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 Yeara compound noun or adjective in which the first word describes the person or object denoted by the second.
Bahuvrihi is from a Sanskrit word that literally means “having much rice.” In this rather meta way, bahuvrihi is itself a bahuvrihi. Sanskrit vrīhi and English rice may not look much alike, but they are indeed distantly related. Bahuvrihi was first recorded in English in the 1840s. EXAMPLE OF BAHUVRIHI USED IN A SENTENCE It was challenging to decide which bahuvrihi best described the hotheaded, dimwitted loudmouth.
a being or object having many legs.
Poly- comes from Ancient Greek polýs, meaning “many,” while -ped is from Latin pēs, “foot,” meaning that polyped is a blend of roots from two different languages. An all-Greek version would be “polypod,” while an all-Latin version would be “multipod” instead. Polyped was first recorded in English around 1820. EXAMPLE OF POLYPED USED IN A SENTENCE Centipedes, millipedes, and several other kinds of polypeds scurried across the forest floor.
to totally defeat or dominate, especially in a video or computer game.
Pwn is an intentional misspelling of the verb own, likely inspired by the adjacent O and P keys on QWERTY keyboards. Pwn is an example of leetspeak, a fanciful, tongue-in-cheek style of English spelling used online in informal contexts. Woot, also spelled w00t, is another example. Pwn was first recorded in English in the early 1990s. EXAMPLE OF PWN USED IN A SENTENCE “Ultimate pwnage,” the gamer remarked as she swiftly pwned the boss of the level.
a mixture of chopped nuts and apples, wine, and spices that is eaten at the Seder meal on Passover.
Haroseth is borrowed from a Hebrew word that is either related to or derived from ḥarsīth or ḥeres, “pottery clay.” The Hebrew “khuh” sound, represented by the letter heth at the beginning of haroseth, may appear in English as h, ḥ, ẖ, ch, or kh. Haroseth was first recorded in English in the mid-1880s. EXAMPLE OF HAROSETH USED IN A SENTENCE The red wine and cinnamon gave the haroseth a sharp, distinctive taste.
impassioned; with passion or strong feeling.
Appassionato is based on the Italian verb appassionare, “to impassion, excite, thrill.” The ultimate source of appassionare is Latin patī, “to suffer,” which has two stems in English: pass-, as in passion, and pat-, as in patient. Appassionato was first recorded in English in the 1830s. EXAMPLE OF APPASSIONATO USED IN A SENTENCE The film’s score turned bombastic and appassionato as the two villains battled for victory.
