Pronounced: FAK-shus, adj
Notes: I was close to the meaning, but not quite, so I’ve added it. Maybe you know it?
Yesterday’s word
The word exiguous means “scanty; meager; small; slender”
First usage
Our word came into English in the mid-1600s
Background / Comments
For some reason, I thought our word meant “hard; difficult” instead of what is does mean. Our word comes from the Latin word exiguus (scanty in measure or number; small), which comes from exigere (to drive out; measure; exact).
Rejected word
I decided not to use the word viva voce (vie-vuh VOE-see or vie-vuh VOE-chay) because I happened to know the meaning from the book Gaudy Night by Dorothy Sayers.
Richard's Vocabulary Word-of-the-Day 