railbird

Pronounced: RALE-bird, noun

Notes: I didn’t know this word, but the definition makes sense

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Yesterday’s word

The word decoct means

• to extract the flavor of by boiling
• boil down, concentrate

First usage

The reference I looked at is not sure; either the late 1300s or the early 1400s

Background / Comments

As I noted yesterday, I have heard of concoct, which means “to prepare by combining raw materials”, but not today’s word. It comes from the Latin word decoquere, made up of de- (down or away) and coquere (to cook or ripen). Concoct also comes from coquere, but the prefix con- means “with”. Precocious also comes from coquere; it makes sense if you consider the ripen part of the definition; something “precocious” has ripened before one would expect it to – thus, showing mature qualities at an early age.

I wasn’t sure how fair it was to use this word, as it turns out to be relatively rare, but if I run across it, it’s fun to add it here.