senectitude

Pronounced: sih-NECK-tih-tood (alternate ending -tyood)

Notes: A long word (an “inkhorn” word) for something simple

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Yesterday’s word

The word velar means

• formed with the back of the tongue touching or near the soft palate
• of, forming, or relating to a velum and especially the soft palate

The “g” sound in egg is said to be pronounced with a “voiced velar plosive”

First usage

The word came into English in the mid-1700s

Background / Notes

Our word comes from the Latin word velar (curtain). It came into English via New Latin as the word for the soft palate (the fold at the back of the hard palate that partially separates the mouth from the pharynx). In phonology, our word refers to the position of the tongue in relation to the soft palate when making certain sounds. Other “places of articulation” are palatal (tongue against the roof of the mouth – a ‘t’ sound when voiceless; a ‘d’ sound when voiced), dental (tongue against the upper teeth – the ‘th’ sound, when voiced, it is the ‘th’ in then; when voiceless, the ‘th’ in thistle), and alveolar (tongue against the inner surface of the gums of the upper front teeth – an ‘l’ sound, as in ‘love’ – this is voiced; I can’t think of a voiceless aveolar).