Category Archives: word

Pronounced: HAHM-uh-feen, noun Notes: I recognized the parts of our word, but I didn’t know what it meant Yesterday’s word The word catawampus means “askew; awry; cater-cornered” First usage Our word came into English in the mid-1800s Background / Comments When I was growing up, things that were diagonal from each other were called “kitty-corner”Continue reading “homophene”

Pronounced: ka-tuh-WAHM-puhs, adj Notes: You may know this word, but the background is rather interesting Yesterday’s word The word heteroclite, as a noun, means a person who is unconventional; a maverick a word that is irregularly formed As an adjective, it means deviating from the ordinary rule; eccentric (grammar) irregularly inflected First usage Our wordContinue reading “catawampus”

Pronounced: HET-uhr-uh-klite, noun/adj Notes: A nice word to start using Yesterday’s word The word cliometrics is “the application of methods developed in other fields (such as economics, statistics, and data processing) to the study of history” First usage Our word came into English in the 1960s Background / Comments The American economists Douglass North andContinue reading “heteroclite”

Pronounced: klie-uh-MEH-tricks, noun Notes: I thought that might be related to climate Yesterday’s word The word homologate means “to approve officially – especially a car, engine, etc, for sale in a particular market or for its use in racing” First usage Our word came into English in the mid-1600s Background / Comments From the definition,Continue reading “cliometrics”

Pronounced: huh-MOL-uh-gate (alt: hah-MOL-uh-gate), verb Notes: A kind of specialized word Yesterday’s phrase The phrase ne plus ultra means the highest point capable of being attained; acme the most profound degree of a quality or state First usage Our phrase came into English in the late 1600s Background / Comments Our phrase came from theContinue reading “homologate”

Pronounced: nat-plus-UHL-truh, noun Notes: I don’t think I’ve run across this phrase Yesterday’s word The word heterography means a spelling different from the one in current use use of the same letter or letters to convey different sounds First usage Our word came into English in the late 1700s Background / Comments Our word cameContinue reading “ne plus ultra”

Pronounced: het-uh-ROG-ruh-fee, noun Notes: I could parse the word, but it didn’t help me with the definitions Yesterday’s word The word fanfaronade is “empty boasting; bluster” First usage Our word came into English in the mid-1600s Background / Comments The word seems slightly familiar to me, but I cannot place where I may have heardContinue reading “heterography”

Pronounced: fan-fer-uh-NADE, noun Notes: I wasn’t quite sure of the meaning of this word Yesterday’s word The word bokeh is “the blurred effect in a photograph (typically as a soft out-of-focus background) that results in a pleasing effect and helps to draw attention to the subject of the photograph. First usage Our word came intoContinue reading “fanfaronade”

Pronounced: BOH-kay (alt: BOH-kuh), noun Notes: I didn’t know that there was a word for this thing that most of us have seen Yesterday’s word The word panache means an ornamental tuft (such as feathers) especially on a helmet dash or flamboyance in style and action; verve First usage Our word came into English inContinue reading “bokeh”

Pronounced: puh-NASH, noun Notes: I knew one of the meanings, but not the other one Yesterday’s word The word manducate means “to chew or eat” First usage Our word came into English in the early 1600s Background / Comments I know the word “masticate” means “to chew”, but I had never heard of or word.Continue reading “panache”