Category Archives: word

Pronounced: MACK-uhl, verb/noun Notes: I think many of us have experience with this word, but we may not know that there was a word for this action/thing Yesterday’s word The word angor means “extreme anguish or mental distress” First usage Our word is relatively old; it came into English in the mid-1400s Background / CommentsContinue reading “mackle”

Pronounced: ANG-guhr, noun Notes: No, this is not ‘anger’ misspelled Yesterday’s word The word mysophobia means “an excessive fear of dirt or filth” First usage Our word came into English in the late 1800s Background / Comments Everyone probably recognizes the -phobia (fear) suffix. The first part comes from the Greek word mýsos (pollution; defilement).Continue reading “angor”

Pronounced: my-suh-FOE-bee-uh Notes: Okay; it’s a fear of something, but what? Yesterday’s word The word succus means “juice; fluid” First usage Our word came into English in the mid-1700s Background / Comments As I noted, I didn’t know this word, but I did know (and I suppose most of you know) the word ‘succulent’, whichContinue reading “mysophobia”

Pronounced: SUCK-uhs, noun Notes: I didn’t know this word, but I do know a related word Yesterday’s word The word clairaudience means “the power to hear sounds said to exist beyond the reach or ordinary experience or capacity (such as hearing the voices of the dead). First usage Our word came into English in theContinue reading “succus”

Pronounced: klare-AW-dee-uhns, noun Notes: You may get partially there, as I did Yesterday’s word The word natant means “swimming or floating” First usage Our word came into English in the mid-1400s Background / Comments I was so sure that this had to do with birth (thinking of “natal”). It comes from Latin word natare (toContinue reading “clairaudience”

Pronounced: NAYT-nt, adj Notes: I thought I knew the definition, but when I looked it up, I was wrong Yesterday’s word The word pabulum means material for intellectual nourishment something that nourishes an animal or plant organism; food; nutrients First usage Our word came into English in the mid-to-late 1800s Background / Comments I confusedContinue reading “natant”

Pronounced: PAB-yuh-luhm, noun Notes: Not at all what I thought Yesterday’s word The word happenchance means, as a noun, “a chance occurrence”. As an adjective, it means “resulting from chance” First usage Our word came into English in the mid-1800s Background / Comments I’ve never run across this word; I do now the word happenstance;Continue reading “pabulum”

Pronounced: (not providing: it’s just “happen + chance”), noun/adj Notes: You probably know what this means, but I didn’t know it was a word Yesterday’s word The word nostomania is “an irresistible compulsion to return home; intense homesickness” First usage Our word came into English in the mid-1800s Background / Comments I don’t really knowContinue reading “happenchance”

Pronounced: nos-tuh-MAY-nee-uh (alt: nos-tuh-MAIN-yuh), noun Notes: Another new word to me, but not what it is Yesterday’s word The word tromometer is “an instrument for detecting or measuring faint tremors caused by an earthquake” First usage Our word came into English in the late 1800s Background / Comments The first thing I thought when IContinue reading “nostomania”

Pronounced: troh-MOM-ih-turr, noun Notes: I was puzzled when I read the definition (more tomorrow) Yesterday’s word The word panivorous means “subsisting on bread; bread-eating” First usage Our word came into English in the early-to-mid 1800s Background / Comments As I noted yesterday, I was too smart for my own good yesterday: I saw “pan” andContinue reading “tromometer”