Tell Me If You’ve Heard This One Before…

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I was reading my dictionary as I sometimes do and came across some lovely underused (possibly widely unknown) words. I’m always a bit iffy about actually including these sorts of words in my writing because most people will just go, “Huh?” and have to look up their meaning (and that’s in the very unlikely event that they can be bothered).

So instead I will just leave them here to be admired in isolation. Enjoy.

aptronym – a name that reflects the job, hobby, character, etc of the named person (such as Mr Green for a gardener)

blandish – to flatter, coax or cajole

comestible – edible

declivous – sloping downwards

effulgent – radiant (this is one for the Buffy and Angel fans)

fleer – to grin or laugh coarsely or mockingly, to deride

goaf – the space left in a mine after the extraction of coal

hebetate – to make or become dull or blunt

idiopathic – of unknown cause (usually refers to a disease – my primary school aged niece has juvenile idiopathic arthritis, juvenile because she’s young and idiopathic because they don’t know why)

jugulate – to suppress by extreme measures, also to cut someone’s throat or strangle them

kismet – destiny

lilaceous – a lilac colour (seems obvious now)

majuscule – large (the opposite of miniscule)

niveous – snowy

otiose – idle

pinguid – oily, greasy, fatty

quietus – an end

recrudesce – to recur, especially a sore or a disease

sanguine – naturally cheerful and hopeful

tomentose – fleecy

uranian – heavenly

volitant – flying

wrick – to wrench or strain

xanthous – yellow

yaw – to deviate from a straight course (ship), to tilt from side to side (aircraft)

zephyr – a soft and mild breeze

 

And here’s a nice note to end on for those of us who wonder whether Microsoft Word really knows what it’s doing. It recognised most of these words, only failing on “aptronym” (which it kept automatically changing to “patronym”), “hebetate” (although it knew “hebetation”), “pinguid” (alternative suggestions were “penguin” or “pinged”), “uranian” (alternative suggestions were “uranium”, “Urania”, “Iranian”, “Iralia” and “Turanium” – who knows?) and xanthous (a few variations of “xanthium”). Maybe there’s hope for Microsoft Word yet.