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.
any of various insects that sting or bite, especially a large American mosquito.
Gallinipper is a term with an obscure history. The word previously appeared variously as gal-knipper and gurnipper, and the second half of gallinipper looks as it does because of the influence of nipper, “a thing that bites.” Gallinipper was first recorded in English around 1680. EXAMPLE OF GALLINIPPER USED IN A SENTENCE A few spritzes of bug spray repelled the swarm of gallinippers that was pursuing the sweaty hikers.
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.
