shicker

Pronounced: SHICK-uhr, noun/adj/verb

Notes: I don’t think I’ve heard this word

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Yesterday’s word

The word lucubration is “laborious or intensive study” (it can also mean, especially when used in plural, the product of such study).

First usage

Our word came into English in the late 1500s

Background / Comments

When I glanced at our word, it looked similar to “lubrication”, so I thought it might be related (as you can see, it isn’t at all like that word). A phrase that gives the idea of this word is “burning the midnight oil” – our word came from the Latin word lucubrare (to work by lamplight). You may notice the root lux (light) in the Latin word. When our word first came into English, it meant both night-time study and the written product of such study, but as time passed, it referred to any intensive study. If you see our word today, it is usually plural and refers to stuffy scholarly writing. I like the idea of dropping this word in the place of “burning the midnight oil”.