Richard's Vocabulary Word-of-the-Day
Words that I do not know
Pronounced: PLEE-uhd, noun
Notes: This looks similar to a word I know, but it is only remotely related
The word anemious means “growing in windy conditions”
Our word came into English in the late 1800s
I was thinking that perhaps our word was related to anemones, but no — our word comes from the Greek word anemos (wind).
Pronounced: uh-NEE-mih-us, adj
Notes: My guess at the meaning was incorrect
The word aubade is
Our word came into English in the mid to late 1600s
As you may have guessed, our word came the French word aubade (dawn serenade) — our first definition above. The second meaning grew up over time. Part of the French word aubade is the Old Occitan word auba (dawn), which is thought to comes from the Latin word albus (white). Note: I have not heard of Old Occitan before; it was an early language that descended from Latin, primary in the area of modern France.
Pronounced: oh-BAHD, noun
Notes: Another word I have no recollection of running across
The word pishogue means “sorcery; witchcraft; spell”
Our word came into English in the mid-1800s
Our word came from the Irish word piseog (witchcraft).
Pronounced: pih-SHOHG, noun
Notes: I have not run across this word
The word chilblain is “an inflammatory swelling or sore caused by exposure (such as feed or hands) to cold”
Our word came into English in the mid-1500s
As you might expect, the first part of our word came from “chill”, which came from the Old English word ciele (frost; chill), which is related to the Old English word ceald, an ancestor of “cold”. The second part of the word is a word by itself, meaning “an inflammatory swelling or sore”)” — it came from the Old English word blegen. When our word first appeared, it was spelled “chyll blayne”.
Pronounced: CHILL-blane, noun
Notes: I have run across our word, but didn’t know the definition
The word picaro is “a rogue; an adventurer”
Our word came into English in the early 1600s
Our word came from the Spanish word picaro (rogue).
Pronounced: PEE-kuh-roh, noun
Notes: I’ve not run across this word
The word snickersnee is “a large knife or sword”
Our word came into English in the late 1600s
Our word used to be a phrase “snick or snee” (before it was compressed into our word). This phrase was originally “steake or snye”, a term used in pirate times to describe someone engaged in a sword and/or dagger fight. This phrase came from a Dutch term meaning “to thrust or cut”. In addition to the noun, our word is also a verb meaning to engage in such fights.
Pronounced: SNIH-kuhr-snee, noun
Notes: This word made me think of Lewis Carroll’s poem “Jabberwocky”
The word pogonip is “a dense winter fog having ice particles”
Our word came into English in the mid-1800s
Our word came from the Shoshone word payinappih (cloud).
Pronounced: POG-uh-nip, noun
Notes: I’ve run across this word
The word festoon is
Our word came into English in the late 1600s
I am familiar with the verb “festoon” (decorate), but not with our word. The verb is actually newer; the noun was older. Our word came from French and Italian, which came from the Latin word festa, which is the plural of festum (festival). As a side note, we get our word “feast” from the same Latin root.
Pronounced: feh-STOON, noun
Notes: I know the verb, but I didn’t know the noun meaning
The word zarf is “a sleeve or holder designed to hold a hot cup”
Our word came into English in the mid-1800s
As I noted yesterday, I didn’t know that there was a word for this. Our word came from the Arabic word zarf (container; sheath).
Pronounced: zarf, noun
Notes: I didn’t know that there was a word for this!
The word esoteric means
Our word came into English in the mid-1600s
I have used the word, but I thought that it meant “difficult” or possibly “highly unusual”: thus, when I used “an esoteric comment”, I was thinking of a highly unusual comment; not quite “only understood if one has specialized knowledge”. As can be seen from the definition above, my usage wasn’t quite correct. Our word came from the Late Latin word esotericus, which came from the Greek word esōterikos, which is based on a comparitive form of esō (within). The opposite of esoteric is “exoteric” (suitable to be imparted to the public).
Richard's Vocabulary Word-of-the-Day