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Feb 18, 2026
This week’s theme
Words that sound dirty, but aren’t

This week’s words
invaginate
fucate
sexpartite

sexpartite
Notre-Dame de Paris
Photo: Carlos Delgado

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A.Word.A.Day
with Anu Garg

sexpartite

PRONUNCIATION:
(seks-PAR-tyt)

MEANING:
adjective:
1. Divided into six parts.
2. Having six participants.

ETYMOLOGY:
From Latin sex (six) + partite (parted), from partire (to divide). Earliest documented use: 1654.

NOTES:
The word is often used in architecture. A sexpartite vault is divided into six sections by three transverse ribs and two groin ribs. Yes, groin is the official term.

USAGE:
“Second place went to Gordon Runte of New York for his ‘Abs Begone, Abs Begone,’ about an infomercial hawking pills guaranteed to give the user a midsection with “rows sexpartite and distinct one from the other.”
Goldilocks Parody Just Right for Faux Faulkner; Daily Press (Newport News, Virginia); Jul 22, 2003.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:
A man needs a little madness, or else he never dares cut the rope and be free. -Nikos Kazantzakis, poet and novelist (18 Feb 1883-1957)

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