Author Archives: Richard

Pronounced: KAH-luh-boos, noun Notes: You may know this word Yesterday’s word The word arenicolous means “living, growing, or burrowing in sand” First usage Our word came into English in the mid-1800s Background / Comments I assume that if one lives near a desert, our word may be more familiar. Our word came from the LatinContinue reading “calaboose”

Pronounced: are-uh-NICK-uh-luhs, adj Notes: I have not run across this word Yesterday’s word The word epistemic means “of or relating to knowledge or knowing; cognative” First usage Our word came into English in the 1920s Background / Comments Our word is newer than I thought. I didn’t have a clue to the meaning: I thoughtContinue reading “arenicolous”

Pronounced: eh-puh-STEE-mick, adj Notes: Not what I thought Yesterday’s word The word logomaniac is “one who is obsessively interested in words” First usage Our word came into English in the mid-1800s Background / Comments I consider myself interested in words, but not “obsessively” interested in them… but maybe this blog may be proof that IContinue reading “epistemic”

Pronounced: lo-guh-MAY-nee-ack, noun Notes: An interesting word Yesterday’s word The word diplopia means “double vision: a vision disorder in which two images of a single object are seen because of unequal action of the eye muscles” First usage Our word came into English in the early 1800s Background / Comments Our word comes from twoContinue reading “logomaniac”

Pronounced: dih-PLOH-pee-uh, noun Notes: This is a fancy word for something you’ve probably heard of Yesterday’s word The word parthenogenesis is “reproduction without fertilization” First usage Our word came into English in the mid-1800s Background / Comments Our word came from two Greek words: partheno- (virgin; without fertilization) and -genesis (beginning; creation).

Pronounced: par-thuh-no-JEN-uh-sis, noun Notes: You may know this word Yesterday’s word The word salient means First usage Our word came into English in the mid-1500s Background / Comments I was aware of the third definition, but not the other two; I’m used to hearing our word in the phrase “the salient points of the article”.Continue reading “parthenogenesis”

Pronounced: SAY-lyent, adj Notes: I thought I knew this definition Yesterday’s word The word preternatural means “beyond what is natural or normal” First usage Our word came into English in the late 1500s Background / Comments Our word came from the Latin words praeter- (beyond; past) and naturam (nature), so it still has the literalContinue reading “salient”

Pronounced: pree-tuhr-NATCH-uh-ruhl (alt: prih-tuhr-NATCH-uh-ruhl), adj Notes: An interesting word (see the discussion tomorrow) Yesterday’s word The word extirpate means First usage Our word came into English in the mid-1500s Background / Comments When our word first came into English, it meant “to clear of stumps” or “to pull something up by the root”. A plantContinue reading “preternatual”

Pronounced: EK-stir-pate, verb Notes: Not a word I know Yesterday’s word The word Frankenfood is “genetically modified food” First usage Our word came into English in the 1990s Background / Comments If you thought of Frankenstein’s monster, you’d probably get the meaning of this word. Contrary to popular usage, the monster is not Frankenstein; FrankensteinContinue reading “extirpate”

Pronounced: FRANG-kuhn-food, noun Notes: You may know this word, or be able to guess it Yesterday’s word The word viridity means First usage Our word came into English in the first half of the 1400s Background / Comment If I had thought of “verdigris”, I would have had the definition correct, but I thought ofContinue reading “Frankenfood”