Richard's Vocabulary Word-of-the-Day
Words that I do not know
Pronounced: kuhn-FAH-byoo-late, verb
Notes: This word has one meaning that I didn’t know; I had an idea of the others
The word phillumenist means “a collector of matchboxes, matchbooks, or their labels”
I had no idea that there was a word for a matchbook collector. This word has a mixed origin: Greek phil- (loving) and Latin lumen (light).
This word came into being in the 1940s
Pronounced: fi-LOO-muh-nist, noun
Notes: This is another word that I didn’t know existed
The word interstice means:
I had a clue to the meaning of this word from the a classic Dr Who show (The Time Monster from the 3rd Doctor: Jon Pertwee); it refers to “intersticial time” (the idea of tiny spaces between moments of time). Our word comes from Latin interstitium, which comes from inter- (between) and -stes (standing).
The word arrived into English around 1600.
Pronounced: in-TER-stuhs, noun
Notes: I know a related word, and was close (but not quite right) with the definition
The word virilocal means “relating to the custom of living with the family of the husband”
As I said yesterday, I had no idea that there was a word for this custom. It comes from Latin vir (man) combined with local.
This is a relatively late word, coming into English in the 1940s
Pronounced: vir-ih-LOCK-uhl, adj
Notes: I didn’t know that there was a word for this
The word pandect means
The original pandect was the Pandectae, a 50-volume digest of Roman civil law (created under emperor Justinian in the 500s). The word pandectae is the plural of pandectes (encyclopaedic work; book that contains everything). This word came from Greek pan- (all) and dechesthai (to receive).
This word showed up in the mid-1500s
Pronounced: PAN-dekt, noun
Notes: I had no idea of the meaning of this word
The word cynophobia means “fear of dogs”
The word comes from Greek — from the words kyon (dog) and -phobia (fear).
This word came into use in the late 1800s
Pronounced: sigh-nuh-FOE-bee-uh, noun
Notes: Clearly, a fear (phobia) of some kind…
Yesterday’s word
The word corvine means “of or relating to the crows : resembling a crow”
Background / Comments
The word comes from Latin corvinus, which comes from corvus (raven). Interestingly, “raven” doesn’t come from this, but from Old English hrœfn, which is related to Old High German hraban.
First usage
This word goes back to the mid-1600s.
Pronounced: KORE-vine, adj
Notes: I didn’t know this word existed
The word plummy can mean
I assume most people know the first meaning, and several know the second: these are the two that I know. I did not know either of the last two meanings. They all come from Old English plume (plum).
The word showed up in the early 1700s
Pronounced: PLUM-ee, adj
Notes: This word had four definitions; I knew two of them. How many can you think of?
The solidus is the forward slash symbol (‘/’) used to mean “or” (as in his/her) or “and or” (straggler/deserter) or “per” (feet/second).
The word I use informally for this symbol is “slash”; however, “forward slash” (which I hear frequently in the UK) is more precise, distinguishing it from the “backward slash” (‘\’). I was aware of the word virgule for this character, but not our word. Our word has an interesting history: as one might guess, it comes from Latin solidus (solid). It started out referring to the ancient Roman gold coin that succeeded the aureus. In Medieval Latin, solidus referred to the shilling, which was also abbreviated ‘s’, ‘sh’, or ‘shill’. These abbreviations were replaced with the ‘/’ symbol: something marked 3/6 was 3 pounds, six shilling, and thus the word came to mean the ‘/’ symbol.
This word showed up in the second half of the 1300s
Pronounced: SAH-luh-duhs, noun
Notes: This is a fancy word for something; I know a different fancy word for it, but not this one
The word contund means “to thrash or bruise”
I should have seen the similarity to contusion and been able to guess at the meaning. Our word comes from Latin con- (with) and tundere (to beat).
This word started being used in the late 1500s
Pronounced: kuhn-TUHND, verb
Notes: This is another case of a word that I didn’t have any idea of the meaning, but after looking at the definition, I should have been able to figure it out.
The word pukka means “geniune, authentic; also first-class”
If this word evokes mental pictures of English rule in India, you are not wrong. The word pukka comes from Hindi and Urdu pakkā (solid). English speakers applied the concept of “sound and reliable” of solid and thus the word mean “genuine”. I first heard the word in the phrase pukka sahib (sahib is an Anglo-Indian word for a European of some social or official status). Thus the expression pukka sahib is a compliment – the person is a true gentleman. I read that pukka is modern British slang for “excellent”. In Murder on the Orient Express, there is a funny exchange between Poirot and the Greek Doctor Constantine:
Colonel Arbuthnot says, of a fellow passenger: “You can take it from me that she’s all right. She’s a pukka sahib.” After he left, Doctor Constantine asked Poirot, “What does a pukka sahib mean?” Poirot’s response is “It means that her father and brothers went to the same kind of school as Colonel Arburthnot.” The Doctor responds, “Oh, then it has nothing to do with the crime at all”. “Exactly”, says Poirot.
This word was first used in the late mid-1700s.
Richard's Vocabulary Word-of-the-Day