Author Archives: Richard

Pronounced: my-suh-FOE-bee-uh Notes: Okay; it’s a fear of something, but what? Yesterday’s word The word succus means “juice; fluid” First usage Our word came into English in the mid-1700s Background / Comments As I noted, I didn’t know this word, but I did know (and I suppose most of you know) the word ‘succulent’, whichContinue reading “mysophobia”

Pronounced: SUCK-uhs, noun Notes: I didn’t know this word, but I do know a related word Yesterday’s word The word clairaudience means “the power to hear sounds said to exist beyond the reach or ordinary experience or capacity (such as hearing the voices of the dead). First usage Our word came into English in theContinue reading “succus”

Pronounced: klare-AW-dee-uhns, noun Notes: You may get partially there, as I did Yesterday’s word The word natant means “swimming or floating” First usage Our word came into English in the mid-1400s Background / Comments I was so sure that this had to do with birth (thinking of “natal”). It comes from Latin word natare (toContinue reading “clairaudience”

Pronounced: NAYT-nt, adj Notes: I thought I knew the definition, but when I looked it up, I was wrong Yesterday’s word The word pabulum means First usage Our word came into English in the mid-to-late 1800s Background / Comments I confused our word with “pablum”, which rather means the opposite of our word: it isContinue reading “natant”

Pronounced: PAB-yuh-luhm, noun Notes: Not at all what I thought Yesterday’s word The word happenchance means, as a noun, “a chance occurrence”. As an adjective, it means “resulting from chance” First usage Our word came into English in the mid-1800s Background / Comments I’ve never run across this word; I do now the word happenstance;Continue reading “pabulum”

Pronounced: (not providing: it’s just “happen + chance”), noun/adj Notes: You probably know what this means, but I didn’t know it was a word Yesterday’s word The word nostomania is “an irresistible compulsion to return home; intense homesickness” First usage Our word came into English in the mid-1800s Background / Comments I don’t really knowContinue reading “happenchance”

Pronounced: nos-tuh-MAY-nee-uh (alt: nos-tuh-MAIN-yuh), noun Notes: Another new word to me, but not what it is Yesterday’s word The word tromometer is “an instrument for detecting or measuring faint tremors caused by an earthquake” First usage Our word came into English in the late 1800s Background / Comments The first thing I thought when IContinue reading “nostomania”

Pronounced: troh-MOM-ih-turr, noun Notes: I was puzzled when I read the definition (more tomorrow) Yesterday’s word The word panivorous means “subsisting on bread; bread-eating” First usage Our word came into English in the early-to-mid 1800s Background / Comments As I noted yesterday, I was too smart for my own good yesterday: I saw “pan” andContinue reading “tromometer”

Pronounced: pa-NIV-er-uhs, adj Notes: This is one of those times when too much knowledge threw me off Yesterday’s word The word factious means “divisive; seditious; related to or arising from faction” First usage Our word came into English in the mid-1500s Background / Comments I had been thinking more “argumentative” than “divisive”; thus, my meaningContinue reading “panivorous”

Pronounced: FAK-shus, adj Notes: I was close to the meaning, but not quite, so I’ve added it. Maybe you know it? Yesterday’s word The word exiguous means “scanty; meager; small; slender” First usage Our word came into English in the mid-1600s Background / Comments For some reason, I thought our word meant “hard; difficult” insteadContinue reading “factious”