Richard's Vocabulary Word-of-the-Day
Words that I do not know
Pronounced: LO-kuhr-nize, verb
Notes: A word I’ve not run across
The word rupestrine means “living or growing among rocks”
The word came into English in the late 1800s
Our word has Latin roots: rūpēs (steep cliff; crag) combined with the ending -trine which was take from lacustrine (living or growing in lakes).
Pronounced: roo-PESS-trin, adj
Notes: I could not figure out how to parse this word to get the definition
The word solesize means “to make an error in language, etiquette, etc”
This word came into usage in the mid-1600s
You may be familiar with the noun form – solecism. The noun form definitely rings a bell in my memory, but I’m not sure I could have come up with the correct definition. Our word comes from an ancient Athenian colony in Cilicia named “Soloi”. Apparently, they had a dialect that the Athenians considered to be substandard.
Pronounced: SOL-uh-size, verb
Notes: Another word I’ve run across, but I only picked up the general meaning
I had trouble in looking the up meaning of chambray: the place I got this word from says only that it is “a finely woven cloth (of cotton, silk, or linen) with an equal mix of white and colored threads”. With this definition, I was thinking of one white line, one colored line, and then another white line, and then a colored thread, and so on. However, in doing additional research, the additional clarification was that the weave has a colored warp (the part that doesn’t move on the loom; usually vertical), and a white weft – also known as “woof” or “fill” (the part that moves; usually horizontal).
The word came into English in the early 1800s
The word chambray is an Americanism – a corruption of the word cambric, name for the town of Cambrai in northern France.
Pronounced: SHAM-bray, noun
Notes: This word is one of those that I’ve seen and heard, but really could not properly define
The word Barbados (the verb) means “to forcibly ship someone to another place to work”
Our word goes back to the mid-1600s
Yes, this word comes from the island in the Caribbean. In the 1600s, when it was a British colony, many Irish people were sent there by the British (they were also sent to other British colones in the Caribbean) as indentured servants. The Errol Flynn film Captain Blood has people being Barbadosed (although that word is not used in the film – at least as far as I know). The name Barbados is from the Spanish/Portuguese word barbados (bearded ones). It is not clear if the dense vegetation made the island appear to be bearded (and thus the name), or if the word referred to the bearded men living there.
Pronounced: bar-BAY-doz (alt-1: -dos; alt-2: -duhs), verb
Notes: I know the noun (the island), but I did not know the verb. Also, I tend to use the first alternate pronunciation – ending the word with an ‘s’ sound, not a ‘z’ sound.
The word anfractuous means “something with winding twists and turns; sinuous; circuitous”
Our word came into English in the late 1500s
The definition makes me think of the original Adventure text game with its “you are in a maze of twisting passages, all alike” notes. Our word comes from the French word anfracteuex, which came from the Late Latin word anfractuosus (roundabout), which came from the Latin word anfractus (bend, curve).
Pronounced: an-FRACK-choo-uhs, adj
Notes: Another new word to me, but useful
The word birminghamize means “to render artificial”
This word began to be used in the mid-1800s
Yes, it comes from the UK city of Birmingham… but why the meaning? In the 1600s, counterfeit coins were made there. There is a similar word that I think I have heard that comes from a corruption of Birmingham and that is “brummagem”.
Pronounced: BURR-ming-ham-ize, verb
Notes: I’ve not heard this word, but it’s not hard to guess where it comes from – the trick is figuring out the meaning
The word dissilient means “something bursting apart or open”
This word came into English in the mid-1600s
I enjoy this background; I’ll explain after giving it. It comes from a Latin word dissilient, a stem of the present participle of dissilīre (to leap apart); this is decomposed into dis- (away or apart), a combining for of sali (to leap), and -ent (alt: -ant), often found in nouns and adjectives taken from Latin. The reason I enjoy this background is that “desultory”, a word I enjoy, traces part of its roots back to the same word for “to leap”. If you don’t know the word “desultory”, look it up… it’s a pretty good description of some conversations, and has its own interesting origin.
Pronounced: dih-SIL-ee-uhnt, adj
Notes: A word that is new to me
The word longlist means “a preliminary list of candidates, such as people, places, things, etc for a prize, job, etc from which a shortlist is compiled.
This word came into usage in the 1970s
This word grew out of the word shortlist (which came about in the 1920s).
Pronounced: c’mon – like it looks, noun
Notes: I didn’t know this was a word, but it makes sense
The word fleer means, as a noun, “a sneer or mocking look”. As a verb it means “to grin or laugh coarsely and mockingly”
This came into English the late 1300s
I feel a bit justified – there is a different word fleer (sounds the same, but pronounced differently [FLEE-uhr] and has a separate origin) that means “one who flees”. So, my guess was correct, but that is not the word under consideration. Our word comes from the Middle English flerien, which is thought to comes from the Scandinavian language: the Norwegian flire (a grin).
Pronounced: fleer, noun/verb
Notes: My guess was one who runs away (the person who is pursued), but that isn’t correct
The word deterge means “to wash, wipe, or cleanse”
Our word goes back to the early 1600s
You probably guessed the word if you added an ‘n’ and a ‘t’ and produced “detergent”. It comes from the Latin word detergere (to wipe away), which comes from de- (away) and tergere (to wipe)
Richard's Vocabulary Word-of-the-Day