gapeseed

Pronounced: GAPE-seed, noun

Notes: I don’t think I’ve run across this word

Yesterday’s word

The word rallentando means “slackening; becoming slower or winding down”; it is used as a musical direction.

First usage

Our word came into English in the early 1800s

Background / Comments

I know the abbreviation used on sheet music (rall.), but I didn’t know the word that the abbreviation stood for — thus, this was a word that I knew, but didn’t know that I knew. Our word is an Italian word; a gerund of rallentare (to slow down).

rallentando

Pronounced: rah-luhn-TAHN-doe, adj/adv

Notes: This is a word that I knew, but didn’t know that I knew

Yesterday’s word

The word veracious means “truthful; honest; accurate”

First usage

Our word came into English in the late 1600s

Background / Comments

As I noted, our word is pretty close in pronunciation to voracious; we tend to be a bit lazy in our pronunciation in that we often don’t speak or hear the difference between ‘vor’ and ‘ver’. Our word came from the Latin word verus (true).

veracious

Pronounced: vuh-RAY-shuss, adj

Notes: No, this is not voracious misspelled!

Yesterday’s word

The word louche means “shifty; disreputable; shady; sketchy”

First usage

Our word came into English in the early 1800s

Background / Comments

My theory (by which I mean that I reasoned this out without reading about this elsewhere; it may be that many others have reached the same or a similar conclusion before I did) is that because our word is not well known, when a person (who doesn’t know our word) heard another person (using our word) to describe a third disreputable person as “living louchely”, the first person heard “loosely”; thus giving us “loose living” or “loose morals” which should have really been “louche living” or “louche morals”. It’s a thought. The origin of our word is interesting: it comes from the French word louche (cross-eyed), which came from the Old French word losche, the feminine form of lois, which comes from the Latin word luscus (blind in one eye).

louche

Pronounced: loosh, adj

Notes: I have a theory about this word (which I didn’t know)

Yesterday’s word

The word irresolute means “uncertain or indecisive”

First usage

Our word came into English in the mid-1500s

Background / Comments

Our word comes from the Latin word in- (not) combined with resoltus, a past participle of resolvere (to resolve). I felt a little stupid when I saw the definition because I knew the word ‘resolute’ and I also know that ir- is a negation prefix. Somehow, I missed it.

irresolute

Pronounced: ih-REZ-uh-look, adj

Notes: I could not properly define this, but you may know the word

Yesterday’s word

The word rufescent means “slightly reddish; tinged with red; rufous”

First usage

Our word came into English in the early 1800s

Background / Comments

No, I didn’t know the meaning of ‘rufous’ in the definition – it is nearly the same as our word, with only a slight variation of meaning: ‘rufous’ means “reddish”; our word means “slightly reddish”. Our word came from the Latin word rūfescent, when is a stem of rūfescēns, the present participle of the verb rūfescere (to redden), which is derived from the root word rūfus (red). The word ‘rufous’ came straight from this Latin root.

rufescent

Pronounced: roo-FESS-unt, adj

Notes: Not a word that I can remember seeing

Yesterday’s word

The word frabjous means “wonderful; delightful”

First usage

Our word came into English in the mid-1800s

Background / Comments

This is another word created by Lewis Carroll in Through the Looking Glass, published in 1871. Note that Through the Looking Glass is the popularly-used title, but the correct title is Through the Looking Glass, and What Alice Found There. This was a sequel to Alice in Wonderland (another popular shortening of the actual title: Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland). Our word is considered to be a blend of fabulous, fair, and joyous.

frabjous

Pronounced: FRAB-juss, adj

Notes: I recognized the word, but I didn’t know the definition

Yesterday’s word

The word rimple means “to wrinkle; crumple; crease”

First usage

Our word came into English in the early to mid-1400s

Background / Comments

The word came from late Middle English; it is related to “rumple”, and came from Middle Dutch and/or Middle Low German rimpel.

rimple

Pronounced: RIM-pull, verb

Notes: I don’t think I’ve ever run across this word

Yesterday’s word

The word seisin means “possession of either land or chattel” (see comments below for more)

First usage

Our word came into English in the late 1200s

Background / Comments

I ran across this word in the dictionary, and thus the humbling (or aggravating) part of learning this word; it was used in the definition of another word; it is aggravating when dictionaries use a unknown word in a definition. At the same time, it is humbling because it should have been known. By the way that “other word” that I look up up will one show up in this list one day (hopefully). Concerning our word, it mostly shows up in law. If (like me), you weren’t sure what ‘chattel’ means, it refers to personal property that you can move from place to place; for example, cars, clothing, dishes, furniture — something that isn’t land or buildings or improvements on land. From that early definition, it can now also mean “the right to possession characteristic of estates of freehold”

seisin

Pronounced: SEE-zin, noun

Notes: Learning this word was an aggravating or humiliating experience

Yesterday’s word

The word shoat is

  • a young, weaned pig
  • the offspring of a geep (a goat and sheep cross)
First usage

This is an old word; going back to the late 1300s to early 1400s

Background / Comments

I am pretty sure that I have run across this word used in the first definition above; I had no idea of the second definition. Our word came from Middle English shote, which is cognate with the Dutch word schote.

shoat

Pronounced: shote, noun (also spelled “shote”)

Notes: I think I’ve run across this word

Yesterday’s word

The word demirep refers to “a woman of doubtful reputation or respectability”

First usage

Our word came into English in the mid-1700s

Background / Comments

I an across this word in a Nero Wolfe story Die Like a Dog by Rex Stout. I’ve read somewhere that Rex Stout was very bright (an IQ of 185). Anyway, he frequently uses interesting words in the stories (usually spoken by Nero Wolfe). One dictionary noted that our word was “archaic” (I usually associate ‘archaic’ with words that were used before 1700). The novella Die Like a Dog was published in 1956, so I wasn’t sure about calling it ‘archaic’. I checked other dictionaries, and haven’t found it tagged ‘archaic’. Our word is a combination of demi- (half) and reputation.