Richard's Vocabulary Word-of-the-Day
Words that I do not know
Pronounced: mih-sej-uh-NAY-shun (alt: miss-ih-juh-NAY-shun), noun
Notes: I’ve run across this word in some reading, but I wasn’t sure of it
The word glocalize means “to make a product or service available widely, but adapted for local markets”
As one might expect, this is a relatively recent word – it came into English in the 1980s
This word is really just global and localize run together.
Pronounced: GLOW-kuh-lize, verb
Notes: You may be able to guess the meaning, but I’ve not run across this word, so it is here
The word sward is “a grassy patch of land; an area of turf”
This is a very old word; going back to before 900.
I am pretty sure I’ve run across this word in my reading, but as I noted yesterday, I usually get the meaning wrong (unless it is obvious from the syntax). It is a Middle English word that came from the Old English word sweard (skin; rind). This Old English word is thought to be related to the German word Schwarte (rind), the Old Frisian word swarde (scalp), and/or the Middle Dutch word swaerde (skin).
Pronounced: swawrd, noun
Notes: I get this word wrong because it looks to me like a combination of “sword” and “swath” and it’s not related to either.
The word prodnose means, as a verb, “to pry”. As a noun, it refers to “a prying person”.
This word came into English in the 1950s
This word came from a character named “Prodnose” that appeared in columns of J B Morton writing under the pen name “Beachcomber”. These articles appeared in the Daily Express, a tabloid newspaper in the UK. Perhaps the word is more common in the UK than in the US. As I said, I don’t think I’ve ever run across this word.
Pronounced: PROD-nose, verb/noun
Notes: Another word I don’t think I’ve every run across
The word xanthic means “yellowish in color”
This word goes back to the early 1800s
Our word comes from the French word xanthique. The root word is xantho- (yellow).
Pronounced: ZAN-thick, adj
Notes: Another word that is a stranger to me
The word satrap is
The word came into English in the late 1300s
This is quite a traveled word: It came from the Latin word satrapes, which came from Greek. It came to Greek from the old Persian word khshathrapavan (protector of the province), which is a combination of khshathra- (province) and pava (protector).
Pronounced: SAY-trap (alt: SAT-rap), noun
Notes: It looks like a trap for a system administrator (an SA, as we call them), but I’m pretty sure that’s not right
The word mishpocha is “the entire family network; the full extended family”
This word came into English in the mid-1800s
I wrote yesterday that I thought it looked Indian; I was wrong. Our word has Yiddish origins, coming from the word mishpokhe. This is (not surprisingly) taken from the Hebrew word mishpahah (family; clan).
Pronounced: mish-PAW-khuh (alt: mish-POOKH-uh), noun
Notes: This word looks vaguely Indian (from India, not America)
The word pasha is “a person of high rank or importance”
This word came into English in the mid-1600s
I should have recognized part of this word. It comes from the Turkish word pasa, which came from the Persian word padshah, which is made up of pati (master), and shah (king). It is this latter bit I should have recognized; I knew that shah meant “king” because of chess – the word “checkmate” comes from shah + mate (the king is dead).
Pronounced: PA-shuh (alt 1: PASH-uh; alt 2: puh-SHAH), noun
Notes: I don’t think I’ve run across this word
The word falcate means “narrow and curved in shape like a scythe or sickle”
This word came into English in the early or mid-1800s
A synonym is falciform. Our word comes from the Latin word falcātus (sickle-shaped), of which falc- is a stem of falx (sickle).
Pronounced: FAL-kate, adj
Notes: I got this word from a vocabulary calendar, and this entry happened to have an error; they printed the pronunciation of some other word instead of our word
The word repugn means to oppose, resist, or right
This word came into English in the late 1300s
To me, the word looked like the verb form of “repugnant” (with the -ant ending left off), so I thought perhaps it meant the act of offending or finding offensive. In reality, the word comes from the Old French word repugner, which comes from the Latin word repugnare. It is split into re- (again) and pugnare (to fight), which came from pugnus (fist). We get the word pugilist from this same source.
Pronounced: rih-PYOON, verb
Notes: I parsed the word incorrectly and thus had the meaning wrong
The word layette is “garments, clothing, or bedding for a newborn baby”
Our word came into English in the mid-1800s
I think I have run across this word, and get about 50-75% of the meaning from the context, but that was not enough to define it properly. I don’t even remember where I read this word. It comes from French; specifically, the Middle French word laiete (small coffer), related to laie (chest).
Richard's Vocabulary Word-of-the-Day