Category Archives: word

Pronounced: high-purr-BORE-ee-uhn, noun/adj Notes: Trees; I was thinking something related to trees (but I was wrong) Yesterday’s word The word festinate means “hasty” First usage As far as we can tell (see below), this goes back to the late 1500s or early 1600s Background / Comments This word first appeared in Shakespeare’s King Lear. TheContinue reading “hyperborean”

Pronounced: FESS-tuh-nate, adj Notes: Another interesting word that I didn’t know Yesterday’s word The word gerent means “a ruler or manager” First usage The word came into English in the late 1500s Background / Comments Our word comes from the Latin word gerent, which is the present participle of gerere (to manage). As I notedContinue reading “festinate”

Pronounced: JIR-ent, noun Notes: A good word to know; I’m not sure why it’s not used more (I didn’t know it) Yesterday’s word The word propinquity means nearness of blood; kinship nearness in place of time; proximity First usage Our word goes back to the 1300s Background / Comments An interesting background: the Latin rootContinue reading “gerent”

Pronounced: pruh-PING-kwuh-tee, noun Notes: This word always throws me off, because I incorrectly see the word “iniquity” and think that this word has to do with wickedness Yesterday’s word The word benthos is “organisms that live at the bottom of a body of water” First usage This word came into English in the late 1800sContinue reading “propinquity”

Pronounced: BEN-thoss, noun Notes: Not a word I know, or could even guess at Yesterday’s word The word moue is “a little grimace; pout” First usage This word came into English in the mid-1800s Background / Comments Our word comes from the Anglo-French word mouwe and has a distant relationship to a Middle Dutch wordContinue reading “benthos”

Pronounced: moo, noun Notes: As is common here, this is another word I don’t know Yesterday’s word The word molochize means “to sacrifice” First usage This word goes back to the mid-1800s Background / Comments Bible knowledge has lessened in recent decades; congratulations if you recognized the Canaanite god “Moloch” from the Bible. In orderContinue reading “moue”

Pronounced: MOL-uh-kize, verb Notes: I was close to the meaning, but not fully correct Yesterday’s word The word chawbacon means “bumpkin; hick” First usage This word came into English in the 1500s Background / Comments I readily recognized chaw (an alteration of “chew”) and bacon, but I did not know what the combination word meant.Continue reading “molochize”

Pronounced: CHAW-bay-kuhn, noun Notes: I can see the two words that make up the word, but that didn’t help with the meaning Yesterday’s word The word hooverize means “to be sparing in the use of something, especially food” First usage (see the Background) This word came into usage during World War I Background / CommentsContinue reading “chawbacon”

Pronounced: HOO-vuh-rize, verb Notes: I thought this word was an alternate form of “to hoover”, but it is not Yesterday’s word The word daedal means skillful, artistic; intricate adorned with many things First usage Our word goes back to the 1500s Background / Comments You may know (as I did) the Greek myth of Daedalus;Continue reading “hooverize”

Pronounced: DEE-d(uh)l, adj (the ‘uh’ is very lightly pronounced; almost non-existent) Notes: I didn’t know this word Yesterday’s word The word emesis means “the act of process of vomiting” First usage This word came into English in the late 1800s Background / Comments The word comes from the Greek word emein (to vomit). As IContinue reading “daedal”