Pronounced: mee-SEE-nuss (alt: mih-SEE-nuss), noun
Notes: I’ve not heard of this word
Yesterday’s word
The word gibbous means
- (referring to the moon or a plant) when more than half is visible, but not completely full
- having a hump; humpbacked
First usage
Our word came into English in the late 1300s
Background / Comments
Our word comes from the Late Latin adjective gibbosus (humpbacked), which came from the Latin noun gibbus (hump). The most common usage these days is referring to phases of the moon. A “crescent” moon is the state between a new moon and a half-moon while gibbous refers to the state between a half moon and a full moon. This astronomical meaning is the one that I knew; I was unaware of the “humpbacked” meaning.
Richard's Vocabulary Word-of-the-Day 