December 2008
76 posts
pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis
noun • a hypothetical, invented disease of the lungs, caused by inhaling mineral or metallic dust, such as silicon and quartzite, over a long period of time. Notes: This is the longest word ever to appear in a major English dictionary.
Dec 31st
23 notes
Lesser known Latin phrases →
Dec 30th
8 notes
dolorifuge
noun • something to drive away pain
Dec 30th
15 notes
lugubrious
adjective • gloomy, mournful or dismal, especially to an exaggerated degree From the Latin lugubris (mournful)
Dec 30th
16 notes
The New York Times Buzzwords of 2008 →
“Malus”—the opposite of a bonus—is this Word Journaler’s favorite.
Dec 30th
8 notes
omphaloskepsis
noun • the contemplation of one’s navel as an aid to meditation; navel-gazing.
Dec 30th
9 notes
nescience
noun • 1) lack of knowledge or awareness; ignorance. 2) agnosticism. Edit: The agnostic sense of the term stems from a specialized use of the adjective nescient in philosophy, so aside from that particular context, nescience just means ignorance.
Dec 30th
6 notes
anhedonia
noun • loss of the capacity to experience pleasure; the inability to gain pleasure from normally pleasurable experiences.
Dec 29th
wittol
noun • a man who knows of, and tolerates, his wife’s infidelity
Dec 29th
6 notes
mammatocumulus
noun • a cumulus or cumulostratus storm cloud having breast-shaped protuberances below. Images: here and here.
Dec 29th
8 notes
misopaedia
noun • hatred of children, especially one’s own.
Dec 29th
17 notes
birl
verb • to cause (a floating log) to spin rapidly by rotating with the feet.
Dec 29th
5 notes
wetware
noun • the human brain or a human being considered especially with respect to human logical and computational capabilities. Derived analogically from hardware and software.
Dec 28th
12 notes
tittle
noun • 1) a small diacritic mark, such as an accent, vowel mark, or dot over an “i”. 2) a very small amount; an iota.
Dec 28th
4 notes
The American Heritage Dictionary Usage Notes Index →
Fascinating: “A majority of the Panelists also rejects the verb man when used to refer to an activity performed by women. Fifty-six percent of the Panel (61 percent of the women and 54 percent of the men) disapprove of the sentence Members of the League of Women Voters will be manning the registration desk.”
Dec 27th
3 notes
amuse-bouche
noun • any small bite of food or appetizer-sized portion, often served before a meal. Notes: A literal translation of the French word is “mouth-amuser”. An amuse-bouche is also called an “amuse-gueule”. Though “gueule” is slang for “mouth”, it literally refers to an animal-mouth: “animal-mouth-amuser”.
Dec 27th
6 notes
List of English Reduplicatives →
Reduplication is a morphological process by which the root or stem of a word, or part of it, is repeated. Examples of reduplication: hoity-toity, Joe Schmoe, hip-hop, chit-chat, and no-no. This list sorts them into the following types: Type I are rhyming pairs, Type II are ablaut pairs (the vowel changes and consonants remain unchanged), and Type III are total reduplications.
Dec 27th
34 notes
de novo
adverb • anew, afresh, again, from the beginning.
Dec 27th
20 notes
anodyne
adjective • a) serving to relieve pain, soothing. b) not likely to offend, bland, innocuous.
Dec 27th
3 notes
keelhaul
verb • a) to haul under the keel of a ship (a severe form of maritime corporal punishment). b) to rebuke sharply.
Dec 27th
2 notes
Wikipedia: List of English words of Yiddish origin →
Dec 25th
5 notes
videlicet
adverb • that is; namely; to wit. Notes: Used to introduce examples, lists, or items. Abbreviated “viz”. Derives from vidēre licet (“it may be seen, evidently, clearly”).
Dec 24th
2 notes
moppet
noun • a young child
Dec 24th
3 notes
opsimath
noun • one who begins or continues to learn later in life
Dec 22nd
7 notes
shittah
noun • the tree that yielded the shittimwood of the bible, probably a species of acacia
Dec 22nd
4 notes
chawbacon
noun • bumpkin, hick
Dec 21st
4 notes
hebetude
noun • lethargy, dullness
Dec 21st
6 notes
bifurcate
verb • to divide or cause to divide into two branches or parts.
Dec 21st
2 notes
druthers
noun • a choice or preference Derives from the phrase “(I)’d rather”.
Dec 21st
7 notes
phlyarologist
noun • a person who talks nonsense
Dec 18th
12 notes
Merriam-Webster's 10 Words of the Year 2008 →
Dec 18th
redamancy
noun • the act of loving in return
Dec 18th
170 notes
chleuasmos
noun • a sarcastic reply that mocks an opponent and renders him unable to answer.
Dec 17th
17 notes
solecism
noun • a) a grammatical mistake in speech or writing. b) a breach of good manners; a piece of incorrect behavior.
Dec 16th
alienist
noun • a) (obsolete) a doctor specializing in the treatment of mental illness; a psychiatrist. b) an expert witness in a sanity trial.
Dec 16th
3 notes
logomachy
noun • a) a dispute about or concerning words. b) a dispute carried on in words only; a battle of words.
Dec 16th
haplology
noun • the elimination of a syllable in a pair of adjacent identical or similar syllables. For example, probably is often reduced to “probly”, and idolatry is derived from Latin idololatria. A joke in linguistics is to refer to the phenomenon as “haplogy” (thus subjecting haplology to haplology).
Dec 16th
10 notes
dactylonomy
noun • the art of numbering or counting by the fingers
Dec 16th
72 notes
fucivorous
adjective • eating, or subsisting on, seaweed.
Dec 15th
2 notes
sibylline
adjective • a) of or pertaining to a sibyl or female oracle, especially the Cumaean Sibyl and the Sibylline Books. b) (by extension) having oracle-like predicting powers, clairvoyant.
Dec 15th
korinthenkacker
noun • someone overly concerned with trivial details; a rules freak. (from German, literally “raisin crapper.”)
Dec 14th
7 notes
pejorist
noun • one who believes the world is becoming worse
Dec 14th
ameliorate
verb • to make better, to improve; to heal; to solve a problem. From Latin melior (“better”)
Dec 14th
4 notes
repullulescent
adjective • reviving, springing up afresh
Dec 14th
2 notes
tranche
noun • a portion of something, esp. money
Dec 13th
1 note
lexiphanic
adjective • using pretentious words
Dec 13th
uxorious
adjective • having or showing an excessive or submissive fondness for one’s wife.
Dec 12th
3 notes
quotidian
adjective • a) daily; occurring or recurring every day. b) common, ordinary, trivial. c) an intermittent fever or ague which returns every day. e.g. malaria (medical). d) in art criticism, art works which reference mundane aspects of everyday life, or something that is a very temporary phenomenon that will date the work. From Latin quotīdiānus (“everyday”)
Dec 12th
2 notes
feague
verb • to stick a piece of raw ginger (or a live eel) into a horse’s rectum so as to make it seem more lively when it is being sold.
Dec 12th
19 notes
brachycephalic
adjective • having a relatively broad, short skull (usually with the breadth at least 80 percent of the length).
Dec 12th