Use the time well. Words will help.
Of all the words I looked up in the past year, the one that sticks in my memory is ZARF: “A zarf is something that helps you hold a hot cup without burning your fingers. Don't leave the coffee shop without your zarf!
“Zarf is a peculiar looking word that is a loaner from Arabic and originally denoted a metal holder for a drinking glass — which would be unwieldy to handle if it contained a hot beverage. Now in the latte age, zarf is extended to denote any such cup-holding appliance, like the collapsible cardboard ones you get for paper cups to hold your skinny double mochachino.”
I have a lot of paper scraps with words printed on them, waiting for me to get acquainted.. I think I’ll relax and poke at some of them today.
cupreous, adjective of or like copper: stained green with cuprueous patina. ORIGIN mid 17th century: from late Latin cupreus (from cuprum ‘copper’) + ous.
dyspnoea noun [ mass noun ] Medicine difficult or laboured breathing. many soldiers presented with acute dyspnoea. DERIVATIVES dyspnoeic adjective ORIGIN mid 17th cent.: via Latin from Greek duspnoia, from dus- ‘difficult’ + pnoē ‘breathing’.
etiolated adjective 1 (of a plant) pale and drawn out due to a lack of light. etiolated leaf segments. the girl might have grown etiolated and bland like grass under stone. 2 having lost vigour or substance; feeble: a tone of etiolated nostalgia. DERIVATIVES etiolation ORIGIN late 18th cent.: from the verb etiolate (from French étioler.
paraphilia, noun [ mass noun ] Psychiatry a condition characterized by abnormal sexual desires, typically involving extreme or dangerous activities. DERIVATIVES paraphiliac adjective & noun
prosopography noun a description of a person's appearance, personality, career, etc., or a collection of such descriptions. Genet's prosopography of the members of the University of Paris in the Middle Ages. • [ mass noun ] the study of prosopographies, especially as an aspect of the study of Roman history. DERIVATIVES prosopographer noun; prosopographical adjective ORIGIN 1920s: from modern Latin prosopographia, from Greek prosōpon ‘face, person’ + -graphia ‘writing’.
[AND I HAVE TOLD YOU BEFORE, I HAVE prosopagnosia, an inability to recognize person’s appearance.]
cibophobia fear of food. This word wasn’t in the online dictionary. [After the simple definition (on Google Chrome) it goes on to illustrate and comment on the phobia. an interesting sidebar was a list of phobias. So many people live in fear!]
assegai noun (pl.assegais) 1 a slender, iron-tipped, hardwood spear used chiefly by southern African peoples. 2 (also assegai wood)a South African tree of the dogwood family, which yields hard timber. verb (assegais, assegaing, assegaied) [ with obj. ] wound or kill with an assegai. he was a very brave man but he was eventually assegaied. ORIGIN early 17th cent.: from obsolete French azagaie or Portuguese azagaia, from Arabic az-zaġāyah, from az, al ‘the’ + Berber zaġāyah ‘spear’.
[WHEN I COME ACROSS WORDS LIKE THESE I WONDER WHAT I’VE BEEN READING!]
sati (also suttee) noun (pl.satis or suttees) [ mass noun ] the former Hindu practice of a widow throwing herself on to her husband's funeral pyre. • [ count noun ] a widow who committed sati. ORIGIN Hindi, from Sanskrit satī ‘faithful wife’, from sat ‘good’. SATI , the wife of Shiva, reborn as Parvati. According to some accounts, she died by throwing herself into a sacred fire.
[I KNEW SUTTEE BUT I DIDN’T KNOW THE ORIGIN.]
condign adjective formal (of punishment or retribution) appropriate to the crime or wrongdoing; fitting and deserved. condign punishment was rare when the criminal was a man of high social standing. DERIVATIVES condignly adverb ORIGIN late Middle English (in the general sense ‘worthy, appropriate’): from Old French condigne, from Latin condignus, from con- ‘altogether’ + dignus ‘worthy’.
fantod noun N. Amer. informal a state or attack of uneasiness or unreasonableness: people calling me Ray just gives me the fantods. ORIGIN mid 19th cent.: of unknown origin.
panoptic adjective, permitting the viewing of all parts or elements:a panoptic stain used in microscopy; a panoptic aerial photograph of an enemy missile base. considering all parts or elements; all inclusive:a panoptic criticism of modern poetry.
Hey! I haven’t finished yet and I have two likes. I’ll quit while I’m ahead.