Word of the Day: Cadence
A cadence is a rhythm, or a flow of words or music, in a sequence that is regular (or steady as it were). But lest we be mistaken, cadence also lends its meaning to the sounds of Mother Nature (such
Word of the Day: Frenetic
In modern use, frenetic can describe a focused and intense effort to meet a deadline, or dancing among a hyped-up crowd, but the word’s Middle English predecessor, frenetik, had a narrower use: it was
Word of the Day: Apotheosis
Among the ancient Greeks, it was sometimes thought fitting to grant someone “god” status. Hence the word apothéōsis, from the verb apotheóō or apotheoûn, meaning “to deify.” (All are rooted in the
Word of the Day: Scrutinize
Scrutinize the history of scrutinize far back enough and you wind up sifting through trash: the word comes from Latin scrutari, which means 'to search, to examine,' and scrutari likely comes from
Word of the Day: Eureka
When people exclaim “Eureka!” they are harking back to a legendary event in the life of the Greek mathematician and inventor Archimedes. While wrestling with the problem of how to determine the purity
Word of the Day: Nadir
Nadir is part of the galaxy of scientific words that have come to us from Arabic, a language that has made important contributions to the English lexicon especially in the fields of mathematics,
Word of the Day: Jejune
Starved for excitement? You won't get it from something jejune. The term comes to us from the Latin word jejunus, which means 'empty of food,' 'hungry,' or 'meager.' When English speakers first used
Word of the Day: Erin Go Bragh
March 17th is the feast day of the patron saint of Ireland, St. Patrick. In the United States, it is also the day of shamrocks, leprechauns, and green beer (and green everything else). Blue was once
Word of the Day: Putative
There's no need to make assumptions about the root behind putative—we know it comes from a form of the Latin verb putare, which means 'to consider' or 'to think.' Putative is a rather formal word that
Word of the Day: Tranche
In French, tranche means “slice.” Cutting deeper into the word’s etymology, we find the Old French word trenchier, meaning “to cut,” which has its likely origin in a Latin word meaning “to cut in
