Author Archives: Richard

Pronounced: muh-SHUH-guh-ner, noun Notes: I have not run across this word before Yesterday’s word The word litterateur is “an author of literary or critical works” First usage Our word came into English in the early 1800s Background / Comments The meaning could have been guessed. Our word came from the French word littérateur, which cameContinue reading “meshuggener”

Pronounced: lit-uh-uh-TUR (alt: lit-ruh-uh-TUR), noun Notes: It may be what you think Yesterday’s word The word hebdomadal means “occurring, appearing, or done every week; weekly” First usage Our word came into English in the early 1600s Background / Comments Our word came from the Greek word hepta (seven). We get the word “heptathlon” from theContinue reading “litterateur”

Pronounced: heb-DAH-muh-dull, adj Notes: Fancy word; we use another word much more frequently Yesterday’s phrase The phrase local classicus means “an authoritative and often quoted passage from a book” First usage Our phrase came into English in the mid-1800s Background / Comments I was aware that the Latin word locus (place), and I thought classicusContinue reading “hebdomadal”

Pronounced: LOW-cuss CLASS-ih-cuss, noun Notes: I had an idea of the meaning of the words, but not the phrase meant Yesterday’s word The word coruscate means First usage Our word came into English around 1700 Background / Comments Our word came from the Latin word coruscare (to flash). I don’t know how well known theContinue reading “locus classicus”

Pronounced: CORE-uh-skate, verb Notes: I happened to run across this word in reading Yesterday’s word The word peripeteia is “a sudden or unexpected change of fortune (especially in a literary work) First usage Our word came into English in the late 1500s Background / Comments I was thinking that this word had something about walkingContinue reading “coruscate”

Pronounced: per-uh-puh-TEE-uh (alt: per-uh-puh-TIE-uh), noun Notes: Also spelled “peripetia”. It wasn’t what I thought Yesterday’s word The word sequester means First usage Our word came into English in the mid- to late 1300s Background / Comments I started reading the Perry Mason stories in my late teens, and the idea of a jury being sequesteredContinue reading “peripeteia”

Pronounced: sih-KWEH-stir, verb Notes: I knew one meaning well, but the other one I didn’t know Yesterday’s word The word exordium is “the beginning or introductory part of anything, but especially of a discourse, treatise, etc First usage Our word came into English in the mid-1500s Background / Comments I am pretty sure I haveContinue reading “sequester”

Pronounced: ig-ZOR-dee-uhm (alt 1: eg-ZOR-dee-uym; alt 2: ik-SOR-dee-uhm), noun Notes: Another new word to me Yesterday’s word The word atoll is “a coral island consisting of a reef surrounded by a lagoon” First usage Our word came into English in the early 1600s Background / Comments I have heard of the nuclear test site, theContinue reading “exordium”

Pronounced: A-tawl Notes: I had a general idea of the meaning, but I didn’t know the specific meaning Yesterday’s word The word recrudescence is “a renewed activity after a period of dormancy” First usage Our word came into English in the mid-1600s Background / Comments The background of our word is interesting: it came fromContinue reading “atoll”

Pronounced: ree-kroo-DES-uhns, noun Notes: Not only did I not know this word, I had the pronunciation wrong as well Yesterday’s word The word hyphenate is “a person who performs more than one function” — such as a producer-director in filmmaking. First usage Our word came into English in the 1970s (but see the comments) BackgroundContinue reading “recrudescence”