Antaean

Pronounced: an-TEE-uhn, adj

Notes: This is a word I both knew and didn’t know. I explain this comment tomorrow.

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Yesterday’s word

The word fiddlesticks (plural) is pretty well known as an interjection meaning “nonsense”. The singular, fiddlestick, also has a meaning you’d expect: “the bow with which the fiddle is played”. However, there is another meaning I didn’t know: “something insignificant”.

Background

Both fiddle and stick come from Old English; fiddle was then “fithele” and stick was “sticca”

First usage

This word showed up in the 1400s