

我等了很久。 I waited for a long time. děng Wǒ děng le hěn jiǔ. to wait

寄

我给妈妈寄了礼物。 I have mailed the gift to mom. jì Wǒ gěi māma jìle lǐwù. to mail

药

我要去买药。 I need to buy some medicine. yào Wǒ yào qù mǎi yào. medicine

黑

教室有黑板。 There is a blackboard in the classroom. hēi Jiàoshì yǒu hēibǎn. black

可能

明天可能下雨。 It might rain tomorrow. kěnèng Míngtiān kěnéng xiàyǔ. maybe

春天

春天花都开了。 The spring flowers are all blossoming. chūntiān Chūntiān huā dōu kāi le. Spring

让

爸爸不让我喝啤酒。 Dad does not allow me to drink beer. ràng Bàba bú ràng wǒ hē píjiǔ. to allow, to let

黄

秋天草黄了。 Grass turns yellow in the fall. huáng Qiūtiān cǎo huáng le. yellow

绿

绿草很嫩。 Green grass is tender. lǜ Lǜ cǎo hěn nèn. green

告诉

请告诉他一点开会。 Please tell him the meeting is at one o'clock. gàosu Qǐng gàosù tā yīdiǎn kāihuì. to tell

新

这个书店是新的。 This bookstore is new. xīn Zhè ge shūdiàn shì xīnde. new

方便

这儿买东西很方便。 It is convenient to go shopping here. fāngbiàn Zhèr mǎi dōngxi hěn fāngbiàn. convenient

冷

这儿冬天很冷。 Winter here is cold. lěng Zhèr dōngtiān hěn lěng. cold

冬天

这儿冬天有雪吗？ Is there snow in winter here? dōngtiān Zhèr dōngtiān yǒu xuě ma? winter

像

这孩子像他爸爸。 This child resembles his father. xiàng Zhè háizi xiàng tā bàba. to resemble

服务

这家商店服务很好。 This store's service is very good. fúwù Zhè jiā shāngdiàn fúwù hěn hǎo. to serve

厨房

这间厨房太小。 This kitchen is too small. chúfáng Zhè jiān chúfáng tài xiǎo. kitchen

河

黄河在中国。 The Yellow River is in China. hé Huánghé zài zhōngguó. river