Richard's Vocabulary Word-of-the-Day
Words that I do not know
Pronounced: tan-TER-uh, noun
Notes: I should try to use this word
The word juberous means “doubtful; undecided; hestitating”
Our word came into English in the mid-1800s
Our word is merely an altered form of dubious.
Pronounced: JOOB-ur-us, adj
Notes: Not a word I’ve run across
The word slimsy means “flimsy; frail”
Our word came into English in the mid-1800s
We don’t really know why some words stick around and others don’t. Our word, a blending of slim and flimsy, reached peak popularity in the early 1900s, but isn’t heard much these days… unless enough people try to bring it back.
Pronounced: SLIM-zee, adj
Notes: I didn’t know this was a word; perhaps you can guess the meaning
The word luteous means
Our word came into English in the mid-1600s
Frankly, I don’t know if I’d use this word much; I’d probably describe something as “orange-yellow” or “greenish-yellow” instead of luteous. Our word came from the Latin word luteus (yellow), which came from lutum (yellowweed; mud).
Pronounced: LOO-tee-us, adj
Notes: Not a word I knew (and probably not one I can imagine using)
The word ultima is “the last syllable of a word”
Our word came into English in the 1910s
I noted yesterday that our word took me back to college; in one language class, we learned about which syllable received the stress in pronunciation: it could be on the ultima, or on the “penult” – the next-to-last syllable (literally “almost or next to last”), or on the “antepenult” – the syllable before the penult (literally “before the penult”). Our word comes from the Latin word ultima, which is the feminine form of ultimus (farthest; last), which is a superlative form of ulter (situated beyond).
Pronounced: UHL-tuh-muh, noun
Notes: I should have know this word; it took me back to a college class
The word leptodactylous means “having slender fingers or toes”
Our word came into English in the mid-1800s
I could use this word to describe people I know with slender fingers. Our word came from the Greek words lepto- (thin) and dactyl (toed; fingered).
Pronounced: lep-tuh-DAK-tuh-luhs, adj
Notes: Interesting word that I didn’t know, but could use
The word eurytopic means “tolerant of wide variation in one or more environmental factors”
Our word came into English in the 1930s
Our word came from Greek words eurys (broad; wide) and topos (place). There is an opposite to our word — “stenotopic”, which are things that only exist in a small area.
Pronounced: yore-ih-TAH-pik, adj
Notes: I’ve not run across this word (and I don’t think I can use it very much)
The word borstal is “a reformatory for young offenders”
Our word came into English in the 1900s (1900-1910)
I have either read this word somewhere, or perhaps heard it while watching a television show. Our word is named after the village Borstal, which is located in Kent in the UK.
Pronounced: BORE-stuhl, noun
Notes: I’ve run across this word, but I didn’t really know the definition
The word decussate means “to intersect or cross”
Our word came into English in the mid-1600s
Our word is mostly found in scientific contexts; it came from the Latin word decussatus (divided in the form of an X), which (supposedly) is a combination of decem (ten) and ass- (a unit of weight — a copper coin cut to a half ounce). The number 10 in the Roman numeral system is “X”, which is an intersection of two lines.
Pronounced: DEH-kuh-sate, verb
Notes: Another of the words I haven’t seen before
The word vardy means “judgment or opinion”
Our word came into English in the mid-1700s
Our word is a from a dialect variant of verdit, which is from verdict, which is from the Anglo-Normal words ver (true) and dit (statement; speech), which is from dicere (to say).
Pronounced: VAR-dee, noun
Notes: A useful word, but not one I know
The word extenuate means
Our word came into English in the early to mid-1500s
As I noted, I have heard the term “extenuating circumstances” — they are, properly, circumstances that mitigate an event. Our word came from the Latin word extenuatus, which is the past participle of the verb extenuare, which is made up of ex- (out of; from; utterly; thoroughly) and tenuare (to make thin). Early definitions (now obsolete) of our word were “to make light of” and “to make thin or emaciated”.
Richard's Vocabulary Word-of-the-Day