Richard's Vocabulary Word-of-the-Day
Words that I do not know
Pronounced: jinks, verb
Notes: OK, we know the usual meaning, but this word also has a meaning of which I was unaware.
The word alopecia means “baldness; specifically, the loss of hair, wool or feathers”
Oddly enough, the root word from which the word comes is the Greek word alōpēx (fox)! The word actually came into English from Latin alopecia, which itself came from the Greek word alōpekia (mange on foxes).
The word showed up in the late 1300s
Pronounced: a-luh-PEA-shuh, or a-luh-PEA-shee-uh, noun
Notes: This word doesn’t conform to my usual rules for selection: I only happen to know this word because of a British radio comedy show from the 1960s, so I don’t know how well know it is.
The word appurtenance means “an accessory or other item associated with a particular activity or style of living”. It is usually found in the plural, as in the appurtenances of luxurious travel. It comes from
The word comes into Middle English from the Old French word apertunance, which itself came from the Late Latin word appertinere (belonging to). If you see the word pertain here, you’re right; it comes from the same Late Latin root.
The word appeared in the late 1300s
Pronounced: uh-PURR-tin-uhns, noun
Notes: This is a word I came across in my reading (Death in the Clouds, by Agatha Christie). It is usually found as a plural
The word diktat means
If, like me, you saw dictate or dictator in the word, you’re on the right track. They all come from Latin dictare (to assert or to dictate), but diktat came via German where it meant “something dictated”. Prince Wilhelm of Germany first started to use this word to refer to the Treaty of Versailles (when I read the definition, I immediately thought of this treaty, as many people believe its harsh terms led to the rise of Hitler and World War II). Today, the word can be a critical term for even a minor regulation that one believes to be unfair or authoritarian.
This word showed up in the 1930s (as you’d expect, given the background)
duopoly: I correctly worked out the meaning of this word
Pronounced: dik-TAHT, noun
Notes: I couldn’t define this word properly, but I did recognize bits of it…do you?
The word gyve means, as a noun: “a fetter of shackle”; as a verb: to restrain
The origin is unknown; it may be from Middle English and somehow related to “give”.
This is an old word; it goes back to the late-1200s.
bowdlerize: I happen to know this word; it may have been a vocabulary word in high school
Hi! I hope people are enjoying the vocabulary words!
I’m going to add a section (from time to time) of words that I rejected from the list. I’m hoping that this will be fun… it won’t be a separate post, but it will be at the bottom of posts when it applies.
Enjoy!
Pronounced: jihv, noun/verb
Notes: A great hangman word
The phrase per contra means
Well, the background is a bit confusing. One place just says tersely that it is from Latin per contrā. The more interesting one says that it is from Italian (literally, “by the opposite side [of the ledger]”) and is a bookkeeping term. The “father of accounting” was an Italian named “Luca Pacioli”, a Franciscan friar, mathematician, and friend of Leonardo da Vinci.
The word came into English in the mid-1500s.
Pronounced: per-KAHN-truh, adv
Notes: You may be able to guess this one; the history of the word was interesting
The word transpicuious means “easily seen through or understood”
The trans- part of the word is a clue to the origin; the word comes from Latin — trans- (across) plus specere (to look). The specere part is the source of many English words: spectator and spectacles are well known, but also suspect, spectrum, bishop (overseer), espionage, and several others.
This word showed up in the mid-1600s.
Pronounced: tran-SPICK-yoo-uhs, adj
Notes: I was pretty close, but not quite right on this one
The word opusculum means “a minor word (as of literature)”; a variant of it is opuscule.
This word comes from Latin: many of us probably know opus (work). This word is the diminutive form of opus. In English, opus usually refers to a musical piece, although it can refer to any literary or artistic work. Thus, opusculum refers to a short or minor work, but it is not restricted to music; in fact, it is rarely used for musical works. The plural of opus is opera, which came to English via Italian.
Irritatingly, opusculum didn’t have a first used, but its variant has a date of the mid-1600s, so I assume both words came together.
Pronounced: oh-PUHS-kyuh-luhm, noun
Notes: The word is frequently used in its plural form (opuscula). It’s a word that I should have been able to deduce the meaning of, but I didn’t
The word xeric means “relating to very dry conditions”
This word comes from the Greek word xeros (dry).
This word showed up in 1926
Pronounced: ZER-ik or ZEER-ik, adj
Notes: I should have been able to guess at the meaning
The word waitron is a person who waits tables (as in a restaurant) : waiter/waitress/waitperson
This word was created by blending waiter/waitress with the -tron suffix, which may be an allusion to the machine-like impersonality of those who wait tables. It also may have been taken from neutron; assumed to come from neutral and thus reference the gender-neutrality of waitron. Personally, I have no problem with the traditional words of waiter and waitress. In the current society, there is a very vocable segment pushing for gender-neutrality, so words like waitron are becoming more common. This word is slightly disparaging; the more popular term these days is server.
This is a relatively recent word, appearing in print in 1980.
Richard's Vocabulary Word-of-the-Day