Author Archives: Richard

Pronounced: suh-LEP-suhs Notes: I have posted a similar word before Yesterday’s word The word topsy is “something growing without intention or direction” First usage Our word came into English in the late 1800s Background / Comments Quite a coincidence: I’m sure I’ve never run across our word, but the day after I wrote the entryContinue reading “syllepsis”

Pronounced: TOP-see Notes: I’ve never run across this word (but see tomorrow’s comments), but if you are sufficiently well-read, you may know it Yesterday’s word The word veridical means First usage Our word came into English in the mid-1600s Background / Comments As I noted yesterday, I saw the “ver” and thought “green”, and thenContinue reading “topsy”

Pronounced: vuh-RIH-dih-kuhl, adj Notes: It looked to me like it should have something to do with greenness or related to vertical (both of these are wrong) Yesterday’s word The word fig, as a verb, means “to dress up”. As a noun, it means First usage The verb, and the first noun definition came into EnglishContinue reading “veridical”

Pronounced: (well, really! – as it sounds), noun/verb Notes: I know some of the definitions; some were unknown to me Yesterday’s word The word mantic means “of or relating to the faculty of divination; prophetic” First usage Our word came into English in the late 1500s Background / Comments As I noted yesterday, when IContinue reading “fig”

Pronounced: MAN-tick, adj Notes: I confused this word with another word Yesterday’s word The word birch, as a noun means As a verb, it means First usage Our word came into English around 700 Background / Comments As I noted, I know about birch trees, but I did not know that birch could be aContinue reading “mantic”

Pronounced: buhrch, noun/verb Notes: I know the noun, but the verb was new to me Yesterday’s word The word primogeniture is First usage Our word came into English in the early 1600s Background / Comments I could guess the first meaning by parsing our word. It came from the Late Latin word primogenitura, which isContinue reading “birch”

Pronounced: pry-moh-JEH-nuh-chur, noun Notes: I kind of knew this word; it’s related to a word I’ve never heard of Yesterday’s word The word palmary means “of supreme importance; outstanding; praiseworthy” First usage Our word came into English in the mid-1600s Background / Comments Our word came from the Latin word palmarius (deserving or carrying theContinue reading “primogeniture”

Pronounced: PAL-muh-ree, adj Notes: Not at all what I thought this word meant Yesterday’s word The word jabberwocky is “meaningless speech or writing” First usage Our word came into English in the 1900s (first decade of the 1900s) Background / Comments Like me, you probably know the poem “Jabberwocky” in Through the Looking Glass andContinue reading “palmary”

Pronounced: JA-buhr-wah-kee, noun Notes: I know bits of the poem, but I wasn’t sure of the meaning; you might know it Yesterday’s phrase The phrase sleeping beauty is “someone or something that lies dormant for a long time” First usage Our phrase came into English in the mid-1700s Background / Comments Our phrase came fromContinue reading “jabberwocky”

Pronounced: (as it sounds), noun Notes: I know the story of Sleeping Beauty, but I didn’t know it was a word Yesterday’s word The word wyvern is “a mythical animal usually represented as a two-legged winged creature resembling a dragon” First usage Our word came into English in the early 1600s Background / Comments TheContinue reading “sleeping beauty”