Author Archives: Richard

Pronounced: roh-mahn-ah-KLAY, noun Notes: I know a part of this phrase, but not this one Yesterday’s word The word scabrous means rough; having small raised dots or scales salacious difficult to deal with; knotty First usage Our word came into English in the late 1500s Background / Comments I thought our word meant “like aContinue reading “roman à clef”

Pronounced: SKAB-russ, adj Notes: This word didn’t quite mean what I thought Yesterday’s word The word pelagic means “of, relating to, or living or occurring in the open sea; oceanic” First usage Our word came into English in the mid-1600s Background / Comments Oddly enough, the meaning of our word hasn’t changed since it firstContinue reading “scabrous”

Pronounced: puh-LAH-jick, adj Notes: My guess was way off regarding the definition of this word Yesterday’s word The word homunculus is a tiny human being [an early belief] a fully-formed miniature human being present in the male or female reproductive cells First usage Our word came into English in the mid-1600s Background / Comments InContinue reading “pelagic”

Pronounced: huh-MUNG-kyuh-luhs (alt: HO-mung-kyuh-luhs), noun Notes: I’ve heard the word, but it didn’t help Yesterday’s word The word shivaree is “a nosy mock serenade to a newly married couple” First usage Our word came into English in the early 1800s Background / Comments In the 1800s, a newly married couple would have a mock serenadeContinue reading “homunculus”

Pronounced: shih-vuh-REE, noun Notes: This word sounds slightly familiar, but I don’t have any recollection of it Yesterday’s word The word jaundiced means prejudiced (biased) because of envy or resentment having jaundice (a disease in which the skin or the whites of the eyes is unnaturally yellow) First usage Our word came into English inContinue reading “shivaree”

Pronounced: JAWN-dist, adj Notes: I didn’t have one definition right Yesterday’s word The word langueur is “a dull and tedious passage or section (as of a book, play, or musical composition)”. It is usually found in the plural form. First usage Our word came into English in the early 1800s Background / Comments I haveContinue reading “jaundiced”

Pronounced: long-GUHR, noun Notes: This word is frequently pluralized Yesterday’s word The word libertine means, as a noun, a person who is morally unrestrained. As an adjective, it means “unrestrained by conventions or morality” First usage Our word came into English in the late 1300s Background / Comments Our word brings back the memory ofContinue reading “longueur”

Pronounced: LIB-uhr-teen, noun/adj Notes: This word is not used much anymore Yesterday’s word The word factoid means an invented fact believed to be true because of its appearance in print a briefly stated and usually trivial fact First usage Our word came into English in the 1970s Background / Comments When our word was firstContinue reading “libertine”

Pronounced: FAK-toyd, noun Notes: I didn’t know both definitions Yesterday’s word The word mythomane means, as a noun, “one having a tendency to exaggerate or lie”. As an adjective, it means “having a tendency to exaggerate of lie”. First usage Our word came into English in the 1950s Background / Comments Our word came fromContinue reading “factoid”

Pronounced: MYTH-uh-mane, noun/adj Notes: Another word I didn’t recognize Yesterday’s word The word Pecksniffian means “unctuously hypocritical; sanctimonious” First usage Our word came into English in the mid-1800s Background / Comments As I noted yesterday, I recognized our word; I knew it came from a character created by Charles Dickens — but that’s all IContinue reading “mythomane”