Pronounced: bar-BAY-doz (alt-1: -dos; alt-2: -duhs), verb
Notes: I know the noun (the island), but I did not know the verb. Also, I tend to use the first alternate pronunciation – ending the word with an ‘s’ sound, not a ‘z’ sound.
Yesterday’s word
The word anfractuous means “something with winding twists and turns; sinuous; circuitous”
First usage
Our word came into English in the late 1500s
Background / Comments
The definition makes me think of the original Adventure text game with its “you are in a maze of twisting passages, all alike” notes. Our word comes from the French word anfracteuex, which came from the Late Latin word anfractuosus (roundabout), which came from the Latin word anfractus (bend, curve).
Richard's Vocabulary Word-of-the-Day 