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Sep 21, 2012

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incommodious
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hiemal

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A.Word.A.Day

with Anu Garg

hiemal

PRONUNCIATION:

(HY-uh-muhl)

MEANING:

adjective: Of or relating to winter.

ETYMOLOGY:

From Latin hiems (winter). Ultimately from the Indo-European root ghei- (winter), which is the ancestor of words such as chimera, hibernate, and the Himalayas (from Sanskrit him (snow) + alaya (abode)). Earliest documented use: 1560.

USAGE:

"Painted turtles tend to move into deeper water during the autumnal season, and dormancy occurs during the hiemal period."
Carl Ernst and Jeffrey Lovich; Turtles of the United States and Canada; The Johns Hopkins University Press; 2009.

See more usage examples of hiemal in Vocabulary.com's dictionary.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:

Of all the preposterous assumptions of humanity over humanity, nothing exceeds most of the criticisms made on the habits of the poor by the well-housed, well-warmed, and well-fed. -Herman Melville, novelist and poet (1819-1891)

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