# What new word have you learned recently? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [August 1, 2006, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-new-word-have-you-learned-recently/366942 "2006-08-01T22:12:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Rigamarole](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/77aa72/32.png) [@Rigamarole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rigamarole)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2006, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-new-word-have-you-learned-recently/366942/1 "2006-08-01T22:12:02Z")
They say a young child learns something like what, 20+ words a day? (no cite for that but the point is it’s a lot) I have noted that my vocabulary’s rate of growth has decreased a good bit since then. But every once in a while, you still get that “I just learned a new word!” buzz, even when you’re 52 years old (which I’m not. But I know it will continue happening even then). So what new word have you learned recently? For me, it was about 5 minutes ago, and it was here on the Dope kudos to **Pazu** ([see post #17 for usage](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=382005&page=1&pp=50)), that I learned the word “skint” - meaning penniless. Upon looking it up in Merriam-Webster’s I also learned it was chiefly British, so not a real word, but still pretty cool. (Please include some definition and/or usage so the yet-unenlightened among us can also benefit from your discovery) ---
**Author:** ![Clockwork\_And\_Candy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b782af/32.png) [@Clockwork\_And\_Candy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clockwork_And_Candy)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2006, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-new-word-have-you-learned-recently/366942/2 "2006-08-01T22:33:46Z")
I’m embarrassed to say that yesterday was when I finally looked up the definition of ubiquitous. Which is “existing or being everywhere at the same time : constantly encountered : WIDESPREAD \.” Honestly, who uses the word “ubiquity” in everyday conversation? Not I, apparently. ---
**Author:** ![Rebecca\_DiMwitter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/a87d85/32.png) [@Rebecca\_DiMwitter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rebecca_DiMwitter)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2006, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-new-word-have-you-learned-recently/366942/3 "2006-08-01T22:40:32Z")
On front page of Google recently: **mordant** Means bitingly sarcastic, incisive & trenchant, bitingly painful, and from the French _mordre_, meaning of course, “to bite”. Had never heard the word before, and I dare to imagine myself well-read. HA! I’ve used it a million times already since learning it a week or so ago. Trips off the tongue nicely. –Beck ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2006, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-new-word-have-you-learned-recently/366942/4 "2006-08-01T23:17:53Z")
I don’t remember the recent new words, because they quickly become, well, words. But in these hallowed threads I first learned the word _birefringence._ ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2006, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-new-word-have-you-learned-recently/366942/5 "2006-08-01T23:37:56Z")
**Oricess** , from a **spingears** post in GD. I looked it up, and it turns out to be a typo, for process, and sometimes orifice. It does show up in some interesting sentences though: > [@](#): > > The object, subject and oricess of observing (or being aware of it) are one. > [@](#): > > There needs to be some sort of DC to AC conversion or some similar oricess for the coils to energize for the right amount of time for a certian rotational … > [@](#): > > Responsible for FPGA or Hardcopy 90nm oricess circuit design, simulation and direction of physical design for next generation FPGA/ Hardcopy solutions … > [@](#): > > Teresa Davidian, Intervallic Oricess and Autonomy in the First Movement of Debussy’s Sonata for Cello and Piano. Roger Graybill, Intervallic Transformation … > [@](#): > > The wing is created using a proprietary oricess developed JUST for AirfoilZ. Hollow wing with balsa I-beam spar is very light but strong and rigid. > [@](#): > > Experimental study of progressive localisation oricess in overconsolidated lacustrine … > [@](#): > > i fused my house 3 times in the oricess but now i have to build a case attachment to put them in ! ! \_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_ mmmm i love boobs … ---
**Author:** ![Lightray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lightray/32/391_2.png) [@Lightray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lightray)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2006, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-new-word-have-you-learned-recently/366942/6 "2006-08-02T00:11:59Z")
\*_Lentiginous_, _adj._ freckly. Someone told me to “shut my lentiginous butt up” after I’d teased them about using hippopotomonstrousesquipedalian words all the time. I had to go look it up before I could come up with a comeback. … and my butt isn’t even freckly. :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![Carlyjay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e0b2c6/32.png) [@Carlyjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Carlyjay)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2006, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-new-word-have-you-learned-recently/366942/7 "2006-08-02T00:18:21Z")
I was shocked when I found myself learning several new four-letter words in the span of two months. And I don’t mean dirty ones. But these aren’t _difficult_ words, just, strangely, ones I’d never come across before: [**tony** :](http://www.m-w.com/dictionary/tony) [**twee**](http://www.m-w.com/dictionary/twee) [**aver**](http://www.m-w.com/dictionary/aver) ---
**Author:** ![fachverwirrt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/94ad74/32.png) [@fachverwirrt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fachverwirrt)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2006, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-new-word-have-you-learned-recently/366942/8 "2006-08-02T00:20:30Z")
I’m sure there have been more recently, but the last four I can recall: [metonymy](http://dictionary.reference.com/search?r=2&q=metonymy) [anent](http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/anent) [galena](http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/galena) [fane](http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/fane)(in the second sense). ---
**Author:** ![freckafree](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/freckafree/32/3050_2.png) [@freckafree](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/freckafree)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2006, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-new-word-have-you-learned-recently/366942/9 "2006-08-02T00:22:13Z")
I subscribe to Word of the Day from [yourDictionary.com](http://yourDictionary.com). Every once in a while, there’s a real doozy, like **turdiform** , which means shaped like a thrush. Also **turdoid** and **turdine**. Can’t you just imagine saying to someone, “I am enchanted by your turdine voice.” AARGH! My delight in such a scatological word is disgustingly puerile. ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2006, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-new-word-have-you-learned-recently/366942/10 "2006-08-02T00:40:25Z")
**cosmism** I’m sure I must have heard it before, god knows I’ve read enough on related subjects. Its meaning is intuited easily enough; I just don’t recall it ever coming up before. [digression follows] There’s a Chinese fella I work with who asked me how to pronounce it today. I’ve been helping with his English, which is kind of funny because (apart from my humble self) I believe he has the largest English vocabulary of anyone in the workplace – it’s just that his grammar is a little rough and his pronounciation is very poor. (If our manager knew how much time we spent talking about dipthongs, fricatives, and sibilants, he’d probably pitch a fit.) Anyway, after noticing how much emphasis his vocabulary list places on hard sciences and arcane academics, I finally came out and asked him plainly what his background was. Turns out he has a phD in physics and worked as a satellite engineer before coming to Canada. And people think that place is beneath _me!_ :smack: ---
**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:** [August 2, 2006, 4:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-new-word-have-you-learned-recently/366942/11 "2006-08-02T04:33:43Z")
Anyone interested in the English language should subscribe to [A Word A Day](http://wordsmith.org/awad/), IMO. The compiler, Anu Garg, has a lovely gentle intelligence that I really like. I have a fairly large vocab but there’d be about one a week he sends out that is new to me. Todays is Chaffer, yesterday’s was Guttle. ---
**Author:** ![Alice\_The\_Goon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ed8c4c/32.png) [@Alice\_The\_Goon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alice_The_Goon)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2006, 4:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-new-word-have-you-learned-recently/366942/12 "2006-08-02T04:39:30Z")
Yay for Word of the Day, I get it too! I also had to finally look up ubiquitous a couple years ago, and I’m a total word nerd, so I’m not proud of that. ---
**Author:** ![Strinka](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/strinka/32/512_2.png) [@Strinka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Strinka)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2006, 4:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-new-word-have-you-learned-recently/366942/13 "2006-08-02T04:47:51Z")
Due to **Subway Prophet** , in [this thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=379277&page=2&pp=50&highlight=thagomizer) , I learned that [thagomizer](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thagomizer) is a real word. ---
**Author:** ![Frylock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ce7236/32.png) [@Frylock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frylock)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2006, 5:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-new-word-have-you-learned-recently/366942/14 "2006-08-02T05:47:44Z")
Wikiality. Look it up. 🙂 -FrL- ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2006, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-new-word-have-you-learned-recently/366942/15 "2006-08-02T16:54:53Z")
\*\*Edimgiafad [b/] ---
**Author:** ![Green\_Cymbeline](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/green_cymbeline/32/9244_2.png) [@Green\_Cymbeline](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Green_Cymbeline)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2006, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-new-word-have-you-learned-recently/366942/16 "2006-08-02T22:25:10Z")
**Insalubrious** : meaning, Not promoting health; unwholesome; not conducive to health; not wholesome, detrimental to health I learned this yesterday when a coworker sent the following e-mail: > [@](#): > > -----Original Message----- > From: Coworker > Sent: Tuesday, August 01, 2006 6:20 PM > To: Staff > Subject: Toxic Fumes Likely over the Weekend > > All, > > The folks across the way will be doing some work on Saturday that is likely to produce some **insalubrious** fumes. Please avoid the office over the weekend. > > Thank you I mean, really, why did he have to use that word? Couldn’t he have just said toxic fumes? :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![rowrrbazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rowrrbazzle/32/414_2.png) [@rowrrbazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rowrrbazzle)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2006, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-new-word-have-you-learned-recently/366942/17 "2006-08-02T23:16:18Z")
[isopleth](http://www.encyclopedia.com/html/i/isopleth.asp) > [@](#): > > line drawn on a map through all points of equal value of some measurable quantity. In many meteorologic, oceanographic, or geologic studies some physical or chemical property is examined that varies from place to place on a map. Isopleths showing the quantity of the property being studied can be drawn on the map to highlight regional trends of high or low abundance of that property. For example, topographic maps showing contours of equal elevation are probably the most common type of isopleth maps. ---
**Author:** ![Glory](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/7cd45c/32.png) [@Glory](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Glory)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2006, 1:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-new-word-have-you-learned-recently/366942/18 "2006-08-03T01:06:44Z")
From a description in Donna Tartt’s The Secret History - [epicene](http://www.m-w.com/dictionary/epicene) - meaning having characteristics of the other sex.