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.
a party, gathering, or the like, at which dancing, singing, and storytelling are the usual forms of entertainment.
Ceilidh is an adaptation of either Irish Gaelic céilidhe or Scottish Gaelic cèilidh, both from Old Irish céile or céle, meaning “companion.” From here, the deeper origins of ceilidh become murky. One proposal is that ceilidh is distantly related to Latin cīvis, “citizen,” the source of city and civilization. Ceilidh was first recorded in English in the early 1870s. EXAMPLE OF CEILIDH USED IN A SENTENCE The ceilidh, overflowing with dancing and music, went from dusk till dawn in the small countryside village.
to betray.
Bewray is a compound of the prefix be-, which is a form of the preposition by, and wray, an obsolete verb meaning “to accuse, expose.” Because of the influence of betray, the definition of bewray may have shifted from accusation to disloyalty. The prefix be- appears in befriend, bedazzle, and bejewel. Bewray was first recorded in English in the late 13th century. EXAMPLE OF BEWRAY USED IN A SENTENCE Several senators bewrayed Caesar, bringing him to an untimely end.
a subatomic particle with spherical symmetry and positive, negative, or neutral charge.
Pion is either a contraction of pi meson or formed from pi and the suffix -on, which indicates subatomic particles. The Greek letter pi (Ancient Greek pî or peî) is a borrowing from the Phoenician alphabet, and its name comes from a Semitic root meaning “mouth.” Pion was first recorded in English in the early 1950s. EXAMPLE OF PION USED IN A SENTENCE The pion blinked into and out of existence within mere billionths of a second.
either of two triggerfishes of Indo-Pacific coral reefs.
Humuhumunukunukuapuaa is from Hawaiian humuhumu-nukunuku-ā-pua‘a. The humuhumu element means “triggerfish,” while nukunuku translates as “short, blunt” and “small snout,” ā means “like,” and pua’a means “pig.” Both humuhumu and nukunuku are reduplicated forms, same as the English terms bye-bye, chitchat, and itsy-bitsy. Humuhumunukunukuapuaa was first recorded in English in the mid-1860s. EXAMPLE OF HUMUHUMUNUKUNUKUAPUAA USED IN A SENTENCE A school of brightly colored humuhumunukunukuapuaa drifted idly by the reef.
a device, as a skylight or reflector, for diverting light into a building.
Abat-jour is from French, in which abat is a form of abattre, “to beat down,” ultimately from Latin battuere, “to beat.” Battuere is the source of numerous fighting-related words in English, including battle and debate, and French jour, “day, daylight,” is the source of journal and journey. Abat-jour was first recorded in English in the 1820s. EXAMPLE OF ABAT-JOUR USED IN A SENTENCE Through an abat-jour in the ceiling, the sun cast a square of light onto the floor.
