Words You've Learned from Reading and Writing

[dickson]

disparbeled

Middle-English; scattered.

Found it in Le Morte D’Arthur.

 

[Taribolokemi]

penultimate

last but one in a series of things; second last.

found from re-reading "The Penultimate Peril"

 

[Chris P]

penultimate

last but one in a series of things; second last.

found from re-reading "The Penultimate Peril"

Nerdy biology thing: In scientific names, it's the antepenultimate (the one right before the penultimate) syllable that gets the emphasis: Coleoptera = Col-e-OP-ter-a (beetles), Umbelliferae = Um-bell-IF-er-ae (carrots), etc.

 

[Bone2pick]

pestiferous
adjective
LITERARY

harboring infection and disease. “the pestiferous area around the prison”

I ran into this word while reading a history book about the Civil War. The book included a correspondence between a chaplain and a Union colonel, the chaplain warning the colonel about soldiers getting ahold of objectionable reading material.

Check it out: “they will seek out those pestiferous books, defiled with the scent of groggery and brothel, which filthy and sneaky peddlers, ‘foaming out their own shame,’ hawk around the camp.”

 

[reaping-raddish]

This thread is awesome. I love learning new words from my reading.
I am currently in a book with elements of Soviet Russia and Slavic culture and Mythology. Sorry for the word dump. Excited. These I found last night.
Catafalque: (noun) raised box to support a dead body or coffin.
Droshki: (noun) four wheeled open carriage used especially in Russia.
Kareta: (noun) *I had to search for this one and look for contextual clues in the sentences. It is a private closed carriage.
Banquette: (noun) small foot path, or elevated step inside a rampart or fortification. It also be a long bench along a wall, usually in a restaurant.
Rusalka: (noun) lake dwelling soul of a child who died unbaptized or a virgin who drowned.

 

[dickson]

Taphonomy, n.

In paleontology, the study of the how organisms die and undergo fossilization. I learned this from reading the classic treatise on the subject, Johannes Weigelt’s 1927 Recent Vertebrate Carcasses and their Paleobiological Implications (translation by Judith Schaefer).

Weigelt wrote in the tradition of natural history narratives, in which nature is treated as a Wunderkammer and a polished literary style is not considered out of place. The result is one of the strangest books I’ve read, something not far from lyrical descriptions of rotting carcasses.

As strange but rewarding reads go, this one is right up there with Hannah Nyala’s Point Last Seen, itself splendid as an example of just how good outsider literature can be.

But I digress.

 

[sea_improvement]

fauna n. - the animals of a particular region, habitat, or geological period.

I came upon this word when reading All Systems Red.

I also didn't realize that flora is used along with fauna to describe the plants and animals in a region.

Easy way to remember:

flora = similar to "flower" which is a plant
fauna = sounds like "fawn" which is an animal

 

[Bone2pick]

accidie
noun

spiritual sloth; apathy; indifference.

 

[MountainLark]

Two new-to-me words I picked up reading this week:

Deflagration (Lat: de + flagrare, 'to burn down') a subsonic combustion in which a pr-mixed flame propagates through an explosive or a mixture of fuel and oxidizer.

Panegyric (US: /ˌpænɪˈdʒɪrɪk/ or UK: /ˌpænɪˈdʒaɪrɪk/) a formal public speech or written verse, delivered in high praise of a person or thing. The original panegyrics were speeches delivered at public events in ancient Athens.



ML

 

[Chris P]

Tephra - rock fragments blown airborne by a volcano.

 

[dickson]

Deflagration (Lat: de + flagrare, 'to burn down') a subsonic combustion in which a pr-mixed flame propagates through an explosive or a mixture of fuel and oxidizer.

Brings back memories of my dissertation, in which I concluded that nucleosynthesis in certain zones of a massive star experiencing a core-collapse supernova explosion proceeded by shock-initiated thermonuclear deflagration.

To make up for that, here’s my word:

cataphatic, adj. Wiktionary gives, as one of its meanings, “…actively defining a thing by describing what it is characteristic of.”

Not going to even try working that into casual conversation.

 

[Bone2pick]

A few related nouns from recent reading.

sacristy
noun

a room in a church where a priest prepares for a service, and where vestments and other things used in worship are kept.

sacristan
noun

a person in charge of a sacristy and its contents.

sexton
noun

a person who looks after a church and churchyard, sometimes acting as bell-ringer and formerly as a gravedigger.

 

[Bone2pick]

dingle
noun
LITERARY•DIALECT

a deep wooded valley or dell.

gleed
noun
ARCHAIC

a burning ember or hot coal.

 

[ManoyB]

It’s fun finding new words that catches my interest. Today I pocketed metrology in my list of words that I think are cool but don’t know what it is about.

In one line, it is the scientific study of measurement.

The list gets longer but my reasons for research are still too little in comparison. Well, when I have more time I’ll strike out some words.

 

[Unimportant]

You probably want to check out This Thread. And, if you hit "report" on your own post, you can ask the relevant moderator to merge your thread with that one.

 

[Lakey]

Spouse is a metrologist (and back when I studied physics in grad school I was one too), so I have a particular fondness for the word.

Merging this into the existing “words you learned” thread. Hang onto your hats please.

 

[Bitterboots]

Plethora. I love that word so much I named a drink after it.

 

[TheoreticalJoe]

Mellifluous - adj - honeyed sounding
Cavalier - attitude and/or behavior of blithe disregard.

 

[Bone2pick]

draggled
adjective

dirty or wet, typically from being trailed through mud or water. "she wore a draggled skirt"

gotch
adjective

drooping, cropped “the sorrel with a gotch ear”

 

[Bone2pick]

contumely
noun
ARCHAIC

insolent or insulting language or treatment. "the Church should not be exposed to gossip and contumely"

oppugnancy
noun

opposition, hostility, resistance

 

[MissJones89]

So many cool words! I don't keep an actual list, but I like to browse my search history on my dictionary app once in a while.

One thing I found is that I keep looking up the meaning of the word facetious (adj), which has several meanings: not meant to be taken seriously, amusing/humorous, frivolous, etc.

I also noticed that I had looked up fastidious (adj) afterwards, which to me as a non-native English speaker seems very similar to facetious in look/sound, but it has a totally different meaning: excessively particular, critical, or demanding; hard to please.

I also like skullduggery (noun): dishonerable proceedings; mean dishonesty or trickery. An instance of dishonest or deceitful behavior.

 

[MissJones89]

This thread is awesome. I love learning new words from my reading.
I am currently in a book with elements of Soviet Russia and Slavic culture and Mythology. Sorry for the word dump. Excited. These I found last night.
Catafalque: (noun) raised box to support a dead body or coffin.
Droshki: (noun) four wheeled open carriage used especially in Russia.
Kareta: (noun) *I had to search for this one and look for contextual clues in the sentences. It is a private closed carriage.
Banquette: (noun) small foot path, or elevated step inside a rampart or fortification. It also be a long bench along a wall, usually in a restaurant.
Rusalka: (noun) lake dwelling soul of a child who died unbaptized or a virgin who drowned.

Wow, it's like a treasure hunt when words are so rare/"specialized" that you need to do additional research to find their meaning (like 'kareta'). A word can also say a lot about culture, beliefs, myths etc. like "rusalka", which seems to have a very specific meaning.

 

[Bone2pick]

encomium
noun FORMAL

a speech or piece of writing that praises someone or something highly.

fustian
noun

pompous or pretentious speech or writing. “a smoke screen of fustian and fantasy"

 

[oneblindmouse]

encomium
noun FORMAL

a speech or piece of writing that praises someone or something highly.

fustian
noun

pompous or pretentious speech or writing. “a smoke screen of fustian and fantasy"In

Interesting! I've come across "fustian" before, but only as a kind of coarse material.

 

[Bitterboots]

kakistocracy

A kakistocracy is a government run by the worst, least qualified, or most unscrupulous citizens.

I love this word because I live in South Africa and 'kak' is slang for 'complete crap'. And when it comes to kakistocracies we really take the cake down here so it's incredibly apt.