Word of the Day
northpaw
adverb
with or for the right hand; right-handedly.
More about northpaw
Northpaw is often said to come from baseball, with a westward-facing pitcher’s right arm to the north, but this claim remains unproven. Many languages associate handedness with cardinal directions; compare Biblical Hebrew yāmîn, meaning both “right hand” and “south.” Northpaw was first recorded in English in the late 1890s. Northpaw is one of the recent additions to Dictionary.com.
EXAMPLE OF NORTHPAW USED IN A SENTENCE
To switch things up after hours of practicing, the left-handed pitcher threw northpaw instead.
chrestomathy
noun
a collection of selected literary passages, often by one author and especially from a foreign language.
More about chrestomathy
Chrestomathy is equivalent to Ancient Greek chrêsthai, “to use, need,” and manthánein, “to learn.” Chrêsthai is a distant relative of greedy and yearn, and as its stem math- would suggest, manthánein is indeed the source of mathematics and polymath. Chrestomathy was first recorded in English circa 1830.
EXAMPLE OF CHRESTOMATHY USED IN A SENTENCE
The chrestomathy, which contained several autobiographical excerpts translated from Spanish, provided the students with a glimpse into the author’s cultural heritage.
jacal
noun
a hut with a thatched roof and walls consisting of thin stakes driven into the ground.
More about jacal
Jacal is borrowed from Mexican Spanish and adapted from Nahuatl xahcalli, with xah- meaning “adobe” and calli meaning “house,” which also appears in the Word of the Day teocalli. Of no relation to the animal name jackal, which is of Persian origin, jacal was first recorded in English in the 1830s.
EXAMPLE OF JACAL USED IN A SENTENCE
The jacal rose gently out of the hill, showing how locally sourced materials such as wood and clay could create homes in harmony with the landscape.