Richard's Vocabulary Word-of-the-Day
Words that I do not know
Pronounced: PURR-blind, adj
Notes: You may know this word; I found the background interesting
The word anatine means “resembling a duck, swan, or goose; a member of this family of birds, the Anatidae
Our word came into English in the mid-1800s
It it walks like a duck and talks like a duck, it must be anatine, eh? Our word came from the Latin word anatinus (of, or pertaining to, a duck), which has the root of anat- (duck).
Pronounced: AN-uh-tine (alt: AN-uh-tin), noun
Notes: I don’t think I’ve every run across this word
The word condign means “well-deserved; appropriate”
Our word came into English in the early 1400s
Our word is another useful word to use in conversation; it helps the one using to remember the word, and would, no doubt, be instructive to those hearing him. Our word comes from the Middle English word condigne, which came from Anglo French, which came from the Latin word condignus, made up of com- (completely) and dignus (worthy). This latter word is the source of our word ‘dignity’.
Pronounced: kuhn-DINE, adj
Notes: My pronunciation of this word was wrong; I had the accent on the first syllable
The word rident means “laughing; smiling; cheerful”
Our word came into English in the early 1600s
What a nice word to drop into conversation! It comes from the Latin word rīdent, related to the present participle of rīdēre (to laugh).
Pronounced: RIDE-nt, adj
Notes: A nice, useful word, but I didn’t know it
The word blag, as a verb, means “to obtain something by guile; to cheat, rob, snatch, steal, scam, or beg”. As a noun, it means “a robbery, con, or theft”
Our word came into English in the 1930s
The origin of this word is not known… I don’t remember having every run across it.
Pronounced: blag
Notes: I’ve never run across this word
The word bugbear means
Our word came into English in the mid- to late 1500s
I have run across the second definition of our word, but the third one (from folklore) and the first one are ones that I did not know. Our word is a combination of bug and bear. The word bug does not refer to an insect, but is an obsolete word meaning “a bogy or hobgoblin”. It comes from the Middle English word bugge (scarecrow; demon; hobgoblin). The word bear refers to the animal.
Pronounced: BUG-bear, noun
Notes: I knew one of the definitions of this word; do you know it?
The word vermeil, as an adjective, means “bright red in color”. As a noun, it means
Our word came into English in the early 1400s
I think I was wrong in most of the ways about this word; first of all, I didn’t have the pronunciation correct; I thought it was “ver-MEAL”. Secondly, I knew it was a color, but for some reason, I think of blue or green (possibly from thinking of ‘verde’). Red dye used to be made from insects of the genus Kermes. Our word comes from the Latin word vermiculus (little worm, kermes), which is the diminutive form of vermis (worm).
Pronounced: VURR-mil (alt: VURR-mile), adj/noun
Notes: This word is one I often get wrong
The word horripilation means “goose flesh; goose bumps; a bristling of the hair on the skin from cold or fear”
Our word came into English in the mid-1600s
I could see parts of the word “horror” and “pilation” (which I thought was related to hair) in this word, but didn’t realize it referred to “goose bumps”. Apparently, this phenomenon is also known as “gooseflesh”, which I’ve run across in UK books (but it doesn’t seem to be limited to British English usage). Our word comes from the Latin word horripilātiōn, which is a stem of horripilātiō. This is related to the verb horripilāre (to become bristly), which has root parts of horrēre (to bristle with fear) and pilus (hair).
Pronounced: haw-rip-uh-LAY-shun (alt: hoe-rip-uh-LAY-shun)
Notes: Though I didn’t know the right definition, I did recognize parts of this word
The word teal, as an adjective, means “of greenish blue color”. As a noun, it means
Our word came into English in the early 1300s
I had our word backward; I knew that there was a type of duck called a “teal”, and I thought it was so named because of the teal colors upon it. However, the fact is that the color was named after the patches on the duck. Our word came from the Middle English word tele.
Pronounced: teel, noun/adj
Notes: You probably know this word, but I found the background interesting
The word stertor means “a heavy snoring sound”
Our word came into English around 1800
I thought that that there was a word that referred to a loud voice that might be another form of this word, but I was incorrect: I was thinking of sentorian, which is not related to our word at all. Our word comes from the Latin word stertere (to snore).
Pronounced: STUR-ter, noun
Notes: I think I know a form of this word
The word marrowsky is a synonym of ‘spoonerism’, which you may know. In case you don’t, it refers to the transposition of the initial sounds of words (usually the initial sounds, but no always). For example, saying “Is the bean dizzy?” instead of “Is the dean busy?”
Our word came into English in the mid-1800s
I’ve never heard of our word, but I am familiar with ‘spoonerism’. The origin of our word is not known, but it is thought to be the name of a Polish count who did this.
Richard's Vocabulary Word-of-the-Day