Pronounced: ek-DIZ-ee-ast, noun

Notes: I don’t know this word

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Yesterday’s word

The word oeuvre means “the complete works of a writer, painter, musician, or the like, taken as a whole”

First usage

Our word came into English in the late 1800s

Background / Comments

Our word comes directly from French word oeuvre (work), which comes from the Latin word opera (work; effort). I think I’ve run across this word in the work of Peter Schickele – he created the fictional person of PDQ Bach and in one of the PDQ Bach pieces, I think our word is used (it has been quite a while since I’ve listened to my collection, and I’m not sure which work this is a part of).

Pronounced: ERV-ruh, noun (the UK pronunciation has this as a one-syllable word)

Notes: I think I’ve heard this word, but wasn’t clear on the spelling or meaning

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Yesterday’s word

The word snowclone refers to a cliche adapted to a new use

First usage

Our word came into English in the first decade of the 2000s

Background / Comments

The word was coined by Glen Whitman, an economics professor, in 2004. It originally referred to statements about Eskimos having many words for snow, which is expanded into forms like “If Eskimos have 20 words for snow, Texas have 40 words for heat.” Another example is the original Star Trek line: “I’m a doctor, not a bricklayer!” (from The Devil in the Dark, which first aired in 1967). A snowclone of this would be anything of the order “I’m a X, not a Y”; for example, “I’m an accountant, not a magician!”. There are a lot of phrases that have become snowclones, ranging from Shakespeare (‘my kingdom for a horse’ ==> ‘my kingdom for a[n] X’) to famous letters to the editor (‘Yes, Virginia there is a Santa Claus’ ==> ‘Yes, Virginia, there is a X’) to movies (‘You’re gonna need a bigger boat’ ==> ‘We’re gonna need a bigger X’).

Pronounced: SNOW-klone, noun

Notes: I have run across snowclones, but did not know this word

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Yesterday’s word

The word frisson means “a sudden, passing sensation of excitement; a shudder of emotion; thrill”

First usage

Our word came into English in the mid- to late 1700s

Background / Comments

The key part of this definition is “sudden” and “passing” in whatever emotion is being presented. Our word comes from the French word frisson (shiver; shudder), which comes from the Old French word friçons, which comes from the Late Latin word frictiōnem, the accusative of frictiō (to shiver), which is a derivative of frīgēre (to be cold).

Pronunciation: free-SONE, noun

Notes: I’ve run across the word, but could not properly define it

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Yesterday’s word

The word windrow, as a noun, means

• a row of raked hay laid to dry in the wind before being baled
• a row of leaves, dust, snow, or other material swept together

As a verb, it meas “to arrange in a windrow”

First usage

Our word came into English in the early 1500s

Background / Comments

Growing up on a farm, I have seen multiple windrows, but I didn’t know the name for them. It seems clear that the verb came from the noun. Moreover, I assume that the first definition is the original one, and the second definition arose from non-raked-hay materials that looked like a woodrow. The word is just “wind” and “row” put together.

Pronounced: WIND-roh, noun/verb

Notes: Looks like “window” misspelled

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Yesterday’s word

The word cacography means

• poor penmanship; bad handwriting
• incorrect spelling

First usage

Our word came into English in the mid- to late 1500s

Background / Comments

I recognized recognized the parts of our word caco- (bad), which comes from the Greek word kakos (bad) and graphy (writing), which comes from the Greek word graphia. So, our word means literally “bad writing”, so I knew it meant bad handwriting, or thus penmanship. However, I was not aware that it also included bad spelling.

Pronounced: kuh-KOG-ruh-fee, noun

Notes: You might be able to figure out this word

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Yesterday’s word

The word unwonted means “unusual or unaccustomed”

First usage

Our word came into English in the mid-1500s

Background / Comments

I’ve run across this word in reading, and I had a sense of the meaning from the context. However, I was pronouncing it like it was “unwanted”. Our word comes from un- (negation) and the Middle English word woned, wont (accustomed), which is the past principle of wonen (to be used to, to well).

Pronounced: un-WON-tid, adj

Notes: This word is a bit of a cheat; I do happen to know the word, but I don’t think it is well known. However, I did not know if well enough to pronounce it properly.

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Yesterday’s word

The word lambent means

• dealing lightly and gracefully with a subject; brilliantly playful
• running or moving lightly over a surface
• softly bright or radiant

First usage

Our word came into English in the mid-1600s

Background / Comments

Our word came from the Latin word lambent-, a stem of lambēns (lapping), which is the present participle of lambere (to lick; to wash — used of fire or water).

Pronounced: LAM-bunt, adj

Notes: A word I don’t know

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Yesterday’s word

The word gapeseed means

• one who stares especially with an open mouth
• something that is an object of staring; anything unusual

First usage

Our word came into English in the late 1500s

Background / Comments

Our word is a combination of gape, which comes from the Old Norse word gapa (to open the mouth; stare) and seed, which comes from the Old English word saed (seed). The idiom that the word comes from is “to sow gapeseed”, which means to stare at something (for example, a fair) instead of doing one’s word (such as sowing seed).

Pronounced: GAPE-seed, noun

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

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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).

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

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

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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).