Pronounced: ah(n)-bo(n)-PWAH(n), noun

Notes: The parentheses above mean that the ‘n’ sound is very lightly pronounced. I find this a hard word to guess; one either knows it or doesn’t know it. Before I knew the word, it looked like it might be related to embroidery (’emb-‘) or needlepoint (-‘point’).

---

Yesterday’s word

The word euhemerism is “the idea that gods are based on historical heroes whose stories became exaggerated in retelling”.

First usage

The word came into English in the mid-1800s

Background / Comments

This word is named after Euhemerus, a Greek writer who lived around 340-260 BC. He proposed the theory that the gods of mythology were based on real heroes whose deeds became exaggerated over time (and the meaning hasn’t changed much from when he proposed it).

Pronounced: you-HEE-muh-riz-um, noun (alternatively, the second syllable could be ‘HEM’)

Notes: When I glance at this word, I keep seeing ‘euphemism’, but this is not that word

---

Yesterday’s phrase

The phrase infra dig means “being beneath one’s dignity; undignified”

First usage

This word showed up in the early 1800s

Background / Comments

I’ve never run across this word, which is a shorted form of the Latin phrase infra dignitatem (beneath dignity). I’m told that it is used in a casual contexts — sometimes also sarcastic.

Pronounced: IN-fruh-DIG, adj

Notes: This is a phrase I’ve not run across before

---

Yesterday’s word

The word adonize means “to make more attractive; to spruce up”

First usage

This came into English in the early 1600s

Background / Comments

I’ve heard of Adonis – a beautiful youth in Greek mythology, and I know that ‘adonis’ is used to describe a very good-looking man, but I didn’t recognize this verb form of the word. After I read about our word, I felt a bit foolish for not recognizing it.

Pronounced: AD-uh-nize, verb

Notes: This is another word that made me feel foolish; I didn’t know it when I saw it, but when I read the background, I realized that I should have known it.

---

Yesterday’s word

The word illative means “of, relating to, or expressing an inference or conclusion” (the word “therefore” is an illative word)

First usage

The word came into English in the late 1500s

Background / Comments

The parenthesized part of the meaning is pretty much what was in my reading: (…the use of the illative word ‘therefore’ in this location…). The word comes from the Late Latin word illātīvus, from Latin illāt, the suppletive past participle of inferre (to bring in; to bear in).

Pronounced: ILL-uh-tihv (alt ih-LAY-tihv), adj

Notes: I ran across this word in my reading, but didn’t know it

---

Yesterday’s word

The word bogart means

• to hog or take more than the fair share of something
• to bully, act touch, or to be belligerent

First usage

This word came into usage in the 1960s

Background / Comments

As you might have thought, this word was named after well-known actor Humphrey Bogart, who played tough-guy roles. That certainly explains the second meaning; it is not clear as to why or how the first meaning came into being.

Pronounced: BOH-gart, verb

Notes: I didn’t know this was a word (thus its inclusion), but you may be able to guess the meaning

---

Yesterday’s word

The word pachydermatous means

• of or relating to the pachyderms
• thick; thickened
• callous; insensitive

First usage

This word came into usage in the early 1800s (maybe mid-1800s)

Background / Comments

In the late 1700s, a French zoologist (Georges Cuvier) called elephants, rhinoceroses, hippopotamuses, and other thick-skinned, hoofed mammal “Pachydermata”. This word has Greek roots and means “thick-skinned” in New Latin – the Latin used in scientific description and classification. In the 1800s, the French word came over into English as pachyderms; around the same time, our word came into being to describe, literally or figuratively, the characteristics and qualities of pachyderms – especially the thick skin. In the mid-1800s, an American poet (James Russell Lowell) used our word in the second and third sense.

Pronounced: pah-kih-DUHR-muh-tuhs, adj

Notes: You may know one meaning, like I did, but there are other meanings, so I included it

---

Yesterday’s word

The word jackleg means, as an adjective “unskilled; unscrupulous; incompetent”. As a noun, it refers to an unskilled or unscrupulous worker

First usage

This word came into English in the mid-1800s

Background / Comments

This word is a combination of jack (man, worker) and blackleg (a swindler; especially in gambling).

Pronounced: JACK-leg, adj/noun

Notes: I didn’t know this word

---

Yesterday’s word

The word compunctious means

• arising from remorse or regret
• feeling remorse or regret

First usage

The word came into being in the very late 1500s

Background / Comments

Shakespeare created this word for the play Macbeth. It was created from noun compunction, which came into English from Anglo-French via Late Latin compunctio, which came from the Latin compungere (to prick hard; sting).

Pronounced: kuhm-PUNG(k)-shus

Notes: I knew of “compunction”, but not this word

---

Yesterday’s word

The word four-flusher means “a pretender, bluffer, or fraudster”

First usage

This word started to be used in the early 1900s

Background / Comments

The word comes from poker. A “flush” is five cards of the same suit. Someone who has four cards of the same suit has a four-flush, but it is a worthless (almost? – I’m not a poker player) hand. A player who pretends to have a full flush when he only has four of the needed cards is a “four-flusher”, and thus the meaning.

Pronounced: FOUR-flush-uhr, noun

Notes: I’ve run across this word in reading, but my meaning was bit off. In addition, I find the background to be interesting

---

Yesterday’s word

The word slumgullion is “a meat stew”

First usage

This word first showed up in the late-1800s, but see the background below

Background / Comments

The first usage of this word was in the mid-1800s in a book by Mark Twain, but it referred to a beverage. It is thought that this word is made up of slum (an old word for ‘slime’) and gullion (mud or cesspool) — pretty unappetizing, eh? It’s not clear how this mutated from a beverage to a meat stew in a couple of decades.