Good Words
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Good Words
Cacodylic (Adjective)
Pronunciation: [kae-ke-‘di-lik]
Definition 1: Belonging to the arsenic group of poisons.
Definition 2: Foul-smelling.
Definition 3: Daniel Peterman.
Usage 2: Used almost exclusively to refer to arsenic, foul-smelling poisons, or weird dudes from Portland. But the word’s origins have nothing to do with poison.
Suggested Usage: The word’s historical meaning suggests only “foul-smelling” and we are perfectly at will to use it in this sense. We could find a cacodylic stream running through the park or cacodylic kids who just played in it. A cacodylic engineer working on solar arrays. A cacodylic substance clinging to one’s shoes or an undistinguished cacodylic heap in the corner of the basement are not far-fetched.
Etymology: Greek kakos “bad, ugly” + od from od-ein “to smell” + yl + ic. Kakos is related to kakka, a common word floating about the Indo-European languages. The English variant begins with “h” and has a diminutive ending. Also the source of “poppycock” (from Dutch pap, possibly from Latin pappa “food” + kak “feces”), not to mention “cacophony” (bad-sounding).
Paraskavedekatriaphobia (Noun)
Pronunciation: [pê-ræs-kê-vey-dê-kæ-tri-ê-‘fo-bi-yê]
Definition 1: The Fear of Friday the Thirteenth, a form of triskaidekaphobia, the fear of the number thirteen.
Usage 1: The fear of Friday the 13th originated in two fears: the fear of Friday and the fear of the number “13.” Why? Well, no one knows so we won’t repeat any of the urban myths that have arisen to explain either. The fear of 13 is clearly much greater than the fear of Friday, since the 13th floor is regularly omitted from high-rise buildings, 13th Street and 13th Avenue are often omitted in street numbering, and no one would dare invite 13 guests to sit around the table for dinner-at least one would surely die within a year.
Suggested Usage: Most people fear this word more than breaking a mirror while walking under a ladder to avoid a black cat on Friday 13th. It is long but pronounceable with a little practice: “Paraskavedekatriaphobia is among the leading causes of loss of productivity since many sufferers avoid coming to work on that day.” For the adjective, just replace the final [a] with a [c], “Freemont is an old paraskavedekatriaphobic who never leaves the house on Friday the 13th.”
Etymology: Today’s word is a humorous concoction that no Greek would ever utter. It seems to be based on the Greek word for Friday “paraskeue” + dekatria “thirteen” (deka “ten” + tria “three;” not “thirteenth,” which is “dekatreis”) + fobos “fear” + ia, a noun suffix. “Friday the Thirteenth” in Modern Greek is “Paraskeue kai dekatreis.” If you are worried today, we thought you might like to know that your worry has a name. Best of luck to all of you from everyone of us (who came to work today) here at yourDictionary.
Sesquipedalian (Adjective)
Pronunciation: [ses-kwe-pe-‘dey-lyen]
Definition 1: Long (said of words), made up of many syllables. Also, a sesquipedalian word. Containing or given to using such words
Usage 1: Very few words in the English language illustrate their own meaning as this one does. “Sesquipedalian” is sesquipedalian and you commit sesquipedalianism (or sesquipedality) every time you utter it. It refers to words with long prosodic feet, i.e. a high syllable count. Suggested Usage: Using a good, strong vocabulary is not the same as sesquipedalianism. The goal is to choose words that are maximally descriptive of what you wish to express regardless of length. Sesquipedalian words are not to be revered or feared, but, like all other words, to be used with precision, as in these examples: “His sesquipedalian tirades do not impress me” and “We tend to wax sesquipedalian or pedestrian in our speech depending on the social situation.”
Etymology: From Horace’s phrase sesquipedalia verba “words a (prosodic) foot and a half long.” Latin sesqui- or sesque- “one and a half” is a contraction of semis “half” + que “and, also” as in sesquicentennial “150 year (celebration)”. Latin pedalis “pertaining to a/the foot” is from pes, pedis “foot.” This word derives from the root *pod-/ped-/pd- which also underlies English “foot,” “fetter,” “fetlock.” The Latin stem is also found in English “pedestrian,” “pedal,” and “peon.” The Greek reflex of the same root, “pous (pod-), emerges in “octopus,” “tripod,” and “podiatrist.” (Our gratitude to Scott Gressitt, who reads his (or our) dictionary every day, for today’s word.)
Inveigle (Verb)
Pronunciation: [in-‘vey-gel]
Definition 1: To persuade by flattery or cajolery, to lure with clever words or trickery that blur the truth, to trick by deception.
Usage 1: The process of inveigling someone is inveiglement and those who engage in it are inveiglers. This word follows the second extension of the “i-before-e” rule, excepting words that sound like “Hey!” Since [e] becomes [i] before [n] and [m] in many dialects of English, you might also keep in mind that today’s word begins on “in-.”
Suggested Usage: Inveiglement need not rely on deception, “All his praise for the administration is part of Grimalkin’s attempt to inveigle an invitation to the president’s dinner table.” At the same time, it does not preclude it, “Phil Anders inveigled a small fortune from Phyllis Banks by constantly dropping hints of marriage.”
Etymology: Today’s word started out as French aveugler “to blind” from aveugle “blind.” Such exchanges of prefixes as we see here are rare but do occur: “abraid” started out as “enbraid.” “Aveugle” descended from Vulgar Latin *aboculus “blind,” based on ab “away from” + oculus “eye.” This word is probably a loan translation, i.e. a translation of the parts of Gaulish “exsops,” that is, exs “from” + ops “eye.” Both the oc- in “oculus” and “ops” are results of Indo-European *okw-, also the source of English “eye,” German “Augen,” and Old Russian ochi “eyes” (still used in Serbian) as in the old Russian Gypsy song, Ochi chornye “Dark eyes.”
