Pronounced: SWID-n, noun
Notes: You might need special knowledge to get this word
Yesterday’s word
The word oneiric means “of or relating to dreams; dreamy”
First usage
Our word came into English in the mid-1800s
Background / Comments
When I saw this word, I thought it might be related to wine (thinking of oenophile, I guess). It came from the Greek word óneiros (dream) with -ic added to make it on adjective. Interestingly enough, in the early 1600s, the following related words referring to dream interpreters or interpretation were in use: “oneirocriticism”, “oneirocritical”, and “oneirocritic”. About that time, there was an interest by English scholars in a book called Oneirocritica, which is about dream interpretation by a Greek soothsayer named Artemidorus Daldianus, which may be the origin of these words.
Richard's Vocabulary Word-of-the-Day 