Acrophony
》Naming letters of an alphabet so that a letter’s name begins with the letter itself
》Naming letters of an alphabet so that a letter’s name begins with the letter itself
Origin: Hebrew “to fail”
Origin: Possibly Middle English in keen bow “in sharp arch”
》Horse gait where both legs on side move at the same time
》About
Comments: Survives in Scottish English
Origin: Greek anthos “flower” + logos “gather”
》A thing prefigured
Origin: Anti “against” + type “stamp”; paper against a stamp receives a stamp mark
》Assurance from self-confidence
Origin: French aplomb “self-possession”, literally “perpendicularity” (on the plumb line)
》Deification, glorification, exaltation
Origin: Greek arkhe “origin” + typos “model”
Comments: In Platonism, the archetypal world existed in the idea of God before creation
》A sea studded with islands
Origin: Italian arcipelago “the Aegean Sea”, Latin archi “chief, principal” + pelago “pool, abyss”
》An abstract summary of a book, or the heads of the subjects
》Complete
》Divination by dice
》Resemblance to remote rather than near ancestors
》Related to an uncle
》Banter
》The art of poetic sinking, ludicrous descent from the elevated to the low, anticlimax
Comments: Rob Cantor’s “Shia LeBeouf” is peak bathos
》A man who tends a bear
》Command
》Structure such as a cupola designed to command a view
》A book consisting of a collection descriptions of animals, often including a moral or allegorical interpretation of each
》To lose in pathless places
Origin: Archaic English wilder “wander” (related to “wild”)
》Related to a leap year
》Leap day
Origin: Latin bis “twice” + sextus “sixth”
Comments: We add six hours per year, every fourth year
》Frank and simple good nature
Origin: From French bonhomme “goodman”, bon “good” + homme “man”
》Border
Comments: A sword because it gleams like fire, either because it’s metallic or from brandishing
》Muscular
Comments: Came to mean “muscular” in the 19th c; previously meant “boar’s flesh” (13th c)
》A generous, helpful, reliable person
》Brown
Origin: Dutch
Comments: Name of the bear in the Reynard the Fox fables, through which it came to also mean “bear”
Origin: Latin bucolicus “shepherd”, Greek boukolos “cowherd”
》Immature
》To cut in pieces
》Whim
Origin: Italian capo “head” + riccio “hedgehog”
Comments: “Hedgehog head” because your hair is standing up like a hedgehog’s spikes
》A dupe
》To raise frivolous objection
》Director of chancery
Comments: Originally a Roman emperor’s chief scribe or secretary. The position gained judicial power and became a bishop’s chief judge, then a high officer of a European state, “the keeper of the great seal of the kingdom”.
》A cheapener, one that offers to purchase; a seller
》A casting or throwing together of possible or probable events
Comments: Originally meant “interpreting omens”
Origin: Latin “to wink”
》Irregular or unlawful assembly, esp. for religious worship
》Chapman
》Friend
》An inferior crown worn by a nobleman
Comments: Webster says a duke’s coronet is adorned with strawberry leaves, a marquis’s with leaves and pearls interposed, an earl’s with pearls above leaves, a viscount’s surrounded with pearls, a baron’s with four pearls
》Street seller of fruits and vegetables
Origin: Costards were an apple variety from medieval England
》At twilight
》Related to the leg
》Dome
Origin: Hebrew “dip”
》Skillful, artistic, intricate
》Clockwise
Comments: From before clocks existed
》Common, popular
Comments: Demotic Greek is the modern Greek that is the official language of Greece
》The two in dice or cards
Comments: Became a mild oath in the 18th c, probably both as a euphemism for Deus and because it was a low score
》Dark, gloomy
》Soon afterwards
》Oldest
Comments: Usually used for people, occasionally animals, rarely for things
》Exceeding the usual rule, norm, or measure; out of due proportion; inordinate; abnormal
Origin: Latin ex + norma “out of normal” or “out of rule”
》To exalt
Comments: Literally, to put in the sky
》To put on a throne
》To shut up, as if in a womb
》Brief, interesting statement
》Consisting of a confused mixture
》Hodgepodge
》Smith who shoes horses
》Order, repair
Comments: “In fine fettle” is “in good spirits”
》Related to rivers
Comments: Etymologically related to “fist”
Comments: In Middle English, “foil” meant “leaf”.
》Frantic, insane, furious, distracted
Origin: Middle English frenetik “insane”, Latin phreneticus “delirium”
》Eat or gnaw into, esp. of small animals
》Bearing or producing fruit
》A color darker than black
Origin: Italian soot; coined in Wolfe’s “Shadow of the Torturer”
》An inflated style of writing
Comments: Webster says the pagan’s genial gods presided over generation (earth, air, fire, water)
Origin: Latin gibbosus “humpbacked”, gibbus “hump”
Origin: Middle English glose “flattery”, “plausible pretext”, “explanation of a difficult word”
Comments: Surely the origin of the character name “Lord Glozelle” from Prince Caspian
》Silly person
》Horseplay
》Lofty speaking
》Old English silver coin
》Having large hands,Clumsy,Tactless
》Clumsy-handed
》Stuffed cushion or footstool
》An aircraft whose lift is provided by rotating blades rather than fixed wings
Origin: Greek heliko “spiral” + pteron “wing”
》Bumblebee
Comments: Humble used to mean “hum”
》A place where political campaign speeches are made
Origin: Anglo-Saxon hustings “judicial assemblies where the king holds council”, Old Norse hūsthing “house assembly”
》Little by little
Comments: -meal is related to German mal “time”
》A sleepy idler
》Collection of knickknacks
》Beat severely
》Reader
Origin: Latin
》Figure-eight shape
》Forsaken
》Borderland
》Related to marble
》A meddler who interferes with an undertaking
》Sentinel and defender of a march
Origin: Lieutenant Colonel Jean Martinet, King Louis XIV’s appointment to inspector general of the infantry
》Dominant part of a mountain range
》Gloomy, depressed
Origin: Greek melan “black” + chole “bile”
Comments: Formerly thought to be caused by an excess of black bile
》Smoothly blend into a single whole
Origin: Melt + weld
》A silk dealer
》Environment where something occurs or develops
Origin: French mi “middle” + lieu “place”
》A wonder,An event contrary to the course of nature
》An impostor who pretends to work miracles
Origin: Latin miraculum
Comments: Old English had wundorweorc “wonder work” and wundortacen (wonder token). “Miracle” in English Bibles is a translation of the Greek words semeion “sign” (Latin signum) teras “wonder” (Latin prodigium) and dynamis “power” (Latin virtus).
》A marriage between people of unequal social rank
Origin: Latin matrimonium ad morganaticam “marriage with a morning-gift”, a property dower for the wife’s security in widowhood; in a morganatic marriage the wife and her children receive no other inheritance, including titles
Comments: Also called a left-handed marriage
》The grant of an estate in fee as security for the payment of money. If the money is paid, the estate returns to the mortgager.
Origin: Old French mort “dead” + gage “pledge”
》The exactly right word or phrasing
》A small grimace or pout
》One who mounts a public bench selling fake healing elixirs
》Similar
Origin: British
》Femininity
Comments: The counterpart of virility
》Lowest point, opposite of zenith
》Pertaining to the nerves
Comments: Originally meant strong and vigorous of body or mind
》Panacea
》Pompous and bombastic, sonorous
Origin: Latin “round mouth”
》Sound in the Christian faith, as opposed to heretical
Origin: Greek ortho “right” + dox “opinion”
》Scraps
》Chest to hold multiple skeletal remains
》Flourishing
Comments: “Palm” meant “victory” in Chaucer’s time
》Characterized by the view that this is the best of all possible worlds
Origin: Dr. Pangloss (“all tongue”) from Candide held this view
》Small ladies umbrella for rain or sun
Origin: Italian para “to shield” + sole “sun”
》Right or estate inherited from father or ancestor
》Infested with lice; lousy
Origin: Latin pediculus “louse”
》Related to the open sea
》Main body of riders in a bicycle race
Comments: Related to “platoon”
》Clearly expressed
》The earthy scent produced when rain falls on dry soil
Origin: Greek petra “stone” + ichor “the blood of the Greek gods”
》A column that appears to give support but is merely decorative
Origin: Latin pila “pillar” + aster “expressing incomplete resemblance”
Comments: The alloy invented by Christopher Pinchbeck
》Related to rain
》A petty poet, someone who pretends to be a poet
Origin: Latin poet + aster “expressing incomplete resemblance”
Comments: Many other words follow the pattern, such as Latin "patraster" for a father-in-law or stepfather
》With the hinder part before
Origin: Latin pre “before” + posterus “coming after”
Comments: Pre and post in the same word
》Related to yesterday or a previous day
》Ever-changing
Origin: From Proteus, a Greek sea god given the power to shapeshift by Poseidon
》Arm of a sword’s cross-hilt
》A clever remark, often sarcastic or taunting
》Banter
》Related to a river
》A vain boaster
Origin: Rodomonte, a fierce and boastful king in Orlando Innamorato and Orlando Furioso
》Carouse, revel noisily
》One who roisters
》Renegade, fugitive, apostate, vagabond
》Mercy, pity, tenderness
》Slope of the ditch nearest the parapet
》Leisurely, creative work, not done for profit
》A mean fellow, a wretch
》Related to fat
》Eternal
Comments: Surprisingly, does not share a Latin root with “eternal”
Origin: Old Norse sloegr “sly, cunning”
》Large knife
》Marked with religious rites and pomps
》Divination by lots (item drawn randomly from a collection)
》Small metal ornamental plate; therefore, any little thing that sparkles
Origin: Latin stigma “brand, mark”, Greek stizein “to tattoo”
Comments: The plural “stigmata” almost always refers to wounds such as Christ received on the cross
》Pack-horse
》Related to seas or oceans
》Uproar
》Related to barbers
》Lover of cheese
Origin: Greek “tyros” for cheese
》Dense tuft of grass
Origin: Latin umbra, “a shade”
》Shade, carried by hand to shelter the person from sun, rain, or snow
Origin: Latin umbra “shade, shadow”
Comments: Originally there were many undertakers, with funeral-undertakers eventually taking primacy
》A vagrant
》Forbidden
Comments: Not etymologically related to “verb”
Origin: Latin vestigium “footstep, footprint, track”
》Visor
》Year spent by an apprentice travelling and practicing before entering the profession of his trade
》Firmament
Comments: “Hark! The herald angels sing” originally started “Hark, how all the welkin ring”
》Counter-clockwise
》Yellow
Origin: Greek xanthos “yellow”