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.
a ring-shaped coral reef or a string of closely spaced small coral islands, enclosing or nearly enclosing a shallow lagoon.
Atoll “a ring-shaped coral reef enclosing a shallow lagoon” is an adaptation by way of French from Divehi atoḷu. Divehi is the official language of the Maldives, an archipelago country in the northern Indian Ocean comprising more than two dozen atolls, and belongs to the Indic group of Indo-European languages. Atoḷu may derive from Sanskrit ántara “within,” a distant cognate of interior (via Latin) and entero- “inside” (via Ancient Greek). An alternative theory is that atoḷu derives from aḍal “a sinking reef,” which is a term from Malayalam, a Dravidian language unrelated to the Indo-European language family. Atoll was first recorded in English circa 1620.
the variation and differences in neurological structure and function that exist among human beings, especially when viewed as being normal and natural rather than pathological.
Neurodiversity “the variation in neurological structure and function among human beings” is a recent coinage based on the combining form neuro- and the noun diversity. Neuro- “nerve” derives from Ancient Greek neûron “tendon, nerve,” which is distantly related to Latin nervus “tendon” and may be related to English sinew. Diversity comes from Latin dīversitās “difference,” from the verb dīvertere “to divert.” The ultimate source of dīvertere is the same as that for the recent Word of the Day selection verst: the Proto-Indo-European root wert- “to turn.” Neurodiversity was first recorded in English in the late 1990s.
to disappear gradually; vanish; fade away.
Evanesce “to disappear gradually” comes from the Latin verb ēvānēscere “to disappear,” from the prefix ex- (also ē-) “out of, from” and the verb vānēscere “to fade away.” We already learned about the prefix ex- as part of the recent Word of the Day selection eradicate, while vānēscere derives from the adjective vānus “empty, vain” and the inchoative suffix -ēscere. Vānus is also the source of words such as vanity and vanish, and -ēscere roughly means “to become, start to be,” as we learned from recent Word of the Day selections deliquesce and iridescent, both of which are based on this suffix. Evanesce was first recorded in English circa 1820.
a calculus or concretion found in the stomach or intestines of certain animals, especially ruminants, formerly reputed to be an effective remedy for poison.
Bezoar “a calculus found in the stomach of ruminants, formerly reputed to be an effective remedy for poison” is derived via Medieval Latin bezahar and Arabic bāzahr from Persian pād-zahr “antidote.” This Persian term is a compound of the elements pād- “protector” and zahr “poison.” Pād- comes from the Proto-Indo-European root pā- “to protect, feed,” which is also the source of food, fodder, and foster (via Old English); forage and fur (via Old French and Germanic); and recent Word of the Day selection repast (via Latin). Zahr also comes from a Proto-Indo-European root, gwhen- “to strike, kill,” which is the source of bane (from Old English bana “slayer”), defend and offend (from Latin dēfendere “to repel, ward off” and offendere “to strike against”), and gun (from Old Norse gunnr “war”). Bezoar was first recorded in English in the 1470s.
of or relating to reverence of forebears or tradition, especially if carried to excess.
Filiopietistic “of or relating to reverence of forebears” is a compound of the Latin noun fīlius “son” and the adjective pietistic “intense in religious devotion,” the latter of which derives ultimately from Latin pius “pious.” Fīlius is also the source of the English terms affiliate “to bring into close connection,” filial “of or relating to a son or daughter,” and even the Anglo-Norman element Fitz “(illegitimate) son of” that appears in many surnames of English and Irish origin, such as Fitzgerald and Fitzwilliam. Pius is the root of pious as well as expiate “to make amends for” and may be related to pūrus “clear, clean,” the source of pure. Filiopietistic was first recorded in English in the early 1890s.
