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.
Check out the Word of the Yearthe 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.
of or relating to the greatest ocean depths, below approximately 20,000 feet (6,500 meters).
Hadal is based on Hades, the Greek god of the underworld. The Ancient Greek name for Hades, Hā́idēs, is of unclear origin, but a longtime popular explanation is that it is related to aïdḗs, meaning “invisible, unseen.” Hadal was first recorded in English in the late 1950s. EXAMPLE OF HADAL USED IN A SENTENCE No sunlight can ever penetrate the hadal trenches of the Pacific Ocean.
a country-dance in quick duple meter.
Écossaise is a form of French écossais, meaning “Scottish.” Both French Écosse and English Scotland come from Late Latin Scotus, a name for Gaelic-speaking people in the British Isles. The origin of Scotus may be connected to Irish Gaelic scoith, “to cut off,” or Scottish Gaelic sgaothrach, “crowd.” Écossaise was first recorded in English in the early 1860s. EXAMPLE OF ÉCOSSAISE USED IN A SENTENCE The couples prepared to dance the écossaise by forming two parallel lines.
