Richard's Vocabulary Word-of-the-Day
Words that I do not know
Pronounced: KLING-kuhnt, adj/noun
Notes: Another word I have no recollection of reading
The word untrack means “to remove from a track; change course”
This word came into English in the late 1800s
Our word is a combination of English and French words. From English, the word un- (a reversal or a negation) combined with the French word trac (track). This word makes a good synonym for “change course”.
Pronounced: uhn-TRACK, verb
Notes: I don’t think I’ve every run across this word (aside from vocabulary lists)
The word reify means “to convert something abstract into a concrete thing; to make a thought or wish into an action or object” – I think of it as “to make real”
This word came into English in the mid-1800s
The word comes from Latin rēs (thing) combined with -ify (an intensification suffix)
Pronounced: REE-uh-fie (alt: RAY-uh-fie), verb
Notes: I didn’t know this word
The word mediocracy means “rule by the mediocre” (not the media, as I guessed)
This word came into English in the mid-1800s
Given the definition, you can tell it is mediocre combined with -ocracy (rule). So, by thinking ‘rule by the media’, I was close, but wasn’t right.
Pronounced: mee-dee-AHK-ruh-see, noun
Notes: I saw “media” in this word… and I was wrong (you probably know what it means)
The word lacustrine means “of, or related to, a lake”
This word came into English in the early 1800s
What a great word! I hope to have chances to drop it into conversations. The word comes from the Italian word lacustre (of lakes), combined with -ine.
Pronounced: luh-KUHS-trin, adj
Notes: A useful word
The word chillax means “to calm down and relax”
A pretty recent word; it was created in the 1990s
Our word is a combination of chill and relax. I think I’ve heard this word somewhere; I thought it was just made up by the speaker, but it is apparently a real word.
Pronounced: chi-LAX, verb
Notes: I’ve not heard this word, but you may have
The word ludic means “playful in a pointless, spontanious or aimless way”
This is another relatively recent word, coming into English in the 1940s
Finally, we have a word that I didn’t feel guilty about not being able to figure out the word after reading the origin information! One example of our word is the way kittens play, or perhaps children at recess. The word comes from the stem of the Latin word lūdere (to play); specifically, lud- with the adjectival ending -ic.
Pronounced: LOO-dik, adj
Notes: Not a word I know (or could have deduced)
The word freemium means, as a noun, “a pricing model in which the basic product or service is free, but extra features must be paid for”. As an adjective, it means “relating to such a model”.
A fairly recent word; it came into English in the 1900s
Our word is a blend of free and premium. Versions of Red Hat Linux are free, but to have support means paying a fee. Presumably, this is a freemium product. I suspect that this is closely related to “crippleware”, in which software is free to download and use, but not all of the features are enabled unless one pays.
Pronounced: FREE-mih-uhn, noun/adj
Notes: You can probably guess this one, but I was off too far to not include it
The word eonian means “something lasting an eon; eternal or everlasting”
This word showed up in the mid-1700s
The word is the word eon with the adjectival form -ian added to it. The word eon comes from the Greek word aiṓnios (eternal).
Pronounced: ee-OH-nee-uhn, adj
Notes: Like so many of the recent words, I didn’t know this word, but after I saw the definition, I realized I should have been able to figure it out
The word wegotism is “the habit of using ‘we’ when referring to oneself”
Although this sounds new, the word came into English in the late 1700s
The word is simply a joining of we and egotism. I haven’t run into this word, nor can I think of anyone I know to whom this word applies. In formal speech, royalty uses “we” instead of “I” but that is a convention, not necessarily egotism.
Pronounced: WE-guh-tiz-uhm, noun
Notes: I didn’t know this word, but after seeing the definition, it makes sense
The word presenteeism means “the habit of coming to work despite illness or a hangover, resulting in low productivity”
This word showed up in the 1930s
Our word in modeled on absenteeism; thus present plus ee plus ism. Some would argue that low productivity is better than none. That is true, as far as it goes, but if, by attending work when ill, it takes longer to recover than if one stayed home. For example, suppose that one is normally about 100% productive. The ill person who comes to work we will suppose to be about 50% productive. Furthermore, this person takes three days to recover… that’s three days at 50% productivity. The ill person who stays home and recovers in a single day and returns to work will have 0%, 100%, 100%, which averages to 67% productivity. In addition, if the illness is communicable, there is always the chance that the ill person will infect others. Businesses that give great awards for “perfect attendance” can tend to presenteeism.
Richard's Vocabulary Word-of-the-Day