eolian

Pronounced: ee-OH-lee-uhn, adj

Notes: Not quite what I was thinking

---

Yesterday’s word

The word stiction is “the frictional force that much be overcome to set one object in motion when it is in contact with another”

First usage

Our word came into English in the 1940s

Background / Comments

In the early days of hard drives, they would often be afflicted with what I heard someone call stiction — when the hard drive would refuse to spin up properly. Sometimes, a good whack on the drive would get it to spin up; nevertheless, it was a sign that the drive was starting to go bad. I had always thought that the word was made up for that condition, and was thus surprised to see it come up. Our word is a combination of static and friction.