Pronounced: yents, verb

Notes: I don’t recall every running across this word

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Yesterday’s word

The word dyad means “a pair, due, or set of two things”

First usage

Our word came into English in the late 1600s

Background / Comments

Because I read a lot of Greek/Roman mythology, I confused our word with “dryad”, which is a kind of woodland god. Astute people not thrown off by classical mythology may have noticed the similarity to “duo”. Our word comes from the Greek word dyad-, which is the root of dyás (pair), which is equivalent to dýo (two) with the noun ending -ad.

Pronounced: DIE-ad, noun

Notes: I confused this word with dryad, so I was completely wrong about this word

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Yesterday’s word

The word verklempt means “overcome with emotion; choked up”

First usage

Our word came into English in the 1990s

Background / Comments

The ‘f’ and ‘v’ sounds are very similar; the ‘v’ sound is called “voiced” (one makes a sound with the vocal cords), so that’s probably why there are two different pronunciations — or maybe it’s because of the origin. The word comes from the Yiddish word farklempt (overcome with emotion), which came from the German word verklemmt (inhibited).

Pronounced: fuhr-KLEMT (alt: vuhr-KLEMT), noun

Notes: I don’t think I’ve heard this word

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Yesterday’s word

The word anagnorisis is “an ‘eureka’ moment; a moment of sudden discovery or revelation”

First usage

Our word came into English in the late 1700s

Background / Comments

Our word came from Latin, but as you might expect, given the “eureka” in the definition above, it came into Latin from Greek anagnōrí (to know again) from ana- (again) and gnōr (knowing).

Pronounced: an-ag-NAWR-uh-sis (alt: an-ag-NOR-uh-sis), noun

Notes: Another good word to know

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Yesterday’s word

The word effluvium is “an unpleasant discharge, for example, fumes, vapors, or gases from waste or decaying matter”

First usage

Our word came into English in the mid-1600s

Background / Comments

I have a kind of memory that I’ve run across this word talking about sewage in Victorian times; I also seem to remember that they called it (euphemistically) “flow”. That’s rather appropriate, given the origin: it came from the Latin word effluere (to flow out), which was a combination of ex- (out) and fluere (to flow). We get the word fluid from the same kind of root words. In addition, the words affluent, influence, and influenza also come from the same root word.

Pronounced: ih-FLOO-vee-uhm, noun

Notes: You may know this word; it is a “borderline” word

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Yesterday’s word

The word grimalkin means

• an old female cat
• an ill-tempered older woman

First usage

This word came into English around 1600 (the late 1500s to the early 1600s)

Background / Comments

I think I’ve run across our word in one of its meanings, but I cannot recall the details. It is thought our word comes from a corruption of gray combined with malkin, which is a diminutive of the proper name Maud. It is not clear to me how Maud came to refer to a woman. It is clear that gri (gray) refers to being older, as in “gray-headed”.

Pronounced: grih-MAL-kin (alt: grih-MAWL-kin), noun

Notes: I’m not sure if I’ve run across this in reading or not

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Yesterday’s word

The word quotidian means

• commonplace; ordinary
• occurring every day

First usage

This word come into English in the late 1300s

Background / Comments

I think of our word as similar to “mundane” (at least, the first definition). Our word is another fun/useful word to know and use. The word comes from the Old French word cotidian, which came from Latin quotidianus/cotidianus, which came from quotidie (each day), which came partly from quot (how many).

Pronounced: kwo-TID-ee-uhn, adj

Notes: A nice vocabulary word

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Yesterday’s word

The word spumescent means “foamy or frothy”

First usage

Our word came into English in the mid-1800s

Background / Comments

As I noted, our word looked vaguely familiar to me; I think I’ve used it as a vocabulary entry, but not in this blog (I checked). However, before I started this blog, I did vocabulary entries on Facebook for a year… and before Facebook, I posted vocabulary words on my work’s chat status. Our word is composed of spume and -escent. The -escent ending is from Latin and is used on adjectives to specify the beginning of an action or process. The word spume came from Middle English, which came from the Latin word spūma (foam; froth).

Pronounced: spyoo-MES-uhnt, adj

Notes: This word looked familiar to me (more on that tomorrow).

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Yesterday’s word

The word superbity means “pride; arrogance”

First usage

This word came into English in the mid-1400s

Background / Comments

I don’t think I’ve ever run across our word in any reading. Sounds like a fun addition to one’s vocabulary. It comes from the Middle French word superbité, which came from superbe (superb).

Pronounced: soo-PURR-buh-tee, noun

Notes: I don’t remember running across this word

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Yesterday’s word

The word effloresce means “to burst into bloom; to blossom, or become covered in flowers”

First usage

Our word came into English in the mid-1700s

Background / Comments

Our word came from the Latin word efflōrēscere (to blossom out), which is made of of ef- (out [a variant of ex-]) with flōrēscere (to being to bloom), which has the stem flōr- (flower).

Pronounced: ef-luh-RESS, verb

Notes: Another word you may be able to guess

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Yesterday’s word

The word analphabetic, as a noun, means “an illiterate person”. As an adjective, it can mean “illiterate” or “not alphabetical”

First usage

Our word came into English in the late 1800s

Background / Comments

Not a hard word to get, if you are able to properly parse the word; it comes from the Greek word analphabetos (not knowing the alphabet); it was created from an- (not) and alphabetos (alphabet). You may know alphabet comes from alpha and beta, the first two letters of the Greek alphabet. Anyway, if one don’t know the alphabet, one is illiterate. Apparently, the other adjective’s meaning probably came about later from the literal meaning of “not alphabetic”.