Category Archives: word

Pronounced: lit-uh-uh-TUR (alt: lit-ruh-uh-TUR), noun Notes: It may be what you think Yesterday’s word The word hebdomadal means “occurring, appearing, or done every week; weekly” First usage Our word came into English in the early 1600s Background / Comments Our word came from the Greek word hepta (seven). We get the word “heptathlon” from theContinue reading “litterateur”

Pronounced: heb-DAH-muh-dull, adj Notes: Fancy word; we use another word much more frequently Yesterday’s phrase The phrase local classicus means “an authoritative and often quoted passage from a book” First usage Our phrase came into English in the mid-1800s Background / Comments I was aware that the Latin word locus (place), and I thought classicusContinue reading “hebdomadal”

Pronounced: LOW-cuss CLASS-ih-cuss, noun Notes: I had an idea of the meaning of the words, but not the phrase meant Yesterday’s word The word coruscate means First usage Our word came into English around 1700 Background / Comments Our word came from the Latin word coruscare (to flash). I don’t know how well known theContinue reading “locus classicus”

Pronounced: CORE-uh-skate, verb Notes: I happened to run across this word in reading Yesterday’s word The word peripeteia is “a sudden or unexpected change of fortune (especially in a literary work) First usage Our word came into English in the late 1500s Background / Comments I was thinking that this word had something about walkingContinue reading “coruscate”

Pronounced: per-uh-puh-TEE-uh (alt: per-uh-puh-TIE-uh), noun Notes: Also spelled “peripetia”. It wasn’t what I thought Yesterday’s word The word sequester means First usage Our word came into English in the mid- to late 1300s Background / Comments I started reading the Perry Mason stories in my late teens, and the idea of a jury being sequesteredContinue reading “peripeteia”

Pronounced: sih-KWEH-stir, verb Notes: I knew one meaning well, but the other one I didn’t know Yesterday’s word The word exordium is “the beginning or introductory part of anything, but especially of a discourse, treatise, etc First usage Our word came into English in the mid-1500s Background / Comments I am pretty sure I haveContinue reading “sequester”

Pronounced: ig-ZOR-dee-uhm (alt 1: eg-ZOR-dee-uym; alt 2: ik-SOR-dee-uhm), noun Notes: Another new word to me Yesterday’s word The word atoll is “a coral island consisting of a reef surrounded by a lagoon” First usage Our word came into English in the early 1600s Background / Comments I have heard of the nuclear test site, theContinue reading “exordium”

Pronounced: A-tawl Notes: I had a general idea of the meaning, but I didn’t know the specific meaning Yesterday’s word The word recrudescence is “a renewed activity after a period of dormancy” First usage Our word came into English in the mid-1600s Background / Comments The background of our word is interesting: it came fromContinue reading “atoll”

Pronounced: ree-kroo-DES-uhns, noun Notes: Not only did I not know this word, I had the pronunciation wrong as well Yesterday’s word The word hyphenate is “a person who performs more than one function” — such as a producer-director in filmmaking. First usage Our word came into English in the 1970s (but see the comments) BackgroundContinue reading “recrudescence”

Pronounced: HI-fuh-nate, noun Notes: Not a word I’ve run across Yesterday’s word The word scapegoat, as a noun, is “one blamed for another’s wrongdoing”. As a verb, it means “to blame someone for another’s wrongdoing” First usage Our word came into English in the mid-1500s Background / Comments I had heard of a scapegoat mostContinue reading “hyphenate”