Word of the Day

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.

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.

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.

Zabuton is borrowed from Japanese and formed from za, “seat,” and -buton, a form related to futon. Za as well as both the fu and ton elements in futon are all derived from Middle Chinese. In modern Mandarin, za has the cognate zuò, “seat,” fu is related to bù, “cloth,” and ton shares an origin with Mandarin tuán, “ball, circle, mass.” Zabuton was first recorded in English in the late 1880s. EXAMPLE OF ZABUTON USED IN A SENTENCE The guests each picked up a zabuton upon entering the room so they could sit around the low table in comfort.

Io is named after Īṓ, one of Zeus’s mortal lovers in Greek mythology. The name Īṓ, along with many Ancient Greek names, most likely comes from a lost language of the Mediterranean and is of uncertain origin and meaning. German astronomer Simon Marius gave the moon Io its name in the 1610s. EXAMPLE OF IO USED IN A SENTENCE Photos from the spacecraft revealed an ongoing eruption on the surface of Io.