Richard's Vocabulary Word-of-the-Day
Words that I do not know
Pronounced: REK-uhn-dite (alt: rih-KON-dite), adj
Notes: The word is familiar to me (meaning I’ve read it more than once), but I couldn’t define it
The word ovine means “of, relating to, or resembling, sheep”
This word came into English in the late 1600s
This word is ‘bovine’ with the ‘b’ missing. Bovine has to do with cattle instead of our word, which is has to do with sheep. This word comes from the Latin word ovis (sheep).
Pronounced: OH-vine, adj
Notes: Looks like “bovine” misspelled, but it isn’t
The word logophile is “a lover of words”
Oddly enough, this word only seems to go back to the 1920s.
I do love words (and learning), and that’s why I do this blog, even if it never has a large following. I do this for my enjoyment as much as anything else. The word comes from the Greek words logos (word; speech; saying) and philos (good friend). If I had slowed down a bit, I would have seen “logo” instead of “log” and probably had the definition correct.
Pronounced: LAW-guh-file (alt: LOG-uh-file), noun
Notes: I originally looked at this word hastily and thought that it may be a lover of sawmills or logging… I should have paid closer attention; perhaps you know it?
The word mythomania means “an abnormal tendency to exaggerate or lie”
This word came into English in the early 1900s
I was right as to origin, but wrong about the meaning. It does comes from the Greek word mythos (myth) combined with mania (excessive enthusiasm or craze). I suppose that someone who loves myths would be tempted to make up their own myths.
Pronounced: mith-uh-MAY-nee-uh, noun
Notes: Parsing this word, I thought it was an obsession with myths, but that’s not it.
The word saporific means “that which produces flavor or taste”
The word is relatively old – coming into English in the late 1600s
Our word is only one letter different from “soporific” (something that causes sleep), but they have different sources. Our word comes from the New Latin word sapōrificus, which comes from the Latin word sapōr (savor).
Pronounced: sap-uh-RIFF-ick, adj
Notes: It is very close in spelling to soporific, which is a different word
The word kayfabe means “portrayal of staged events as real, especially in professional wrestling”
This word is a relatively recent word and came into English in the 1980s
The origin of this word is uncertain; however, some people think it is Pig Latin for “fake” or “be fake” (but shouldn’t that be “akefay” or “ebay akefay”). I remember watching professional wrestling when I was a child, but I haven’t seen it for years (and I don’t miss it).
Pronounced: KAY-fayb, noun
Notes: I don’t think I’ve every run across this word
The word hortatory means “urging some course of positive action; encouraging”
The word came into English in the late 1500s
I confess that I’ve frequently mispronounced this word; I thought it was HOAR-uh-tore-ee, and I thought it was spelled “horatory”. I’ve heard the word before “preaching” to imply preaching that is encouraging. Our word comes from the Late Latin word hortātōrius (encouraging).
Pronounced: HAWR-tuh-tawr-ee (alt: HAWR-tuh-tore-ee), adj
Notes: I’ve been mis-pronouncing this word, and possible also misspelling it… I think I’ve been influenced by hearing others mis-pronounce it (see tomorrow’s comments)
The word whataboutery is “the practice of responding to an accusation by making a counter-accusation, real or imaginary, relevant or irrelevant”
This word came into being in the 1970s
This seems like such a ridiculous word to exist; I thought “really!?!?” when I saw the definition and whence it came. Speaking of which, it comes from the response of “what about…” It is also called whataboutism. It is a popular way to deflect criticism.
Pronounced: what-uh-BOUT-uhr-ee, noun
Notes: This word makes me laugh… a bit. Most of us have experienced whataboutery
The word Panglossian means “having extreme optimism, despite ongoing hardship, difficulty, or adversity”
Our word came into English in the mid-1800s
I thought for sure I would know this, since I recognized pan as “every” or “all”, and glossia as “tongue” (“language” by extension). So, I thought it would be someone who spoke a lot of languages — also known as a polyglot. So, I was surprised to read the definition to see how far off I was. This was the name of a character (Pangloss) in a play (Candide) by Voltaire who was optimistic (the character, not Voltaire). The upper case of this word should have been a clue to me… but it wouldn’t have helped to define it. I can take some consolation in that I correctly parsed the word. There is a Greek word – panglossía, which means “wordiness; garrulousness”, which does come from the two words I noted above. Someone who is “all tongue” would be wordy, indeed!
Pronounced: pan-GLOSS-ee-uhn (alt: pan-GLAW-see-uhn)
Notes: Not at all what I thought (more on this tomorrow)
The phrase bush league, as a noun, is “a minor league of a professional sport”; most frequently used of baseball. As an adjective, it means “second-rate; unpolished; or amateurish”
Our phrase dates back to the early 1900s
I was kind of aware of the meanings; I thought perhaps it referred to a specific league of baseball. And somewhere, I’ve read the phrase “He’s strictly bush league” – in context, it seemed to refer to second-rate. It was a close thing, but I decided to include the word… if nothing else, it is encouraging to have a word you know from time to time, eh? It is thought that the phrase comes from the allusion to bushes, thus referring to uncultivated land – the countryside (“the sticks) or small towns.
Pronounced: bush leeg, noun/adj
Notes: I almost didn’t include this, but decided to do so
The word empyreal means “of, or relating to, the sky or heavens; celestial”
Our word came into English in the late 1400s
I tend to use the first first of the four pronunciations. The word comes from the Latin word empyreus, a variant of empyrius, which came from the Greek work empýrios (fiery).
Richard's Vocabulary Word-of-the-Day