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Apr 1, 2019
This week’s theme
Words that turn into other words when beheaded

This week’s words
erose
scow
vaward
thew
pelf

erose
A leaf of the ligularia plant
Photo: A & J

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A.Word.A.Day
with Anu Garg

Show this bold Prussian that praises slaughter: slaughter brings rout!

What’s special about the above sentence? Remove the first letter of each word and it still makes sense:

How his old Russian hat raises laughter: laughter rings out!

What sentence (or paragraph!) can you write that works in this manner? Share it below or email us at words@wordsmith.org.

Meanwhile, this week we’ll share with you individual words that can lose their first letters and still be valid words in the English language.

Extra credit: Some words can go on forever like this. Take the word solid, which gives olid, lid, and id. Can you write a whole sentence with such words?

erose

PRONUNCIATION:
(i-ROS)

MEANING:
adjective: Irregularly notched or jagged.

ETYMOLOGY:
From Latin erosus, past participle of erodere (to gnaw off), from ex- (off) + rodere (to gnaw). Earliest documented use: 1793.

USAGE:
“He looked to the west, a horizon as defined as the erose scars left by the shark.”
Rich Jackson; Guiding Daniel; Xlibris; 2012.

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

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:
A musician must make music, an artist must paint, a poet must write, if he is to be ultimately at peace with himself. What one can be, one must be. -Abraham Maslow, psychologist (1 Apr 1908-1970)

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