Pronounced: trawth (alt: trohth), noun
Notes: I’ve run across this word, but didn’t quite know the meaning
Yesterday’s word
The word dermatoglyphics means
- the ridge patterns of skin on the inner surface of the hands and feet
- the scientific study of these skin patterns
First usage
Our word came into English in the 1920s
Background / Comments
Did you spot what was unusual about our word? It has no repeated letters; in fact, this is one of the longest such word (‘uncopyrightable’ is another word; it is the same length as our word). You probably recognized “derma” as relating to the skin. In fact, a Dr Harold Cummins coined this word from the Greek word dermato- (skin) and glyphein (to carve).
Richard's Vocabulary Word-of-the-Day 