Author Archives: Richard

Pronounced: ik-SKLO-zuhr, noun Notes: I should have known this word Yesterday’s word The word propinquity means “a similarity or affinity of nature or character; close kinship or relationship” First usage The word came into English in the mid to late 1300s Background / Comments Our word comes from the Middle English word propinquite, which inContinue reading “exclosure”

Pronounced: pro-PING-kwih-tee, noun Notes: You may know this word; I keep seeing “iniquity” in it, and getting thrown off — perhaps writing it here will help me remember it! Yesterday’s word The word cunctative means “delaying; slow” First usage This word came into English in the early 1600s Background / Comments I suppose this wordContinue reading “propinquity”

Pronounced: KUNGK-tuh-tiv, adj Notes: A pretty fancy word for something we’ve all experienced Yesterday’s word The word foudroyant means “suddenly and powerfully affected; stunned or struck, as if by lightning” First usage Our word came into English in the mid-1800s Background / Comments The definition didn’t use “thunderstruck”, but that’s also a good meaning forContinue reading “cunctative”

Pronounced: foo-DROI-uhnt, adj Notes: A nice word to know; I hope I’ll remember it well enough to use it Yesterday’s word The word pudency means “modesty; bashfulness” First usage This word came into English in the early 1600s Background / Comments Our word looks a lot like “prudish” to me, and that’s pretty close toContinue reading “foudroyant”

Pronounced: PYOOD-n-see, noun Notes: Not quite sure about this word Yesterday’s word The word bombinate means “to make a buzzing or humming noise” First usage Our word came into English in the late 1800s Background / Comments Well, I thought that the word was totally unrelated to “bomb”; it turns out that there is aContinue reading “pudency”

Pronounced: BOM-buh-nate, verb Notes: Well, I thought this was related to bombs, but no Yesterday’s word The word mammothrept means a spoiled child a person of immature judgment First usage This word came into English in the early 1600s Background / Comments The background of our word doesn’t seem to be complete. It comes fromContinue reading “bombinate”

Pronounced: MAM-uh-thrept, noun Notes: This sounds like word Rex Stout uses in the Nero Wolfe novels, but if it is, I have no recollection of reading it. Yesterday’s word The word matutinal means “of, or occurring in, the morning, or of the early day”. First usage Our word came into English in the mid-1600s BackgroundContinue reading “mammothrept”

Pronounced: muh-TOOT-en-el (alt: muh-TYOOT-en-el), adj Notes: I don’t think I’ve heard this word Yesterday’s word The word mimsy means “prim; feeble; affected” First usage This word was created in the mid-1800s Background / Comments This word was coined by Lewis Carroll in a poem he published in his periodical Mischmasch. An expanded version of thisContinue reading “matutinal”

Pronounced: MIM-zee, adj Notes: I guess I’ve seen this word, but I don’t remember it Yesterday’s word The word telluric means “coming out of, or proceeding from, the soil or earth” First usage The word came into English in the mid-1800s Background / Comments Our word comes from the Latin word tellūr, which is theContinue reading “mimsy”

Pronounced: teh-LOOR-ick, adj Notes: This is another word that I didn’t know, but after seeing the origin, it made sense Yesterday’s phrase The phrase scare quote refers to “the quotation marks around a word or phrase to indicate said phrase is incorrect, nonstandard, or ironic”. First usage This word came into English in the 1950sContinue reading “telluric”