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A.Word.A.Day--retromingent

(re-tro-MIN-jent) Pronunciation RealAudio

adjective: Urinating backwards.
noun: An animal that passes urine backwards, e.g. raccoon.

From Latin retro- (back) + mingent, stem of mingens, present participle of mingere (to urinate).

"When my turn came, I discovered that the bathrooms had been designed for a retromingent. The rest of the flight? Rather uneventful."
Jeffrey Levine; The Concorde, Firsthand: Built for Speed, Not for Comfort; The Washington Post ; Dec 17, 1989.

"I can verify that camels are, indeed, retromingent."
Sally Bixby Defty; Just Deserts Midnight at the Oasis Sing Your Camel to Bed; St. Louis Post-Dispatch; May 16, 1993.

This week's theme: Miscellaneous words

X-Bonus

Writers, like teeth, are divided into incisors and grinders. -Walter Bagehot, economist and journalist (1826-1877)

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