agnize

Pronounced: ag-NIZE (alt: AG-nize), verb

Notes: This is another case of a word looking like another; it looks like agonize to me (but that isn’t the meaning)

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Yesterday’s word

The word yentz means “to cheat”

First usage

This word came into English in the 1930s

Background / Comments

Well, I first thought it would be a nice alternatively to “cheat” (and it is certainly worth a lot more points in Scrabble!). However, given the background, I’m a little uneasy about using it. In fact, it comes from the Yiddish word yentzen (to engage in physical intimacy, as between husband and wife; to copulate). I’m not sure how it came to mean “cheat”.