Category Archives: word

Pronounced: krunt, noun Notes: An interesting word Yesterday’s word The word bimillenary means “a period of 2,000 years” or “a 2,000th anniversary” Background The word was created by adding bi- (an English prefix meaning ‘two’) to millenary, which comes from Latin millenarium (a period of a thousand years). First usage This word isn’t quite 2,000Continue reading “crunt”

Pronounced: bye-MIH-luh-ner-ee, noun Notes: I debated about adding this word… you can probably guess the meaning Yesterday’s word The word capitano means “a swaggering, cowardly person, especially a soldier, policeman, etc” Background The word does mean ‘captain’, but in Italian, not Spanish. But the word comes from another stock character in commedia dell’arte – Capitano.Continue reading “bimillenary”

Pronounced: kap-uh-TAH-no Notes: I guessed some kind of Spanish-English (“Spanglish”) word for “captain” (but that’s not right) Yesterday’s word The word recusant means “refusing to submit to authority” Background / Comments This word goes back to Henry VIII — he separated from the Roman Catholic Church in the mid-1500s and created the Church of England,Continue reading “capitano”

Pronounced: reh-KYUH-zuhnt, adj Notes: There is another word that we use far more often than this word Yesterday’s word The word columbine, as an adjective, means “of or relating to a dove, in innocence, gentleness, color, etc”. As a noun, it can mean: a servant girl a saucy sweetheart a plant of the genus AquilegiaContinue reading “recusant”

Pronounced: KOL-um-bine, noun/adj Notes: This is another multiple-source words. I know one meaning, but there are three different meanings for the noun and one for the adjective. I know one of the noun meanings. Which ones do you know? Yesterday’s word As I mentioned yesterday, I knew that spinous meant “having spines”, but I didContinue reading “columbine”

Pronounced: SPY-nuhs, adj Notes: I knew that this word meant “having spines (or prickles or thorns)”, but there is another meaning that I did not know, so it’s been listed Yesterday’s word The word eiron means “a person characterized by self-deprecation and awareness of irony” Background / Comments The word comes from the same sourceContinue reading “spinous”

Pronounced: AYE-ron, noun Notes: This word is related to yesterday’s word Yesterday’s word The word alazon means “a person characterized by arrogance, braggadocio, lack of self awareness, etc” Background / Comments The word comes from Greek; Alazon was a stock character in ancient Greek comedy. First usage This word came into English in the earlyContinue reading “eiron”

Pronounced: AL-uh-zon, noun Notes: I definitely did not know this word or its source Yesterday’s word The word legerity means “alert facile quickness of mind or body” Background / Comments The word has the idea of being quick or light on one’s feet. It comes from words in Middle French, Old French, and Latin thatContinue reading “alazon”

Pronounced: luh-JER-uh-tee, noun Notes: I know many people that this word describes Yesterday’s word The word punchinello means “a grotesque or absurd person” Background / Comments As you might have guessed, this comes from the Italian (specifically, the Naples dialect) word polecenella (a short, fat buffoon, a principal character in Italian puppet shows). This wordContinue reading “legerity”

Pronounced: pun-chuh-NELL-oh, noun Notes: People with what I call a “classical education” (arts/opera) may know this word; I never learned much about either of these things. Yesterday’s word The word plastron means the ventral part of the shell of a tortoise of turtle a trimming like a bib for a woman’s dress a man’s separateContinue reading “punchinello”