Word of the Day
Learn a new word every day! The Dictionary.com team of language experts carefully selects each Word of the Day to add some panache to your vocabulary.
(of a wind or air current) moving downward or down a slope.
Katabatic comes from Ancient Greek katá, meaning “down, through, against, towards,” and baínein, “to go.” Katá has several variants in English and also appears in catalog and cathedral. Meanwhile, baínein is the source of acrobat, basis, and diabetes. Katabatic was first recorded in English in the late 1910s. EXAMPLE OF KATABATIC USED IN A SENTENCE The katabatic gusts rushed down the mountain, burying the village with the snow they carried along.
art nouveau, a style of fine and applied art characterized by curvilinear motifs, as practiced in German-speaking countries.
From German, Jugendstil consists of Jugend, meaning “youth,” and Stil, meaning “style.” Jugend and English youth are distant relatives of Latin juvenis, “young.” Stil and English style both come from Latin stilus, “tool for writing.” Jugendstil was first recorded in English in the late 1920s. EXAMPLE OF JUGENDSTIL USED IN A SENTENCE The old movie theater’s lobby reflected Jugendstil, with bold curves and detailed flowers adorning the wallpaper.
the alteration of a word or phrase borrowed from another language to accord more closely with the phonological and lexical patterns of the borrowing language.
Hobson-Jobson comes from the Arabic lament ḥasan ḥusayn. British soldiers stationed in South Asia mistakenly wrote the Arabic phrase down as Hossy Gossy or Hossein Jossen. Eventually, the spelling Hobson-Jobson won out, after Hobson and Jobson, two clown characters in Victorian literature. Henry Yule and Arthur Coke Burrell coined Hobson-Jobson for the name of their glossary of Anglo-Indian words in 1886. EXAMPLE OF HOBSON-JOBSON USED IN A SENTENCE English buckaroo and cockroach are the results of Hobson-Jobson, coming from Spanish vaquero and cucaracha.
characteristically flirtatious, especially in a teasing, lighthearted manner.
Coquettish comes from the French word coquette, a flirtatious woman, with a male equivalent, coquet. Formed from coq, “rooster,” and -et (feminine -ette), a suffix meaning “small, little,” coquettish is a relative of the Word of the Day cockade. Coquettish was first recorded in English around 1690. EXAMPLE OF COQUETTISH USED IN A SENTENCE She finished telling her riveting story with only a coquettish wink, leaving her audience begging to know the ending.
living on or in the ground.
Terricolous is based on the Latin word terra, meaning “earth,” and the element -colous, meaning “inhabiting.” Terra is also the source of the Words of the Day terraqueous and terrene. Terricolous was first recorded in English around 1830. EXAMPLE OF TERRICOLOUS USED IN A SENTENCE A large patch of terricolous moss grew in the shade of the old shed.
