Word of the Day

Acmesthesia, “awareness of sharp points through touch without pain,” is based on Ancient Greek akmḗ, “point, highest point,” and aísthēsis, “sensation, perception.” Akmḗ comes from a family of words related to sharpness, whether literally or figuratively, both within and beyond Ancient Greek. For literal sharpness, compare English edge; Latin acus, “needle” (as in acupuncture and acute); and Ancient Greek oxýs, “sharp” (as in oxygen). For figurative sharpness, compare Latin ācer, “bitter” (as in acrid and acrimony); Latin acerbus, “sour, unripe” (as in exacerbate); Latin acidus, “sour” (as in acid); and Ancient Greek ákros, “topmost” (as in acrobat). Acmesthesia was first recorded in English circa 1910. EXAMPLE OF ACMESTHESIA USED IN A SENTENCE During the acupuncture session, she experienced acmesthesia and felt only minimal discomfort from the pinpricks.

Janus word, “a word that has opposite or nearly opposite meanings,” is the namesake of Janus, the literally two-faced Roman god of beginnings, doorways, and the movement of the sun. As we learned from the Word of the Day génoise, the name Janus is also the source of January (Latin Jānuārius) and related to jānus, “doorway, covered passage,” as in janitor. Janus words go by many alternative names, such as the Latin–Greek blend contranym (also contronym) or the purely Greek auto-antonym. Janus word was first recorded in English in the late 1930s, predating its alternatives. EXAMPLE OF JANUS WORD USED IN A SENTENCE Because the headline used the Janus word “sanction,” it was difficult to tell whether the government was approving or disapproving of the matter at hand.

Epigenetic, “pertaining to the process by which the expression of genetic information is modified on a molecular level,” is a compound of epi-, “on, over,” and genetic, which is formed from Ancient Greek génesis, “origin, source.” It may be easy to assume that gene is a shortened form of genetic, but the two are only distantly related. For more relatives of epigenetic, compare the Words of the Day gens du monde, iatrogenic, and kindred. Epigenetic was first recorded in English circa 1830, but its modern sense dates to the late 1950s. EXAMPLE OF EPIGENETIC USED IN A SENTENCE Forty years after their separation at birth, epigenetic reasons had made one twin start to go gray earlier than the other.

Rejuvenate, “to restore to a former state,” is based on Latin juvenis, “young," with re- indicating “again” or “back.” Juvenis is also the source of juvenile, and through contraction of the -uve- into -ū-, its comparative form is the easily recognizable jūnior, “younger.” Though this change from -uve- to -ū- may seem a little odd, a similar phenomenon happened in English, with Old English geoguth becoming modern English youth, a distant relative of juvenis. Rejuvenate was first recorded in English at the turn of the 19th century. EXAMPLE OF REJUVENATE USED IN A SENTENCE The construction workers rejuvenated the abandoned house, repairing its windows and laying down new floors.

Vaudevillian, “of or relating to theatrical entertainment consisting of various performances,” is the adjectival form of the noun vaudeville, a loanword from French. One possible origin for vaudeville is as an abbreviated alteration of Middle French (chanson du) vau de Vire, “(song of the) vale of Vire,” a valley in Normandy, France, noted for satirical folk songs. Another possibility is from dialectal French vauder, “to go,” and virer, “to turn”; vauder could derive from Latin vādere, “to go,” as we touched on with the Word of the Day laisser-aller. Vaudevillian was first recorded in English in the late 1920s. EXAMPLE OF VAUDEVILLIAN USED IN A SENTENCE While he preferred performing Shakespeare, the masked man revealed that he had made his start as a vaudevillian actor.