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.
excessively ornate or fussy in artistic or architectural style.
Barococo, “excessively ornate in style,” is a portmanteau, or blend, of baroque and rococo, two words of complicated origins. Baroque is a borrowing from French and comes from older Portuguese barroco or Spanish barrueco, “irregularly shaped pearl,” and from here, numerous linguists have weighed in with their ideas. Perhaps there is a link to Spanish berruca, “wart” (from Latin verrūca). Rococo is also borrowed from French and derives from Medieval Latin rocca, “rock,” which may come from a Celtic source or, alternatively, Latin rūpēs, “cliff.” Barococo was first recorded in English in the mid-1920s. For more examples of portmanteaux, check out this article. EXAMPLE OF BAROCOCO USED IN A SENTENCE The guests’ eyes bulged and jaws dropped when they entered the foyer, which had been renovated in a barococo style.
in silks or fabrics, presenting a watery or wavelike appearance.
Moiré, “presenting a watery or wavelike appearance,” is a borrowing from French and means “given a finish resembling moire.” Moire is likely an adaptation of English mohair, which makes moiré a reborrowing, or a word that is borrowed back into its language of origin, similar to anime and the Word of the Day yé-yé. The term mohair comes via Italian from Arabic mukhayyar, “choice, chosen,” from the verb khayyara, “to choose.” This means that mohair is not related to hair, although folk etymology may suggest it is. For more examples of folk etymology, take a look at the Words of the Day cathartic, eggcorn, and ferrule. Moiré was first recorded in English in the 1650s. EXAMPLE OF MOIRÉ USED IN A SENTENCE He saw moiré patterns everywhere, even in insect screens rustling in the breeze.
the art or practice of painting elaborate patterns on the skin with henna.
Mehndi, “the art of painting patterns with henna,” is a borrowing from Hindi. Hindi and numerous other languages of the Indian subcontinent (including Bengali, Marathi, and Punjabi) come from Sanskrit. In this way, the earliest known source of mehndi is Sanskrit mendhī (also mendhikā), “the henna plant,” which is of uncertain origin. Today, although most languages that descended from Sanskrit are spoken in India and its adjacent countries, Romani is among a handful spoken elsewhere in Eurasia. Mehndi was first recorded in English in the late 1990s. EXAMPLE OF MEHNDI USED IN A SENTENCE Her sister practiced the beautiful, intricate patterns of mehndi on us.
the art or process of transferring pictures or designs from specially prepared paper to wood, metal, glass, etc.
Decalcomania, “the art of transferring pictures from paper to another medium,” is adapted from French décalcomanie, equivalent to décalquer, “to transfer a tracing of,” plus English -mania. The verb décalquer is based on Italian calcare, “to stomp, trample,” ultimately from Latin calx, “heel.” From this same source comes calque, also known as a loan translation. One common example of a calque is brainwashing (from Mandarin Chinese xǐ nǎo “to wash the brain”). For other words descended from Latin calx, check out the Words of the Day cantrip and inculcate. Decalcomania was first recorded in English in the early 1860s. EXAMPLE OF DECALCOMANIA USED IN A SENTENCE With the right materials, decalcomania can make images leap off the page and onto a variety of other surfaces.
a small figure of ivory, wood, metal, or ceramic, originally used as a buttonlike fixture on a man's sash, from which small personal belongings were hung.
Netsuke “a small figure used on a man’s sash” is a loanword from Japanese that is equivalent to ne, “root,” combined with tsukeru, “to attach.” In English, the Hepburn system is widely used for transliterating Japanese into the Roman alphabet, and one feature of this system is that it romanizes Japanese vowels using their counterparts in Romance languages such as Italian and Spanish. The one Japanese vowel that differs substantially from its closest Romance equivalent is u; Japanese u is pronounced as “oo” in boot but with the lips unrounded—similar to English “oo,” as in book. In certain syllables, the u is voiceless, which sounds in English as if there is no vowel at all. This is why Japanese netsuke is typically pronounced in English variously as “net-skey,” “net-suh-key,” “net-soo-key,” or “net-soo-key.” Netsuke was first recorded in English in the early 1880s. EXAMPLE OF NETSUKE USED IN A SENTENCE He had left behind his favorite sash with a two-horned dragon netsuke on it, making everyone worry about his swift departure.
