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What new words have you learned from books lately?
I don't know if this counts, but just before covid hit I was playing 7 Wonders with my brothers and we talked about the word 'caravansary' on one of the cards, and my encyclopedia of a little brother told us that it's actually 'caravanserai'. I said that I've never seen it written like that (and it's not in 7 Wonders), but since then I've read at least three fantasy books where there's a caravanserai or several. Naturally I've sent screenshots of all the pages with the word to my brothers :P The latest was in the Raksura books, where I felt like the further into the series I got, the more caravanserais there were! There was even a part where someone was asked to explain what a caravanserai is :D So I think it's safe to say I will never forget that there are two spellings and that 'caravanserai' is the cooler sounding one!
Anna wrote: "I don't know if this counts, but just before covid hit I was playing 7 Wonders with my brothers and we talked about the word 'caravansary' on one of the cards, and my encyclopedia of a little broth..."That's funny, because I've seen caravanserai in several fantasy books as well. I think the first time I thought it was made up by that author until I read another book that had it. It definitely has a fantasy feel to it.
I've probably read it a million times without really noticing it, but of course once something is brought to your attention, you start seeing it everywhere.
Bobby wrote: "I am currently reading The City & The City, and it has so far given me a few new words "Alterity, meaning otherness (the other of two), was a word used quite bit in City & City. It was new for me.
And now that I saw it in C&C, I see it elsewhere. So I guess I have always seen it, but it took reading C&C, which has otherness everywhere, to pop out at me.
Mod
For me it was perspicacious: having a ready insight into and understanding of things.
I swear Nick Harkaway is a walking dictionary. This was a couple years ago but he kept using these words:catabasis, apocatastasis, connectome, gnomon
And then the word Fugue I remember has a few different meanings and he kept using it in all the ways.
And I’ve never seen the first four anywhere else. Actually I might have seen gnomon somewhere recently but I can’t remember where.
But Mieville is good for using uncommon words too.
I’m always thrilled to see a new word though. It usually sheds light on other words or Latin roots.
Sarah, I like it when the author uses a unique word like those you mentioned multiple times in the book, because it gives you a firmer grasp on what it might mean in more than one context.This is my first Mieville book, and he definitely has a large vocabulary and uses it well. Just spotted Lugubrious which is one I've heard but don't see often.
Me and my friends are reading The Lost Future of Pepperharrow by Natasha Pulley (am on my phone so can’t link), and at one point our designated narrator stumbled upon the word ‘supernumenary’. It basically just means superfluous, or that there’s too many of a thing, in this case pens. She found it hilarious that Natasha didn’t just write “one of the many pens” or any variant thereof but chose a word no one knew. I think it’s awesome as I love learning new words 😄
You made me check my dictionary Dawn! I kept looking at it and thinking there was something wrong. It should be supernumerary. Just in case anyone else wants to use it again today:)
"Imperturbability"
Happened upon it in Kim Stanley Robinson's 2312. What it describes is very much the 'optimal state of being', imho, but I had never heard of the term before. A nice discovery.
I love learning new words when reading! Miéville is always great for new vocabulary. I can’t remember any of the words right now, but Embassytown was full of them. I’m reading A Stitch in Time by Penelope Lively to my son (it’s supposed to be a time travel book, but we are 70% in and there has yet to be any real time travel. She does talk to animals and in animate objects though...Anyway) and she is not afraid to use “big” words in a kids book. It’s great! And super easy to just look up since we’re using Libby.
This word is an odd one indeed. Being a huge fan of Terry Pratchett's Discworld I read about one of his characters called Mr. Tulip in The Truth who has a speech impediment and adds the word "-ing" in a sentence. When another character prompts him, asking why he uses such language, Mr. Tulip says "I don't -ing swear!"
Kindles are good for this especially as they become part of your Vocabulary Builder listings. These are some of the odder onescrepuscular = resembling or relating to twilight
juddering = shuddering / vibrating
derecho = storm that moves a long distance rapidly (straight line winds)
clarted = sticky mud/filth
kerf = a slit made by a saw or the cut end of a felled tree
bahookie = Scottish term for a person's buttocks
myrmidon = follower or subordinate to a powerful person
I love 'bahookie'. Must remember that one. The Scots come up with some of the best words.
Phrynne wrote: "I love 'bahookie'. Must remember that one. The Scots come up with some of the best words."I read a lot of Scots and Irish mysteries (gritty type ones) where they have scads of words I need to look up
CBRetriever wrote: "Phrynne wrote: "I love 'bahookie'. Must remember that one. The Scots come up with some of the best words."I read a lot of Scots and Irish mysteries (gritty type ones) where they have scads of wor..."
Same:)
Sarah wrote: "But Mieville is good for using uncommon words too..."Indeed. I need Kindle (with its dictionary) when I am reading his books. I won't survive a Mieville audiobook....
Latest five words I learned:Renal
Untrammeled
Wastrel
Rube
Stentorian
Since I'm not high level familiar with English I always find a lot of words new to me. The moments I love are the ones when I look them up in the kindle dictionary (which is set on English - German in my case) - and the translation is exactly the same word (most of the time academic terms in Latin or Greece). Then I know I learned a new word in my own language :D.
Gabi wrote: "Since I'm not high level familiar with English I always find a lot of words new to me. The moments I love are the ones when I look them up in the kindle dictionary (which is set on English - German..."That's very useful! You could actually use both in daily life.
I remember reading Stephen R. Donaldson - the Chronicles of Thomas Covenant - I had to have a dictionary close at hand.
Ha! This minute tumbled over one while listening to The Old Drift: malapropism - which again turned out to be the same in German: 'the use of an incorrect word in place of a word with a similiar sound' - have to remember this, cause this is a mistake I make quite often myself.
Gabi wrote: "Ha! This minute tumbled over one while listening to The Old Drift: malapropism - which again turned out to be the same in German: 'the use of an incorrect word in place of a word wi..."Every time I see this word I have to remind myself that it's not from Dickens (who did names so well that many have entered our language as words), but from a play before his time.
Thoughtco explains: "The character Mrs. Malaprop is a humorous aunt who gets mixed up in the schemes and dreams of young lovers in Richard Brinsley Sheridan's 1775 comedy-of-manners The Rivals. One of the funniest aspects of Mrs. Malaprop's character is that she often uses an incorrect word to express herself."
Maybe I should read The Rivals....
Cheryl wrote: "... One of the funniest aspects of Mrs. Malaprop's character is that she often uses an incorrect word to express herself..."I'd no idea that this was from the theater. I may have to read that ploy as well.
I love “myrmidon”! Mieville has a lot of unusual words...
Had to dig a bit to find this thread, but I knew it had to exist.Sort of a new word, but more a surprising spelling.
In Elatsoe there is the line:
They kicked the wood, and Ronnie even whaled against it with a pair of silver skates.
I did a double-take, thinking that surely it must be "wailed." In my mind, the concept "to beat at" was linked emotionally to the meaning of "to cry out."
But no, it apparently comes from "to lash and stripe with wales" (related to "weal"). Looking at the etymology, I also learned that the "wale" of fabric ridges like in corduroy is linked to the wale planks of a boat, like "gunwale."
(As a desert rat, I have a little running joke with myself that half the new words I learn are nautically related, and so in finding the nautical connection I triumphantly proclaim, "Ya-har! *brandishes
Mod
This is excellent imagery and now I'll remember this word forever!
Do people have a system of learning, keeping track of and practising with new words when they read books? That would be interesting.
Melissa wrote: "... (As a desert rat, I have a little running joke with myself that half the new words I learn are nautically related, and so in finding the nautical connection I triumphantly proclaim, "Ya-har! *brandishes Hah! Thank you for that imagery as well. As a former desert rat (and perhaps still one in my heart) who is now in a maritime location I feel like I live this every day. Today is the start of the town's annual epic salt water endurance/adventure race and the mass start is another opportunity to learn more words (some of them very colorful).
Munachiso wrote: "Do people have a system of learning, keeping track of and practising with new words when they read books? That would be interesting."Kindles have a system where they add words you look up to a vocabulary list. Here are some of my recent ones:
teratological; the study of congenital abnormalities and abnormal formations from Reanimators by Pete Rawlik
spalling; break (ore, rock or stone) into smaller pieces in preparation for sorting from Live Free or Die by John Ringo (terrible book)
avulsed: the action of pulling away from Spin by Patricia Cornwell
galluses: braces for a person's trousers from Old Nathan by David Drake. I originally thought this was a misspelling of galoshes, then braces through me as Americans call them suspenders...
Munachiso wrote: "Do people have a system of learning, keeping track of and practising with new words when they read books? That would be interesting."Funny. I just thought to myself "Yeah. For foreign languages." Completely excluding English from that thinking ^^'
What my brain meant to say was: I do occasionally write down Japanese words. The only one I've ever taken any measures studying consistently by myself. But it's been a while since I've regularly kept up with it, either.
Though, incidentally, I did just yesterday: trying to parse the Japanese blurb of Desolation Road, jotted down the words pen on paper (none of you judge: I'm proud of the 'authenticity' of my hasty hand writing transcending writing systems *ha*).
(Also in this notebook: me trying to match Finnish and Inari Saami conjugations to make sense of them (if there's a primary language to learn Saami by, it ought to be one which can easily match the nuance of the conjugations), trying out Amharic syllabaries (prompted by running into Amharic twitter conversation), and practicing Arabic alphabets. And some lazy Cyrillic scribbles (it's a bit of an embarrassment to be rubbish with Cyrillic, given how it's often one of the locally featured ones).)
But these are quite random and occasional, for when ever mood strikes; nothing systematic or regularly practiced. At the moment.
As for learning words from reading: I honestly *just* looked up a word (English) from a read, but seem to have already forgotten what it was. So, perhaps a system would come handy.
Then again. If something features often enough, one ought to pick it up... one justifies *ha*
Munachiso wrote: "Do people have a system of learning, keeping track of and practising with new words when they read books? That would be interesting."As a kid I read with a dictionary and a notebook, and kept a physical record of new and interesting words.
Now, I have a bookmarks folder of just "Words" and add my dictionary / etymology / image search results to that. I don't go out of my way to practice them, but when I scroll through I may click on a word to refresh my memory, and when I see that a previously new word is now familiar, then I delete it from the list.
CBRetriever wrote: "Kindles have a system where they add words you look up to a vocabulary list. "That is a neat feature.
Jemppu wrote: ".....As of learning word from reading: I honestly *just* looked up a word (English) from a read, but seem to have already forgotten what it was."I was worried that I was the only one this happened to. Also you do seem to have stumbled unto a system with the cool japanese writing and notebook with matching conjugations et al.
CBRetriever wrote: "Here are some of my recent ones:"Those are all excellent!
I have around 900 words I've looked up in my Vocabulary Builder on my Kindle. Binti by Nnedi Okorafor added a lot of words as did a few Scottish and Irish mysteries I've read.ETA: you can turn them into Flash Cards too.
CBRetriever wrote: "I have around 900 words I've looked up in my Vocabulary Builder on my Kindle... ETA: you can turn them into Flash Cards too."Aah! I envy your organized activeness*.
(* Shorted out for a bit there; had to actually think for the word for a second: 'activism', that's certainly not correct. 'Activity' neither...)
CBRetriever wrote: "...galluses: braces for a person's trousers from Old Nathan by David Drake. I originally thought this was a misspelling of galoshes, then braces through me as Americans call them suspenders..."Oh, and this just got added to a very specific place in my head near an oft repeated word I like to keep an eye/ear out for. I shall now know, if I'm ever about to mistake this for it!
(Its 'calluses').
Jemppu wrote: "Aah! I envy your organized activeness*.All I do is press on a word to look up the definition and it's automatically added. Of course, I do get words added when I fall asleep with my finger on the screen, so I do have to clean the list out from time to time...
Ha :D
Bobby wrote: "Anna wrote: "I don't know if this counts, but just before covid hit I was playing 7 Wonders with my brothers and we talked about the word 'caravansary' on one of the cards, and my encyclopedia of a..."Caravanserai comes from the middle east (I think) and was a place where the trade caravans (usually of camels I suspect) gathered and traded their goods. There is one in Kusadasi, in Turkey, in the old part of the town, and I suspect you will find them, or at least the remains in other eastern places.
In Kusadasi it's a walled area which you enter through a narrow gate. The walls are high and there's a covered area all around, so it's shaded and cool. In this one there are trees planted, too.
It's interesting to hear how you like it when writers use uncommon words. I agree as both a writer and reader. Writers are often told not to use unfamiliar words. To me this is dumbing down, and insulting to the reader. Many years ago, a much loved children's author was heavily criticized for using too simple vocabulary and not extending children's knowledge of words. Now writers are told to use simple vocabulary!
The problem is that mNy wonderful and descriptive words will disappear from the language, which is a pity.
The Thomas Covenant series introduced me to a lot of words as Stephen R. Donaldson didn't seem afraid to use difficult or obscure words. I had to use a dictionary a lot with those books
CBRetriever wrote: "The Thomas Covenant series introduced me to a lot of words as Stephen R. Donaldson didn't seem afraid to use difficult or obscure words. I had to use a dictionary a lot with those books"An excellent series. And you weren't put off by having to use a dictionary, which advisers tell writers you would be.
Gentle (pre-emptive) reminder that in this folder everyone only (dis)agrees as a reader. All writerly (dis)agreement must happen in the Authors' folder.
Anna wrote: "Gentle (pre-emptive) reminder that in this folder everyone only (dis)agrees as a reader. All writerly (dis)agreement must happen in the Authors' folder."Apologies. I didn't think that was a writerly thing, just a comment.
I always remembered "verisimilitude"; I read it in a Xanth book when I was young. Back then- the Dark Ages- there was no internet. I had to look it up in my trusty dictionary!
I recently read the Saga of the The Saga Of Pliocene Exile and Galactic Milieu Trilogy by Julian May. She was a writer of encyclopedias before she became a full time author and used tons of words I had never heard of before. Sometimes several in a single sentence. There were a few that were so obscure that Google didn't find them until I made a deep dive search into the particular field that they referred to.
Mod
retronym
It's when you now have NEW things that use the same old word and you have to find a new word for the original thing. So like how we have dead tree books, ebooks and audiobooks. They're all books, so we need a new word for what used to be a book, which is to say a physical book made of paper
SciFi and Fantasy Book Club
Books mentioned in this topic
Resurrection Bay (other topics)The Doctor and the Detective: A Biography of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (other topics)
The Saga of Pliocene Exile (other topics)
Binti (other topics)
Live Free or Die (other topics)
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Authors mentioned in this topic
Emma Viskic (other topics)Julian May (other topics)
Stephen R. Donaldson (other topics)
Stephen R. Donaldson (other topics)
Nnedi Okorafor (other topics)
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Kindle has been a huge help in this, because I can just highlight a word and the definition pops up. Whereas before, I would ask a friend, family member or teacher if I thought of it, now I get instant knowledge.
I am currently reading The City & The City, and it has so far given me a few new words that I didn't know the meaning of. It still amazes me how I've been speaking English my whole life and still come across new words and concepts.
The most recent word I learned was "tendentious" which means expressing or intending to promote a particular cause or point of view, especially a controversial one.
So I was just curious if anyone had any new or unique words they have learned from a book recently. Feel free to share and discuss.