Category Archives: word

Pronounced: JUHR-nee-muhn, noun Notes: While I have heard the word, I could not properly define it Yesterday’s phrase The phrase fata morgana means “mirage” First usage Our phrase came into English in the early 1800s Background / Comments Our phrase is the Italian name for Morgan le Fay (literally, “Morgan the Fairy”); the sister ofContinue reading “journeyman”

Pronounced: fah-tuh more-GAH-nuh, noun Notes: I think I’ve run across this phrase in reading, but I could not define it Yesterday’s word The word bruit means, as a noun As a verb, the word means First usage Our word came into English in the early 1400s Background / Comments Our word came from the Anglo-NormanContinue reading “fata morgana”

Pronounced: broot, noun/verb Notes: Another word I think I’ve run across, but wasn’t sure of the meaning Yesterday’s word The word zoomorphic means First usage Our word came into English in the mid-1800s Background / Comments Our word came from two Greek words: zoo- (or zo-), which derives from the Greek word zōion (animal), andContinue reading “bruit”

Pronounced: zoe-uh-MORE-fick, adj Notes: I didn’t quite get the meaning correct Yesterday’s word The word gelt means “money” First usage Our word came into English in the mid-1500s Background / Comments I think I’ve heard this word in a movie or in a TV show, but I cannot recall any details. Our word is fromContinue reading “zoomorphic”

Pronounced: gelt, noun Notes: I think I’ve run across the word, but I could not remember the meaning – do you? Yesterday’s word The word florilegium is “a volume of writings; anthology” First usage Our word came into English in the mid-1600s Background / Comments Well, it turns out that my instincts were not soContinue reading “gelt”

Pronounced: floor-uh-LEE-juhm (alt: floor-uh-LEE-jee-uhm), noun Notes: I didn’t know the meaning, but “flor…” made me think of flowers Yesterday’s word The word coventrate means “to devastate, such as by heavy bombing” First usage Our word came into English in the 1940s Background / Comments Our word goes back to the bombing of Coventry in centralContinue reading “florilegium”

Pronounced: KOV-uhn-trate, verb Notes: I didn’t know the meaning of this at first glance Yesterday’s word The word bouquiniste is “a dealer in secondhand books” First usage Our word came into English in the mid-1800s Background / Comments When I read the origins of our word, it sounded familiar, so I did what I shouldContinue reading “coventrate”

Pronounced: boo-key-NEEST, noun Notes: My guess at the meaning was way off the mark Yesterday’s word The word myology is First usage Our word came into English in the mid-1600s Background / Comments Clearly, the -ology ending of our word means “study”; the first part is myo-/my- (muscle), but it came from the Greek wordContinue reading “bouquiniste”

Pronounced: my-AH-luh-jee, noun Notes: Not a word I’ve run across Yesterday’s word The word boondoggle is First usage Our word came into English in the 1930s Background / Comments Some people say that the origin of our word is unknown, but others indicate that Robert Link, a scoutmaster in the 1920s, created the term forContinue reading “myology”

Pronounced: BOON-dah-gull, noun Notes: I’ve heard this word used, but I did not know the correct meaning Yesterday’s word The word unshirted means First usage Our word came into English in the 1930s Background / Comments As noted yesterday, our word does not mean shirtless, which means “poor”. There is another word “shirty” that meansContinue reading “boondoggle”