Pronounced: die-ver-uh-KAY-shun, noun
Notes: I didn’t know there was a word for this thing
Yesterday’s word
The word doggerel is
- comic verse that is irregular in rhythm and in rhyme especially for comic effect
- Trivial or bad poetry
First usage
Our word came into English in the early 1400s
Background / Comments
I am not sure how well known this word is; I have both read it and heard it (both UK sources). So, this is one of those rare words that I happen to know, but I don’t know how generally known it is, so I included it. It seems that our word is merely a diminutive of “dog” – words with dog are generally unfavorable: consider “dogsbody” or “a dog’s chance”.
Richard's Vocabulary Word-of-the-Day 