lissom

Pronounced: LISS-uhm, adj

Notes: Also spelled “lissome” – kind of knew this word, but chose to include it

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Yesterday’s word

The word samara is “a dry indehiscent usually one-seeded winged fruit” (such as the fruit of a maple, ash, or elm tree).

First usage

Our word came into English in the late 1500s

Background / Comment

When I saw the definition, I thought “What does indehiscent mean?” Although I was tempted to give this word its own entry, I didn’t. So, when I looked it up, the entry said “not dehiscent” — not very helpful. A little more research found that it refers to a fruit that does not open at maturity. I think we called the fruit of the maple tree “helicopter seeds”, after the helicopter-like rotation as they fall from the tree. Some say that a samara looks like a key, so they are also called “keys”. Other terms are “whirlybird” (I think I’ve heard this one), “whirligig” (not sure about this), and “spinning jenny” (I’ve not heard this word for a samara). Our word came from Latin, where it means “seed of the elm”.