Pronounced: lah(n)g, noun
Notes: I didn’t know the word, but it looked (relatively) modern
Yesterday’s word
The word stridulate means “to make a shrill creaking noise by rubbing body parts together”
First usage
Our word came into English in the mid-1800s
Background / Comments
Crickets stridulate, as do many insects. When I saw the word, I thought it was related to “strident”, which I’ve run across in reading as describing certain women’s voices, so I thought our word might mean “screaming” or “yelling”. In fact, our word came from the Latin word stridere (to make a harsh sound), which is also the root of ‘strident’: therefore, I think I’m fair in saying that I was “close(-ish)” in meaning.
Richard's Vocabulary Word-of-the-Day 