A.Word.A.Day -- onychophagia

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A.Word.A.Day--onychophagia

This week's theme: uncommon words with common suffixes or prefixes.

onychophagia (on-i-ko-FAY-juh, -jee-uh) noun

The practice of biting one's nails.

[From Greek onycho-, from onyx (nail) + -phagia (eating).]

"If bad-tasting polish, gloves or fake nails haven't cured your onychophagia, these tips may help."
Maria Liberty; Easy, Essential Nail Care; Better Nutrition for Today's Living (Atlanta); Mar 1994.

X-Bonus

Kindness is not without its rocks ahead. People are apt to put it down to an easy temper and seldom recognize it as the secret striving of a generous nature; whilst, on the other hand, the ill-natured get credit for all the evil they refrain from. -Honore De Balzac, novelist (1799-1850)

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