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Feb 7, 2022
This week’s themeThere’s a word for it This week’s words cacoethes refoulement memetic bimarian graphomania 
Photo: Komkrit Preechachanwate / 123rf Previous week’s theme Homonyms 
A.Word.A.Day
with Anu GargI’m a minimalist, but I do make certain exceptions. One can never have too much chocolate in their pantry, too big a battery in their cellphone, or too many words on their wordshelves. Words don’t take much room. They don’t need feeding, vacuuming, washing, or tuning. No need to buy insurance or locks. How many words does one really need in life? The more the merrier. You don’t have to use them all at the same time, but you never know which word might come handy when. Here are five I have picked this week. Dusted them off (metaphorically speaking), as they have been unused for a while. Take a look. Do with them what you will. And add them to your own wordshelves. These are words that might make you say: I didn’t know there was a word for it! cacoethes
PRONUNCIATION:
(kak-oh/uh-WEE-theez)
MEANING:
noun: An irresistible urge to do something, especially something inadvisable.
ETYMOLOGY:
From Greek kakoethes (ill-disposed), from kakos (bad) + ethe (disposition).
Kakos is ultimately from the Indo-European root kakka-/kaka- (to defecate),
which also gave us poppycock,
cucking stool,
cacology, and
cacography.
Earliest documented use: 1603.
NOTES:
The Roman satirist Juvenal once wrote about insanabile scribendi
cacoethes (incurable passion for writing), which inspired the sense of
the word today.
USAGE:
“[Evan Knapp] evokes the youthful state of being ‘teenager know-it-all
strong’, driven by cacoethes.” Evan Knapp; Where There Is Movement; Kirkus Reviews (Austin, Texas); Feb 1, 2020. “He had a cacoethes for coining neologisms.” Anand Bose; Ghazals of A Pen; BookRix; 2020. See more usage examples of cacoethes in Vocabulary.com’s dictionary. A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:
No one is useless in this world who lightens the burden of it for anyone
else. -Charles Dickens, novelist (7 Feb 1812-1870)
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