Category Archives: word

Pronounced: ROH-lund, noun Notes: I’ve run across this word in reading, but didn’t know the word Yesterday’s word The word embonpoint is “plumpness of a person; stoutness” First usage The word goes back to the 1600s Background / Comments I ran across this word years ago when I was in high school or early college.Continue reading “roland”

Pronounced: ah(n)-bo(n)-PWAH(n), noun Notes: The parentheses above mean that the ‘n’ sound is very lightly pronounced. I find this a hard word to guess; one either knows it or doesn’t know it. Before I knew the word, it looked like it might be related to embroidery (’emb-‘) or needlepoint (-‘point’). Yesterday’s word The word euhemerismContinue reading “embonpoint”

Pronounced: you-HEE-muh-riz-um, noun (alternatively, the second syllable could be ‘HEM’) Notes: When I glance at this word, I keep seeing ‘euphemism’, but this is not that word Yesterday’s phrase The phrase infra dig means “being beneath one’s dignity; undignified” First usage This word showed up in the early 1800s Background / Comments I’ve never runContinue reading “euhemerism”

Pronounced: IN-fruh-DIG, adj Notes: This is a phrase I’ve not run across before Yesterday’s word The word adonize means “to make more attractive; to spruce up” First usage This came into English in the early 1600s Background / Comments I’ve heard of Adonis – a beautiful youth in Greek mythology, and I know that ‘adonis’Continue reading “infra dig”

Pronounced: AD-uh-nize, verb Notes: This is another word that made me feel foolish; I didn’t know it when I saw it, but when I read the background, I realized that I should have known it. Yesterday’s word The word illative means “of, relating to, or expressing an inference or conclusion” (the word “therefore” is anContinue reading “adonize”

Pronounced: ILL-uh-tihv (alt ih-LAY-tihv), adj Notes: I ran across this word in my reading, but didn’t know it Yesterday’s word The word bogart means to hog or take more than the fair share of something to bully, act touch, or to be belligerent First usage This word came into usage in the 1960s Background /Continue reading “illative”

Pronounced: BOH-gart, verb Notes: I didn’t know this was a word (thus its inclusion), but you may be able to guess the meaning Yesterday’s word The word pachydermatous means of or relating to the pachyderms thick; thickened callous; insensitive First usage This word came into usage in the early 1800s (maybe mid-1800s) Background / CommentsContinue reading “bogart”

Pronounced: pah-kih-DUHR-muh-tuhs, adj Notes: You may know one meaning, like I did, but there are other meanings, so I included it Yesterday’s word The word jackleg means, as an adjective “unskilled; unscrupulous; incompetent”. As a noun, it refers to an unskilled or unscrupulous worker First usage This word came into English in the mid-1800s BackgroundContinue reading “pachydermatous”

Pronounced: JACK-leg, adj/noun Notes: I didn’t know this word Yesterday’s word The word compunctious means arising from remorse or regret feeling remorse or regret First usage The word came into being in the very late 1500s Background / Comments Shakespeare created this word for the play Macbeth. It was created from noun compunction, which cameContinue reading “jackleg”

Pronounced: kuhm-PUNG(k)-shus Notes: I knew of “compunction”, but not this word Yesterday’s word The word four-flusher means “a pretender, bluffer, or fraudster” First usage This word started to be used in the early 1900s Background / Comments The word comes from poker. A “flush” is five cards of the same suit. Someone who has fourContinue reading “compunctious”