This week’s theme
It’s raining cats & dogs

This week’s words
cynegetic
caterwaul
dogged
canicular
fat cat

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A.Word.A.Day

PRONUNCIATION:

(kuh-NIK-yuh-luhr)

MEANING:

adjective: Relating to the dog days.

ETYMOLOGY:

From Latin canicularis (relating to the dog star, Sirius), from canicula (small dog, Sirius), from canis (dog). Ultimately from the Indo-European root kwon- (dog), which is also the source of canine, chenille (from French chenille: caterpillar, literally, little dog), kennel, canary, hound, dachshund, corgi, cynic, cynosure, cynegetic, canaille, and cynophobia. Earliest documented use: 1398.

USAGE:

“The old woman is visibly exhausted in the canicular heat of summer.”
Tegan Raleigh; Sale at Camaïeu; Literary Review (Madison, Wisconsin); Summer 2015.

See more usage examples of canicular in Vocabulary.com’s dictionary.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY: