Author Archives: Richard

Pronounced: KLING-kuhnt, adj/noun Notes: Another word I have no recollection of reading Yesterday’s word The word untrack means “to remove from a track; change course” First usage This word came into English in the late 1800s Background / Comments Our word is a combination of English and French words. From English, the word un- (aContinue reading “clinquant”

Pronounced: uhn-TRACK, verb Notes: I don’t think I’ve every run across this word (aside from vocabulary lists) Yesterday’s word The word reify means “to convert something abstract into a concrete thing; to make a thought or wish into an action or object” – I think of it as “to make real” First usage This wordContinue reading “untrack”

Pronounced: REE-uh-fie (alt: RAY-uh-fie), verb Notes: I didn’t know this word Yesterday’s word The word mediocracy means “rule by the mediocre” (not the media, as I guessed) First usage This word came into English in the mid-1800s Background / Comments Given the definition, you can tell it is mediocre combined with -ocracy (rule). So, byContinue reading “reify”

Pronounced: mee-dee-AHK-ruh-see, noun Notes: I saw “media” in this word… and I was wrong (you probably know what it means) Yesterday’s word The word lacustrine means “of, or related to, a lake” First usage This word came into English in the early 1800s Background / Comments What a great word! I hope to have chancesContinue reading “mediocracy”

Pronounced: luh-KUHS-trin, adj Notes: A useful word Yesterday’s word The word chillax means “to calm down and relax” First usage A pretty recent word; it was created in the 1990s Background / Comments Our word is a combination of chill and relax. I think I’ve heard this word somewhere; I thought it was just madeContinue reading “lacustrine”

Pronounced: chi-LAX, verb Notes: I’ve not heard this word, but you may have Yesterday’s word The word ludic means “playful in a pointless, spontanious or aimless way” First usage This is another relatively recent word, coming into English in the 1940s Background / Comments Finally, we have a word that I didn’t feel guilty aboutContinue reading “chillax”

Pronounced: LOO-dik, adj Notes: Not a word I know (or could have deduced) Yesterday’s word The word freemium means, as a noun, “a pricing model in which the basic product or service is free, but extra features must be paid for”. As an adjective, it means “relating to such a model”. First usage A fairlyContinue reading “ludic”

Pronounced: FREE-mih-uhn, noun/adj Notes: You can probably guess this one, but I was off too far to not include it Yesterday’s word The word eonian means “something lasting an eon; eternal or everlasting” First usage This word showed up in the mid-1700s Background / Comments The word is the word eon with the adjectival formContinue reading “freemium”

Pronounced: ee-OH-nee-uhn, adj Notes: Like so many of the recent words, I didn’t know this word, but after I saw the definition, I realized I should have been able to figure it out Yesterday’s word The word wegotism is “the habit of using ‘we’ when referring to oneself” First usage Although this sounds new, theContinue reading “eonian”

Pronounced: WE-guh-tiz-uhm, noun Notes: I didn’t know this word, but after seeing the definition, it makes sense Yesterday’s word The word presenteeism means “the habit of coming to work despite illness or a hangover, resulting in low productivity” First usage This word showed up in the 1930s Background / Comments Our word in modeled onContinue reading “wegotism”