Word of the Day: unusual words you may not have heard of

I just came across this word. " All us kids were skinny because Mom had Mageirocophobia"

fear of cooking. :cool:
 
1680031773175.png
 
Kalopsia (adjective)
(from Wiktionary)
The delusion of things being more beautiful than they are.
 
PLUMBER --- who knew?








The Periodic Table Symbol for lead is 'Pb,' which comes from the Latin 'plumbum,' meaning lead. Early pipes were made of lead, so people who worked with pipes became 'plumbers.'
 
Not perhaps a strange word so much as a surprise that I’d never heard it — esp because I’m always comparing trees and lampposts to marching regulars/soldiers in my writing — is ‘serried’

serried

/ˈsɛrɪd/

adjective

  1. (of rows of people or things) standing close together."serried ranks of soldiers"
 
Not an impressively complex word, or even a particularly obscure one but I was delighted to find out what a 'tittle' (as in the phrase 'jot and tittle') was the other day.

Rather recursively the word 'tittle' contains a tittle.

It's the name for the dot that makes up the upper part of a lower case j or i.
 
Down the rabbit hole of "jot and tittle" :

GotQuestions.org --

.Jots and tittles have to do with letters and pen strokes in Hebrew writing.

A jot is the tenth letter in the Hebrew alphabet and the smallest. It was written above the line and looks to us rather like an apostrophe:

jot.jpg


Jot is related to our modern English word iota, meaning “a very small amount.” The Hebrew spelling is yod or yodh. Many Bibles have a picture of a yod in Psalm 119.

A tittle is even smaller than a jot. A tittle is a letter extension, a pen stroke that can differentiate one Hebrew letter from another. An example can be seen in the comparison between the Hebrew letters resh and daleth (or dalet):

tittle1.jpg
tittle2.jpg


The resh (on the left) is made with one smooth stroke. The daleth (on the right) is made with two strokes of the pen. The letters are very similar to each other, but the distinguishing mark of the daleth is the small extension of the roof of the letter:

tittle3.jpg


And from Wictionary:

Etymology​


A reference to Matthew 5:18 in the Bible (King James Version; spelling modernized): “For verily I say unto you, till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle, shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.”[1] The Koine Greek phrase is ἰῶτα ἓν ἢ μία κεραία (iôta hèn ḕ mía keraía).

Jot (“the smallest letter or stroke of any writing, iota”) is derived from Middle English jote (“jot, tittle, whit”),[2] from Latin iōta (“the Greek letter iota (Ι, ι)”), from Ancient Greek ἰῶτα (iôta, “the letter Ι, ι, the smallest in the alphabet; (figurative) a very small part of writing, jot”),[3] from Phoenician ‬‎ (y‬ /yōd/).

Tittle (“small dot, stroke, or diacritical mark; (figurative) small, insignificant amount, modicum, speck”) is derived from Middle English title (“small written mark or stroke; smallest part”) [and other forms],[4][5] from Anglo-Norman title, tittle [and other forms], and Middle French titele, title (“inscription”) (modern French titre), and from their etymon Latin titulus (“epitaph, inscription”); further etymology uncertain,[6] but thought to be of Etruscan origin.
 
Hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia is the fear of long words






We would probably pronounce it 'HIP-po-POT-o-MON-stro-ses-qui-pe-DA-li-o-PHO-bi-a,' but listen to your heart.


And the musical version:
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Thread starter Similar threads Forum Replies Date
Ursa major POLL -- NOVEMBER 2024 75-word Writing Challenge -- READ FIRST POST! Writing Challenges 0
Ursa major Tie-breaker Poll -- 300 Word Writing Challenge No 55 -- MOSAIX WINS! Writing Challenges 0
D Idea for a sword with a gimmick Technology 6
elvet November / December 100 word Anonymous Challenge 2024 Workshop 19
elvet November / December 100 word Anonymous Challenge 2024 Discussion Workshop 8

Similar threads


Back
Top