Pronounced: SAS-truh-guh, noun
Notes: This word is usually used in the plural (sastrugi), and is more-or-less timely for last month’s weather. Even though I grew up in northern Illinois, I did not know this word, and I’d be surprised if any native Texan knows it.
Yesterday’s word
The word ocellus means
- a small simple eye common to invertebrates
- an eyelike colored spot on an animal (peacock feathers, butterfly wings, fish, etc) or on a leaf of a plant
Background
The word comes from Latin ocellus (little eye), which is a diminutive of oculus (eye).
First usage
This word showed up in the early 1800s
Richard's Vocabulary Word-of-the-Day 