A.Word.A.Day --antre

A.Word.A.Day

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Mar 14, 2022

This week’s theme
You guess the words

This week’s words
antre
--e--
--s--
--l--
--e--

Previous week’s theme
Overachievers from mythology

A.Word.A.Day

with Anu Garg

Twenty-eight years ago, on this day in 1994, I started what became Wordsmith.org. There was no grand plan -- just a way to share my love of language and words. After all this time, I still can't wait to wake up, explore words, write about them, and share them with you.

Whether you joined us this week or years or decades ago, we are happy to have you here. You are what really makes Wordsmith.org.

Dictionaries do not list a word for a 28th anniversary but we can coin one: octovicennial, from Latin octo- (eight) + vicennial (20th anniversary).

GUESS-THE-WORDS CONTEST

To celebrate the octovicennial, this week we are having a contest.

You have the first word of the week. Can you guess what other words I have picked this week? Here are some hints.

All are five-letter words.
The letter distribution is: 6 A, 6 E, 1 L, 2 N, 2 P, 2 R, 1 S, 3 T, and 2 V.
The middle letters of the remaining four words are shown on the right.
Other patterns may appear too.
Some of the words are coined after an animal or a god or goddess in Greek and Roman mythologies.

Now, can you guess one or more words we are going to feature this week? The first person to guess a word wins a prize. Also, the person who guesses the maximum number of words wins a prize.

PRIZES

Your choice of a signed copy of any of my books or a copy of the word game One Up!

HOW TO ENTER

Email your answers to words@wordsmith.org. Include your location (city, state).

On to today’s word ...

antre

PRONUNCIATION:

(AN-tuhr)

MEANING:

noun: A cave, cavern, cavity, etc.

ETYMOLOGY:

From Middle French antre (cave), from Latin antrum (cave), from Greek antron (cave). Earliest documented use: 1585.

USAGE:

“And they mortar’d up the antre’s opening.”
Aleksis Kivi (translation: Douglas Robinson); The Brothers Seven; Zeta Books; 2017.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:

The ideals which have lighted my way, and time after time have given me new courage to face life cheerfully, have been Kindness, Beauty, and Truth. -Albert Einstein, physicist, Nobel laureate (14 Mar 1879-1955)

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