Word Wednesday: Tintinnabulate

Yes, I did it again! A word you guys will probably never use. I’d heard/read this one before, but to be honest I don’t think I’ve heard it in conversation. It’s more like one of those words that come up when you’re discussing funny/interesting/words-we-never-use-so-they-shouldn’t-have-bothered-creating…

But those words are there for a reason, I guess and I bet Shakespeare and his peer used words like this. And I’m talking about:

TINTINNABULATE /pronounced tin-tinABULEYT/ a verb meaning, to ring or sound like a small bell. 

If you ask me, I’d say go with ‘ring’ – it’s shorter to type and faster to say. In fact, I did a brief internet search and didn’t come across tintinnabulate being used in a sentence. The more common usage is is the noun, tintinnabulation /tin-tin-abu-LEY-shun/ e.g. “the tintinnabulation that so voluminously swells from the ringing and the dinging of the bells” (thank you, to my trusty WordWeb).

Related forms:

Tintinnabulous – adjective (Of, pertaining to, or resembling, the tinkling of a bell; having a tinkling sound; tintinnabular)

Okay, now that I have you all giggling and thinking of ways to use this one to get your friends and loved ones thinking that you read the dictionary in your leisure time (guilty  *blush*), I’ll bid you goodnight. I hope you enjoyed this post.

Exercise:

Try using tintinnabulate in a sentence