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.
the point at which the stars of a binary system are farthest apart.
Apastron, “the point at which binary stars are farthest apart,” is based on Ancient Greek apó “away, off, apart” and ástron “star, constellation.” Apó, which remains apo- in English before most consonants (as in apology) but becomes ap- before vowels and h (as in aphorism). Distant relatives of apó, all featuring a telltale labial (using the lips) consonant, include English after and off, Latin ab “away from,” and Sanskrit ápa “away, off.” Ástron is based on astḗr “star” (compare the recent Words of the Day asterism and astronaut), which is a cognate and synonym of English star and Latin stella (compare the recent Words of the Day circumstellar and stellate). Apastron was first recorded in English in the early 1840s.
a ballet technique for mastering the art of slow, controlled movement and statuelike posing.
Plastique, “a ballet technique for mastering slow movement,” is the French cognate of plastic. Both terms come by way of Latin plasticus “moldable” from Ancient Greek plastikós, formed from plastós “formed, molded.” Plastós is based on the verb plássein (stem plath-) “to form, mold” and -tos, an adjective-forming suffix, with the change from the expected “plathtós” to the actual plastós perhaps for easier pronunciation. Other derivatives of plássein include plasma, plaster, rhinoplasty, and the recent Words of the Day plasticity and esemplastic. While plastic in English dates to circa 1630, plastique was first recorded in English circa 1800.
with great care or caution; warily.
Despite the similar spelling and pronunciation, gingerly “with great care or caution” has nothing to do with the spicy root ginger. Gingerly is of uncertain origin but may come from Middle French gensor “delicate, pretty” (from gent “gentle”) combined with English -ly, an adjective- and adverb-forming suffix. The ultimate source of gensor is either the Latin verb gignere (stem genit-) “to beget” or the Latin noun gēns (stem gent-) “race, people.” In contrast, ginger comes via Latin from Ancient Greek zingíberis, perhaps by way of Sanskrit śṛṅgaveram or Pali siṃgiveram from a Dravidian language; compare Malayalam and Tamil iñci “ginger.” Gingerly was first recorded in English in the 1510s.
a person or thing that has become renewed or restored after suffering calamity.
Phoenix, “a person who has become restored after suffering calamity,” comes from Ancient Greek phoînix, which refers to the mythical bird, and this is where matters become murky. One popular proposal in the linguistic community is that phoînix comes from Ancient Egyptian bnw, the name of a heron represented as the god Benu. An alternative theory—a less broadly accepted one—is based on the fact that Ancient Greek had four phoînix words, meaning “phoenix,” “Phoenician,” “dark red,” and “date palm,” respectively. According to this theory, all four words are one and the same, though whether these phoînix words are of Indo-European, Semitic, or lost ancient Mediterranean origin is anyone’s guess. Phoenix was first recorded in English before 900.
yellow or yellow-orange.
Gamboge, “yellow-orange,” comes from New Latin gambogium, a gum resin from trees of the genus Garcinia that is made into a yellow pigment or dye, also called gamboge. Gambogium is a variant of Cambogia “Cambodia,” which comes from the Khmer name Kâmpŭchéa. The name Kâmpŭchéa allegedly derives from Kambu, the name of the legendary founder of Kamboja, which is a kingdom that flourished in what is now India about 2500 years ago. Gamboge was first recorded in English circa 1630.
