Category Archives: word

Pronounced: pie-ACK-yuh-luhr, adj Notes: I don’t think I’ve heard of this word Yesterday’s word The word liminal means First usage Our word came into English in the late 1800s Background / Comments As I noted, I should have been able to work out the meaning our of word because of the well-known word subliminal, whichContinue reading “piacular”

Pronounced: LIH-muh-n’l, adj Notes: I should have worked out the definition of this word Yesterday’s word The word frontispiece is First usage Our word came into English in the late 1500s Background / Comments This word is another one that was created in error; it was a corruption of the French word frontispice because itContinue reading “liminal”

Pronounced: FRUN-tih-spees, noun Notes: I think I’ve seen this word, or a word close to it Yesterday’s phrase The phrase banyan day is “a day on which no meat is served to the crew of a ship” First usage I haven’t been able to find out when our phrase came into English Background / CommentsContinue reading “frontispiece”

Pronounced: BAN-yuhn day, noun Notes: I’ve seen banyan trees, but I don’t know this word Yesterday’s word The word messuage means “a residential building with outbuildings and the attached land” First usage Our word came into English in the late 1400s Background / Comments I like the origin story of our word. The word cameContinue reading “banyan day”

Pronounced: MESS-wij, noun Notes: I like the origin story for this word (it’s not pronounced as I would think) Yesterday’s word The word parlous means “full of danger or risk; hazardous” First usage Our word came into English in the 1300s Background / Comments If you think “the definition seems like the definition for perilous”,Continue reading “messuage”

Pronounced: PAR-luss, adj Notes: I don’t think I’ve seen this word, either Yesterday’s word The word complot means, as a noun, “a plot or conspiracy”. As a verb, it means “to plot or conspire” First usage Our word came into English in the late 1500s Background / Comments Our word comes from the French wordContinue reading “parlous”

Pronounced: KOM-plot, noun; kuhm-PLOT, verb Notes: You might be able to guess this word, but I’ve not heard of it Yesterday’s word The word casbah means First usage Our word came into English in the mid-1700s Background / Comments Our word can be capitalized (Casbah) and may also be spelled kasbah/Kasbah. I know of aContinue reading “complot”

Pronounced: KAZZ-bah, noun Notes: This word is sometimes capitalized Yesterday’s word A rebus is “a representative of a word or phrase using pictures, symbols, letters, etc” First usage Our word came into English in the early 1600s Background / Comments I enjoy rebus puzzles, but when seeing rebus with the word “puzzle”, I couldn’t thinkContinue reading “casbah”

Pronounced: REE-bus, noun Notes: After seeing the definition, I knew this word, but I didn’t know the meaning when seeing it Yesterday’s word The word divers means “made up of an indefinite number greater than one; various” First usage Our word came into English in the early to mid-1200s (but see the comments below) BackgroundContinue reading “rebus”

Pronounced: DIE-verz, adj Notes: This word is used in the Authorized Version of the Bible; I know it, but I don’t know how well known it is; I also found the background interesting Yesterday’s word The word ludic means “relating to play; playful” First usage Out word came into English in the 1940s Background /Continue reading “divers”