# 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:** 2
**Author:** ![Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/malleus_incus_stapes/32/3293_2.png) [@Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malleus_Incus_Stapes)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2010, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-esoteric-word-in-your-vocabulary/527403/21 "2010-02-02T23:02:13Z")
Eleemosynary was the word assigned to me for my eighth grade Words Project. Other faves: Floccinaucinihilipilification Amanuensis Antediluvian Suigeneris ---
**Author:** ![Justin\_Credible](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a8b319/32.png) [@Justin\_Credible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Credible)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2010, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-esoteric-word-in-your-vocabulary/527403/22 "2010-02-02T23:04:47Z")
_Esoteric_. No, wait. _Vocabulary_. ---
**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, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-esoteric-word-in-your-vocabulary/527403/23 "2010-02-02T23:21:11Z")
> [@Justin\_Credible](#): > > _Esoteric_. No, wait. _Vocabulary_. Smartass 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![B.Serum](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/b.serum/32/14266_2.png) [@B.Serum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/B.Serum)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2010, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-esoteric-word-in-your-vocabulary/527403/24 "2010-02-02T23:26:59Z")
**DĂ©colletage** : permitting me to be lascivious and erudite in one fell swoop. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2010, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-esoteric-word-in-your-vocabulary/527403/25 "2010-02-02T23:48:00Z")
**Apocolocyntosis** It was a word made up by someone (probably the younger Seneca) as a title for a work about the making of the emperor Claudius into a God (which would have been _Apotheosis_, properly). The word is a satiric blend of Greek and Latin, and ought to mean, instead of “deification” = “making into a god”, “making into a pumpkin”. It has this been rendered “Pumpkinification” in many places, including Wikipedia: > **[Apocolocyntosis](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Pumpkinification_of_Claudius)** > > The Apocolocyntosis (divi) Claudii, literally The Pumpkinification of (the Divine) Claudius, is a satire on the Roman emperor Claudius, which, according to Cassius Dio, was written by Seneca the Younger. A partly extant Menippean satire, an anonymous work called Ludus de morte Divi Claudii ("Play on the Death of the Divine Claudius") in its surviving manuscripts, may or may not be identical to the text mentioned by Cassius Dio. "Apocolocyntosis" is a word play on "apotheosis", the process by whic... The word almost invariably refers to the probably-by-Seneca book, but I used it in my book in the first few pages about a completely different topic\*, and I think it helped convince the folks at OUP that I was erudite. Or at least sneaky. \*deceased and lionized Mythologist Joseph Campbell. I’m so mean. ---
**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, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-esoteric-word-in-your-vocabulary/527403/26 "2010-02-02T23:48:24Z")
> [@Athena](#): > > Hey! That was MY word! I’m afraid I defined it either ambiguiously or wrongly, though. By “third from last” I really mean “next to next to last.” So that would really be second from last. I think. I can’t count today. ---
**Author:** ![Timchik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c0e974/32.png) [@Timchik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Timchik)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2010, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-esoteric-word-in-your-vocabulary/527403/27 "2010-02-03T00:31:09Z")
**Petrichor** - the smell of rain as it first hits dry ground. I love it because I would never have thought there would be such a term, but it is so immediately evocative (the first time I read it I knew exactly what they were talking about) that it’s obviously a necessary word. I second callipygian, along with its less-flattering mate [steatopygian](http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&safe=off&rlz=1T4GGLL_enUS320US321&num=50&q=definition+steatopygian&aq=f&aqi=&oq=). ---
**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 3, 2010, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-esoteric-word-in-your-vocabulary/527403/28 "2010-02-03T00:53:51Z")
> [@Timchik](#): > > **Petrichor** - the smell of rain as it first hits dry ground. I love it because I would never have thought there would be such a term, but it is so immediately evocative (the first time I read it I knew exactly what they were talking about) that it’s obviously a necessary word. I think this is my new favorite word. Even though it isn’t raining right now, your post evoked a sensation of pungent earthy smells. Mmm
Petrichor
 ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2010, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-esoteric-word-in-your-vocabulary/527403/29 "2010-02-03T00:57:38Z")
**factotum** servant with wide-ranging duties **sinecure** do-nothing job **frenulum** any webbing on the body: between the fingers & toes, underneath the tongue, or from the **corona** to the **raphe** of the penis ---
**Author:** ![Askance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/askance/32/8281_2.png) [@Askance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askance)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2010, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-esoteric-word-in-your-vocabulary/527403/30 "2010-02-03T01:24:22Z")
**Formicate** - to swarm like ants. **Merkin** - a pubic wig. **Orison** - a prayer. **Mucilage** - glue. **Unguent** - ointment. **Abecedarian** - in alphabetical order. **Angelet** - the metal or plastic cylinder on each end of a shoelace **Interstices** - gaps. **Syzygy** - an astronomical alignment. ---
**Author:** ![Infovore](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/infovore/32/420_2.png) [@Infovore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Infovore)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2010, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-esoteric-word-in-your-vocabulary/527403/31 "2010-02-03T01:35:29Z")
Aww, you guys beat me to callipygian! 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2010, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-esoteric-word-in-your-vocabulary/527403/32 "2010-02-03T02:28:45Z")
**numinous** : the sense of the presence of a supernatural or godlike being. **plastiquĂ©** (pronounced plas-TEEK): a mallable high-explosive compound such as C4; “plastic explosive”. **chiral** : having left-handed and right-handed versions; the antonym of bilaterally symmetrical. **weregild** : a wrongful-death settlement. **pintle** : old English word for “penis”. ---
**Author:** ![Xema](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/9de053/32.png) [@Xema](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Xema)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2010, 3:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-esoteric-word-in-your-vocabulary/527403/33 "2010-02-03T03:23:33Z")
> [@Lumpy](#): > > **pintle** : old English word for “penis”. Or, the thing that mates with a [**gudgeon**](http://www.rigrite.com/Hardware/Rudder_Hardware/Pintles&Gudgeons.htm). ---
**Author:** ![Ignatz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/3be4f8/32.png) [@Ignatz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ignatz)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2010, 3:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-esoteric-word-in-your-vocabulary/527403/34 "2010-02-03T03:36:44Z")
_boustrophedon_-writing backwards on alternate lines of writing, or, going back and forth on alternate adjacent paths when mowing the lawn (boustrophedonically). _karmadharaya_-a word made up of an adjective (or other modifier) and a noun, such as “blacksmith”. ---
**Author:** ![cuberdon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/45deac/32.png) [@cuberdon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cuberdon)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2010, 3:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-esoteric-word-in-your-vocabulary/527403/35 "2010-02-03T03:55:34Z")
Nitpick Alert. > [@Lumpy](#): > > **plastiquĂ©** (pronounced plas-TEEK): a mallable high-explosive compound such as C4; “plastic explosive”. It’s “ **plastique** ”. And yes, some of my French teachers were **martinets**. ---
**Author:** ![Helen\_s\_Eidolon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/8edcca/32.png) [@Helen\_s\_Eidolon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Helen_s_Eidolon)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2010, 4:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-esoteric-word-in-your-vocabulary/527403/36 "2010-02-03T04:00:47Z")
Is it sad that I was worried one of my two would already be listed? Boustrophedon gets serious points, though. I get to use that word quite frequently. As I use my two favourites frequently: **apotropaic:** averting evil. **chthonic** : having to do with the earth/soil/underworld. A bonus is **autochthonous** : being born from the earth of the place where you live. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2010, 8:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-esoteric-word-in-your-vocabulary/527403/37 "2010-02-03T08:57:55Z")
> [@WordMan](#): > > 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). > > 😃 One of my friends is a techical writer who does write ups for procedures at a pharm company, and keeps threatening to use that in a lab manual. She’s stuck on which piece of glasswear might be most said to resemble a buttock, though. At the moment my favorite is **xanthic** , which is fancy way of saying yellowish. ---
**Author:** ![EvilTOJ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee59a6/32.png) [@EvilTOJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EvilTOJ)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2010, 9:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-esoteric-word-in-your-vocabulary/527403/38 "2010-02-03T09:42:21Z")
I’m quite partial to using [spathic](http://www.thefreedictionary.com/spathic) whenever possible. “Danielle, you’re looking positively spathic today!” ---
**Author:** ![Olentzero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/90ced4/32.png) [@Olentzero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Olentzero)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2010, 11:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-esoteric-word-in-your-vocabulary/527403/39 "2010-02-03T11:30:22Z")
> [@suranyi](#): > > **defenestration** : the act of throwing a person out of a window Comes complete with its own [historical events](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Defenestrations_of_Prague)! Mine’s _ **quincunx** _ - a pattern of five elements most commonly seen on dice and playing cards. ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2010, 12:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-esoteric-word-in-your-vocabulary/527403/40 "2010-02-03T12:49:00Z")
Nice to see the callipygian getting a nice reception - can’t imagine why
 I forgot another word I really like: [synecdoche](http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=navclient&ie=UTF-8&rlz=1T4GGLL_enUS320US321&q=definition+synecdoche) - I was bummed when that movie, “Synecdoche, New York” came out because the word got misused a lot - kinda like when Alanis hit with Ironic
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