Word of the Day
radiant
adjective
bright with joy, hope, etc.
More about radiant
Radiant, “bright with joy and hope,” is based on Latin radiāns “shining,” the present participle of the verb radiāre “to radiate light, shine,” which is based on the noun radius “beam, ray.” Radius is also the source of radian, radio, radium, and ray. While English uses -ing to mark its present participles (seeing, going), as we learned from the recent Word of the Day gallantly, Latin uses -āns, -ēns, or -iēns—depending on the type of verb—for the same purpose. For phonetic reasons, the stems of these three Latin endings swap the s for t, which is how Latin radiāns becomes English radiant, pungēns “piercing” becomes pungent, and conveniēns “coming together” becomes convenient. Radiant was first recorded in English in the late 15th century.
how is radiant used?
To align with a California beauty company committed to natural ingredients through sustainable means feels spot-on for a wellness-minded, preternaturally radiant person like [Logan] Browning.
In her later years, [Queen Elizabeth II] seemed to soften, her smile more radiant, surrounded by adoring grandchildren and great-grandchildren, but rewind over 70 years and she was a force to be reckoned with.
prevaricate
verb (used without object)
to speak falsely or misleadingly; deliberately misstate or create an incorrect impression; lie.
More about prevaricate
Prevaricate, “to deliberately speak falsely,” comes from the Latin verb praevāricārī “to straddle something,” based on prae “before” and vārus “bent outwards, bow-legged.” Potential relatives of vārus include varius “speckled, diverse” (as in variety, various, and vary) and varix “dilated vein” (as in varicose). However, because of the simple difference in vowel length between the long ā in vārus and the short a in varius and varix, the linguistic community largely isn’t convinced that all three are related. Prevaricate was first recorded in English circa 1580.
how is prevaricate used?
Prevaricate. Equivocate. Fib. Call it what you like, it’s still lying. And lying, as everyone knows, is just bad and wrong.
Cottagers, commuters and rural-weekend escape artists are a bunch of liars. I know because I am one. I’ve shamelessly prevaricated with the best of them all summer long…
geitonogamy
noun
pollination of a flower by pollen from another flower on the same plant.
More about geitonogamy
Geitonogamy “self-pollination of a flower” is a compound based on Ancient Greek geítōn “neighbor” and the combining form -gamy “marriage, union, fertilization.” The form -gamy, in turn, is based on Ancient Greek -gamía “act of marrying” (from gámos “marriage”) and appears in terms such as allogamy (literally “self-marriage”), bigamy (“marriage twice”), endogamy (“marriage within”), exogamy (“marriage outside”), monogamy (“alone marriage”), and polygamy (“many marriage”). Using Latin instead, the Latin equivalent of geitonogamy would be the rather lengthy “vicinimatrimony” or “vicininuptials.” Geitonogamy was first recorded in English in the late 1870s.
how is geitonogamy used?
In general, geitonogamy increases as a pollinator visits more flowers on a plant. For example, consider the destinations of pollen removed from the first of five flowers visited by a pollinator on a plant…