Category Archives: word

Pronounced: THAH-nik, adj Notes: I don’t think I’ve ever run across this word Yesterday’s word The word Anthropocene is “the geological period marked by a significant human impact on climate and the environment” First usage Our word came into English around 2000 Background / Comments Our word came from the Greek word anthropo- (human) andContinue reading “chthonic”

Pronounced: AN-thruh-puh-seen, noun Notes: Another word I’ve never run across Yesterday’s phrase The phrase mutatis mutandis means First usage Our phrase came into English in the 1500s Background / Comments Our phrase came from Latin, where is literally means “things having been changed that have to be changed”. It doesn’t get used very often, butContinue reading “Anthropocene”

Pronounced: myoo-TAH-tuhs-myoo-TAN-duhs, adv Notes: I don’t think I’ve seen this phrase before Yesterday’s word The word bildungsroman is “a novel concerned with the maturing of someone from childhood to adulthood” First usage Our word came into English in the 1910s Background / Comments Our word came from the German words Bildung (education; formation) and RomanContinue reading “mutatis mutandis”

Pronounced: BILL-doongz-roh-mahn (alt: BILL-doongks-roh-mahn), noun Notes: This word is also new to me Yesterday’s word The word Locofoco is First usage Our word came into English in the 1800s Background / Comments In the 1800s, a Locofoco was a new type of self-igniting match. It was also used of self-igniting cigars – like modern matches,Continue reading “bildungsroman”

Pronounced: loh-kuh-FOH-koh, noun Notes: I have not run across this word Yesterday’s word The word captcha is “a test used to make sure that a human is using a system, not a computer program” (the test usually consists of asking the subject to read and enter distorted text). First usage Our word came into EnglishContinue reading “Locofoco”

Pronounced: KAP-chuh, noun Notes: You probably know the meaning, but the background was interesting to me Yesterday’s word The word jalousie is First usage Our word came into English in the late 1500s Background / Comments It turns out that our word is the French word for “jealousy”, so the fact that I confused ourContinue reading “captcha”

Pronounced: JAH-luh-see, noun Notes: This word looks like an alternate spelling of “jealousy”, but… Yesterday’s word The word prebuttal is “an argument in anticipation of a criticism; a preemptive rebuttal” First usage Our word came into English in the 1990s Background / Comments I was close; I knew that a “rebuttal” is a refutation ofContinue reading “jalousie”

Pronounced: prih-BUH-tl, noun Notes: I didn’t know that this was a word Yesterday’s word The word struthious means “of or relating to the ostriches or other ratite birds” First usage Our word came into English in the mid-1700s Background / Comments The definition given above is the scientific sense of our word (by the way,Continue reading “prebuttal”

Pronounced: STROO-thee-us, adj Notes: Another new word to me Yesterday’s word The word quantum, as a noun means As an adjective, it means First usage Our word came into English in the mid-1500s Background / Comments I find it interesting that the word can mean both “large” and “small” (the 3rd and 4th definition ofContinue reading “struthious”

Pronounced: KWAHN-tuhm, noun/adj Notes: I only know one meaning Yesterday’s word The word diablerie is First usage Our word came into English in the mid-1700s Background / Comments I saw the word “diabolos” (Spaning for “devil”) in our word, and that was close to the first two meanings, but not the third one. Our wordContinue reading “quantum”