Pronounced: PUNG-uhl
Notes: Another word I have no recollection of running across
Yesterday’s word
The word chatoyant means “having a changeable luster or color with an undulating narrow band of white light”
First usage
Our word came into English in the late 1700s
Background / Comments
You may recognize the first four letters of our word (“chat”) – that is the French word for “cat”. Our word in French is the present participle of chatoyer (to shine like a cat’s eyes). It is the name of the effect in what is commonly called a “cat’s eye gem”.
Richard's Vocabulary Word-of-the-Day 