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.
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Cruciverbalist is a combination of two Latin words—crux “cross” and verbum “word”—and in this way, it’s a direct translation of the word crossword using Latin elements. Crux is also the source of numerous words related to crosses or, more figuratively, focal points, such as crucial and excruciating, while verbum’s descendants include verbal, verbiage, and verbose, all of which pertain to words.
the process of mountain making or upheaval.
Orogeny is essentially a fusion of two Ancient Greek words: óros “mountain” and -géneia “origin.” While óros and its derivatives are largely technical terms, -géneia is related to numerous words pertaining to birth or family, such as gene, genesis, genetics, and genealogy.
a place of great beauty, luxury, and contentment.
You may recognize Xanadu from the notorious cult classic film of the same name that starred Olivia Newton-John and spawned a Tony Award-nominated musical, but the word dates not to the ’80s but rather to 800 years ago. Xanadu is an English transliteration of the name of the summer palace belonging to Kublai Khan, grandson of Genghis Khan and emperor during the Yuan dynasty; the palace’s name in Mandarin is Shà ngdū “upper capital,” and its remains are still visitable today in the Inner Mongolia region of northern China.
an entire family network comprising relatives by blood and marriage and sometimes including close friends; clan.
Yiddish mishpocha derives from Hebrew mishpakhá “family,” as Hebrew is the source of a good portion of Yiddish vocabulary. Hebrew belongs to the Semitic family of languages and isn’t related to English, but we’ve nevertheless inherited numerous culture- and religion-related words from Hebrew, such as amen, cherub, jubilee, and hallelujah. Like its Hebrew source, mishpocha means more than just “immediate family”—it’s the collection of all blood relatives and relatives by marriage.
an establishment or reestablishment of harmonious relations.
Rapprochement is a direct borrowing from French, in which the word means “reconciliation” or, more literally, “a state of approaching again.” If you were thinking that rapprochement sounded like reapproach, you’re exactly right; rapprochement is essentially the word approach with the French equivalent of the prefix re- “again,” plus the noun-forming suffix -ment.
