# What is your favorite esoteric word in your vocabulary? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [February 2, 2010, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-esoteric-word-in-your-vocabulary/527403 "2010-02-02T16:57:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Taenia\_spp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b5e925/32.png) [@Taenia\_spp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Taenia_spp)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2010, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-esoteric-word-in-your-vocabulary/527403/1 "2010-02-02T16:57:55Z")
I love weird words, and I especially love it when I can use highfalutin diction to both amuse and please. Share yours! Please include a short definition from a reputable source, and stories and anecdotes are optional but encouraged. **pulchritudinous** : Characterized by physical comeliness. [MW] **eleemosynary** : Of, relating to, or supported by charity. [MW] I actually learned this one from the Dope, in a thread about a religious woman refusing help from one of our resident atheists. ---
**Author:** ![ITR\_champion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c67d28/32.png) [@ITR\_champion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ITR_champion)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2010, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-esoteric-word-in-your-vocabulary/527403/2 "2010-02-02T17:36:19Z")
I’m partial to **avuncular** , which means having the properties of an uncle, generous, and magnanimous. I’m not sure that all uncles are avuncular, but the definition certainly fits fine. I also like **gonfalonier** , which means a person who carries a gonfalon. (For those who don’t know, a gonfalon is a medieval flag that hung downward from a cross piece at the end of a long pole, [like this](http://thewordmaven.files.wordpress.com/2009/05/gonfalon.jpg). ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2010, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-esoteric-word-in-your-vocabulary/527403/3 "2010-02-02T18:35:02Z")
I was happy to be able to use **jejune** today on a post in another board. There’s also **roorback** – a slander created for political purposes. ---
**Author:** ![Arnold\_Winkelried](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Arnold\_Winkelried](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arnold_Winkelried)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2010, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-esoteric-word-in-your-vocabulary/527403/4 "2010-02-02T18:52:24Z")
I like to use snickersnee when I need a large knife: “Hand me that snickersnee, will you? I’m about to carve the turkey.” > **[Definition of SNICKERSNEE](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/snickersnee)** > > a large knife… See the full definition I first heard it in the Mikado (Gilbert and Sullivan), where it is the execution weapon favoured by Ko-Ko, Lord High Executioner of the town of Titipu. ---
**Author:** ![suranyi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@suranyi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/suranyi)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2010, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-esoteric-word-in-your-vocabulary/527403/5 "2010-02-02T18:53:59Z")
I have two: **defenestration** : the act of throwing a person out of a window **morganatic** : describing a form of marriage in which a person of high rank marries a person of lower rank but the lower ranking person and any children resulting from the marriage will not inherit the titles or property from the high ranking person. ---
**Author:** ![rockle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/73ab20/32.png) [@rockle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rockle)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2010, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-esoteric-word-in-your-vocabulary/527403/6 "2010-02-02T19:00:07Z")
I’m a big fan of **onomatopoeia**. The word, and the phenomenon (and my ability to spell it – I believe my crowing achievement of parenthood will be the day that I teach my daughter to correctly spell this word). ---
**Author:** ![cuberdon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/45deac/32.png) [@cuberdon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cuberdon)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2010, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-esoteric-word-in-your-vocabulary/527403/7 "2010-02-02T19:34:39Z")
**minion** : 1) a servile follower or subordinate of a person in power 2) a favored or highly regarded person **isogloss** : the geographical boundary of a certain linguistic feature If you are a vocabulary junkie, I recommend the movie Spellbound. I have a good vocabulary, but about 1/4 way through I was floored by the obscurity of most of the words they were using. And there is a scene involving the spelling of the word “Darjeeling” that is completely priceless. ---
**Author:** ![Arnold\_Winkelried](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Arnold\_Winkelried](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arnold_Winkelried)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2010, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-esoteric-word-in-your-vocabulary/527403/8 "2010-02-02T19:42:04Z")
> [@LouiseE](#): > > If you are a vocabulary junkie, I recommend the movie Spellbound. I have a good vocabulary, but about 1/4 way through I was floored by the obscurity of most of the words they were using. And there is a scene involving the spelling of the word “Darjeeling” that is completely priceless. Are you referring to the Hitchcock movie starring Gregory Peck and Ingrid Bergman, with the surrealistic dream sequence? I don’t remember any mention of Darjeeling. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2010, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-esoteric-word-in-your-vocabulary/527403/9 "2010-02-02T19:45:03Z")
**slugabed** - a lazy person; a layabout **antepenultimate** - third from last **gorbellied** - describing someone or something with a protruding belly ---
**Author:** ![cuberdon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/45deac/32.png) [@cuberdon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cuberdon)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2010, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-esoteric-word-in-your-vocabulary/527403/10 "2010-02-02T19:46:43Z")
> [@Arnold\_Winkelried](#): > > Are you referring to the Hitchcock movie starring Gregory Peck and Ingrid Bergman, with the surrealistic dream sequence? I don’t remember any mention of Darjeeling. No. I was referring to the movie released in 2002, about a spelling bee. Reference: [Spellbound (2002) - IMDb](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0334405/) ---
**Author:** ![Surly\_Chick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ec9cab/32.png) [@Surly\_Chick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Surly_Chick)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2010, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-esoteric-word-in-your-vocabulary/527403/11 "2010-02-02T19:48:24Z")
I’m fond of **amanuensis**. As in have your amanuensis call my amanuensis and we’ll set up a meeting. ---
**Author:** ![Vorpal\_Blade](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/9de0a6/32.png) [@Vorpal\_Blade](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Vorpal_Blade)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2010, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-esoteric-word-in-your-vocabulary/527403/12 "2010-02-02T20:06:53Z")
Subitize (and subitizing), _coined in 1949 by E.L. Kaufman et al. refers to the rapid, accurate, and confident judgments of number performed for small numbers of items._ In other words, determining how many items there are by inspection only (no counting). Most folks can’t do more than 5 items. ---
**Author:** ![sevenwood](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6de8d8/32.png) [@sevenwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sevenwood)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2010, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-esoteric-word-in-your-vocabulary/527403/13 "2010-02-02T20:07:29Z")
It wasn’t my favorite until recently, but after I told my golf buddies that “it’s 190 yards to where the cart path **bifurcates** ” and they started giving me a hard time about that word, well… ---
**Author:** ![Morbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morbo/32/389_2.png) [@Morbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morbo)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2010, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-esoteric-word-in-your-vocabulary/527403/14 "2010-02-02T20:33:05Z")
Any time I’m in a meeting and someone is logging into RDC from the demo machine, and is typing their ridiculously too-long password, I like to ask if their password is “ **Sesquipedalian** ” ---
**Author:** ![Ponch8](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ponch8/32/9883_2.png) [@Ponch8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ponch8)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2010, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-esoteric-word-in-your-vocabulary/527403/15 "2010-02-02T20:47:11Z")
**Thrice** –three times **Aliments** –food **Comestibles** –food **Communiqué** –that little slip that comes in your fortune cookie ---
**Author:** ![Tethered\_Kite](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a5b964/32.png) [@Tethered\_Kite](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tethered_Kite)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2010, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-esoteric-word-in-your-vocabulary/527403/16 "2010-02-02T20:51:44Z")
> [@Taenia\_spp](#): > > I love weird words. . . > **eleemosynary** : Of, relating to, or supported by charity. [MW] I actually learned this one from the Dope, in a thread about a religious woman refusing help from one of our resident atheists. Well, this is entirely TOO weird. It was _eleemosynary_ which I came here to type! Odder still, to me, is the fact that it was my favorite word when I was about four years old. Although at that time I doubt very much that I had ever heard anyone say it and thought that it was my special made-up word. It was gratifying later in life to find that, not only had I followed an eleemosynary path in my life, but that I seem to have chosen it at an early age. Ooooo-EEEEE-oooooooo. :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Giles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giles/32/60_2.png) [@Giles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giles)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2010, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-esoteric-word-in-your-vocabulary/527403/17 "2010-02-02T22:36:48Z")
Sesquicentennial. For example, this year marks the sesquicentennial of the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the U.S. ---
**Author:** ![Autolycus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/22d042/32.png) [@Autolycus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Autolycus)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2010, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-esoteric-word-in-your-vocabulary/527403/18 "2010-02-02T22:37:04Z")
Lately I have taken a liking to crepuscular, vespertine, and matutinal. They mean relating to dusk and dawn, dusk, and dawn respectively. ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2010, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-esoteric-word-in-your-vocabulary/527403/19 "2010-02-02T22:47:37Z")
I am fond of the word [callipygian](http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=navclient&aq=4&oq=definition+call&ie=UTF-8&rlz=1T4GGLL_enUS320US321&q=definition+callipygian) (link to definition). 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Athena](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/35a633/32.png) [@Athena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Athena)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2010, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-esoteric-word-in-your-vocabulary/527403/20 "2010-02-02T23:00:19Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > **antepenultimate** - third from last Hey! That was MY word! [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-esoteric-word-in-your-vocabulary/527403.md?page=2)