Pronounced: KLACH (alt: KLAHCH), noun
Notes: I usually hear this word mispronounced
Yesterday’s word
The word fillip means
- to strike by holding the nail of a finger against the ball of the thumb and then suddenly releasing it
- to urge on; to stimulate
First usage
Our word came into English in the mid-1500s
Background / Comments
I was aware of the second meaning, although I have more often seen it used an a noun: person A uses something as a fillip to get person B to do something. The first definition I always thought was called “flick” (you cover the fingernail with your thumb and then straighten the finger). The write-up of our word says that it such an action is commonly called a “flick”, but the online dictionary I looked at does not have this meaning.
Richard's Vocabulary Word-of-the-Day 