A.Word.A.Day Archives from https://wordsmith.org/awad -------- Date: Tue Sep 1 12:01:02 AM EDT 2026 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--stickybeak X-Bonus: The less a statesman amounts to, the more he loves the flag. -Kin Hubbard, humorist (1 Sep 1868-1930) This week's theme: Words made with animal parts stickybeak (STIK-ee-beek) noun: 1. An overly inquisitive person. 2. An inquisitive look or inspection. verb intr.: To pry or snoop. [From stick, from Old English stician (to pierce or thrust) + beak (slang for a human nose). Earliest documented use: 1914.] "The Eavesdropper", 1655 https://wordsmith.org/words/images/stickybeak_large.jpg Art: Nicolaes Maes https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Nicolaes_Maes_-_The_Eavesdropping_Man.jpg NOTES: If you stick your nose where it doesn't belong, you might expect to be called a stickynose. English took the more colorful route and gave us stickybeak, using beak as slang for the human nose. Its two crisp k sounds make it doubly satisfying. The term is more common in Australia and New Zealand, but judging by the vocabulary, there is no shortage of nosy people anywhere: English also has nosy parker, prodnose, https://wordsmith.org/words/prodnose.html busybody, quidnunc, https://wordsmith.org/words/quidnunc.html and yenta. https://wordsmith.org/words/yenta.html "Well, the next day Maureen said she was going over to say hello. To tell you the truth, Mo wanted to have a bit of a stickybeak, curious to see how they were settling in." Yasmine Gooneratne; A Change of Skies; Picador Australia; 1991. "McIntire County was a bona fide mob of stickybeaks putting their noses where they didn't belong." Winter Austin; Sins of the Father; Crimson Romance; 2016. -------- Date: Wed Sep 2 12:01:02 AM EDT 2026 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--moth-wing X-Bonus: Progressive societies outgrow institutions as children outgrow clothes. -Henry George, economist, journalist, and philosopher (2 Sep 1839-1897) This week's theme: Words made with animal parts moth-wing (MAWTH-wing) adjective: Fragile or fleeting. noun: Something fragile or fleeting. [From moth, from Old English moththe + wing, from Old Norse vængir, plural of vængr. Earliest documented use: 1823.] "Giant Peacock Moth", 1889 https://wordsmith.org/words/images/moth_wing_large.jpg Art: Vincent van Gogh https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:WLANL_-_artanonymous_-_Nachtpauwoog.jpg "A real moth-wing talent, authentic and alive, however fragile, is manifest in such poems as these." Harriet Monroe; Moth Wings; Poetry (Chicago, Illinois); Nov 1926. "The map I am making is obsolete, a nautical map from 1573, faded, tea-stained yellow, discolored in places by what looks like the heat of too-close candle flame. The paper is moth wing." Michelle Valois; The Portulan Principle; TriQuarterly (Chicago, Illinois); Winter & Spring 2011. -------- Date: Thu Sep 3 12:01:02 AM EDT 2026 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--griffonage X-Bonus: The old poets little knew what comfort they could be to a man. -Sarah Orne Jewett, poet and novelist (3 Sep 1849-1909) This week's theme: Words made with animal parts griffonage (grif-uh-NAHZH) noun Careless or illegible handwriting; scrawl. [From French griffonner (to scribble or scrawl), from griffe (claw). Earliest documented use: 1832.] NOTES: English calls an indecipherable scrawl chicken scratch, and French clearly agrees: griffonage comes from griffe (claw). Medical schools probably require doctors to take a solemn oath to maintain a prescribed level of griffonage on every prescription. My dad was not a doctor, but he practiced griffonage par excellence. The post office sometimes returned his letters because no one could decipher the address. We joked that he should add extra stamps to cover the decoding fee. I would sometimes set one of his letters aside and ask him to decipher it the next time we met. At times, even he couldn't. Thank G̶o̶d̶ Sholes et al. for the typewriter, which my dad used for all his nonpersonal correspondence and, mercifully, some personal letters too. Exhibit A: My dad's griffonage par excellence https://wordsmith.org/words/images/griffonage_large.jpg "Had I the right rag paper, and minerals to mix a passable Elizabethan ink, I could reproduce a couple of lines of Shakespeare's griffonage." Bradford Morrow; The Forgers; Mysterious Press; 2014. -------- Date: Fri Sep 4 12:01:02 AM EDT 2026 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--cowhearted X-Bonus: The rightness of a thing isn't determined by the amount of courage it takes. -Mary Renault, novelist (4 Sep 1905-1983) This week's theme: Words made with animal parts cowhearted (KOW-har-tid) adjective Cowardly. [From cow, from Old English cu (cow) + heart, from Old English heorte. Earliest documented use: 1660.] Lion Coward https://wordsmith.org/words/images/cowhearted_large.jpg Art: Illustration from "A Complete Guide to Heraldry", 1909 https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/A_Complete_Guide_to_Heraldry/Chapter_11 NOTES: Coward contains no cow. It is from Latin cauda (tail). The word may evoke an animal with its tail between its legs or someone turning tail and fleeing. Cowhearted, however, really is cow + hearted, though its meaning was influenced by the similar-sounding coward. In short, coward is all tail and no cow. The cattle may wish to file a moo-tion for defamation. "Palmering is too cowhearted to accept a challenge." Mona Gedney; Murder Most Indiscreet, in Murder at Almack's; Zebra Books; 2003. -------- Date: Mon Sep 7 12:01:02 AM EDT 2026 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--stuporous X-Bonus: I am patient with stupidity but not with those who are proud of it. -Edith Sitwell, poet (7 Sep 1887-1964) Nouns put things on the stage. Adjectives control the lighting, moisture, odor, silhouette, and state of consciousness. This week, we leave familiar, everyday vocabulary backstage and spotlight five uncommon adjectives. One even knows when to stop talking. stuporous (STOO/STYOO-puh-ruhs) adjective Dazed, sluggish, or barely responsive. [From Latin stupere (to be stunned or dazed), which also gave us stupendous, stupefy, and stupid. Earliest documented use: 1712.] See usage examples in Vocabulary.com's dictionary: https://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/stuporous "Here I and Sorrow Sit", 1783 (Act II Scene I of King John by William Shakespeare) https://wordsmith.org/words/images/stuporous_large.jpg Art: Henry Fuseli https://gallerix.org/storeroom/1772373417/N/805/ "However stuporous the lobster is from the trip home, for instance, it tends to come alarmingly to life when placed in boiling water. ... The lobster, in other words, behaves very much as you or I would behave if we were plunged into boiling water (with the obvious exception of screaming). A blunter way to say this is that the lobster acts as if it's in terrible pain, causing some cooks to leave the kitchen altogether." David Foster Wallace; Consider the Lobster; Gourmet (New York); Aug 2004. -------- Date: Tue Sep 8 12:01:02 AM EDT 2026 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--rorid X-Bonus: If more politicians in this country were thinking about the next generation instead of the next election, it might be better for the United States and the world. -Claude Pepper, senator and representative (8 Sep 1900-1989) This week's theme: Uncommon adjectives rorid (ROR-id) adjective Dewy. [From Latin roridus (dewy), from ros (dew). Earliest documented use: 1425.] "Wings of the Morning", 1905 https://wordsmith.org/words/images/rorid_large.jpg Art: Edward Robert Hughes https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Edward_Robert_Hughes_-_Wings_of_the_Morning.jpg "When auroral skies With rorid azure bathe his rapturous wings." Owen Meredith; Ode to a Starling; 1869. -------- Date: Wed Sep 9 12:01:02 AM EDT 2026 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--nidorous X-Bonus: I sit on a man's back, choking him and making him carry me, and yet assure myself and others that I am very sorry for him and wish to ease his lot by all possible means -- except by getting off his back. -Leo Tolstoy, novelist and philosopher (9 Sep 1828-1910) This week's theme: Uncommon adjectives nidorous (NY-duh-ruhs) adjective Smelling strongly of cooking, burning, or decaying animal matter. [From Latin nidor (strong smell from cooking or burning), unrelated to odor. Earliest documented use: 1626.] "Smell", 1650 https://wordsmith.org/words/images/nidorous_large.jpg Art: Michaelina Wautier https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Michaelina_Wautier,_Smell,_1650.jpg "A nidorous stench hangs in the air and our hands or our handkerchiefs or cocktail napkins cover our noses." R.A. Allen; Monday Burning; Literary Review (Madison, New Jersey); Summer 2010. [R.A. Allen's short story Monday Burning actually features a patron in a bar who spontaneously combusts.] -------- Date: Thu Sep 10 12:01:02 AM EDT 2026 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--macilent X-Bonus: Our memories are card indexes consulted and then returned in disorder by authorities whom we do not control. -Cyril Connolly, critic and editor (10 Sep 1903-1974) This week's theme: Uncommon adjectives macilent (MAS-uh-luhnt) adjective 1. Lean or emaciated. 2. Lacking in substance. [From Latin macilentus (lean). Earliest documented use: before 1425.] "The Old Guitarist", 1903-1904 https://wordsmith.org/words/images/macilent_large.jpg Art: Pablo Picasso https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Old_Guitarist "Then he pulled up abruptly and turned to look back at Haggarty's macilent form as it retreated up the corridor." Clive Allan; The Well of the Dead; Troubador; 2017. -------- Date: Fri Sep 11 12:01:03 AM EDT 2026 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--breviloquent X-Bonus: You may not be able to change the world, but at least you can embarrass the guilty. -Jessica Mitford, author, journalist, and civil rights activist (11 Sep 1917-1996) This week's theme: Uncommon adjectives breviloquent (bre-VIL-uh-kwuhnt) adjective Using few words. [From Latin brevis (short) + loqui (to speak). Earliest documented use: 1865.] NOTES: The delicious irony is that a word meaning "using few words" is four syllables and twelve letters long. It makes up for the number of words with length. Near-synonyms include laconic https://wordsmith.org/words/laconic.html and pauciloquent https://wordsmith.org/words/pauciloquy.html ; the opposite is loquacious. https://wordsmith.org/words/loquacious.html At the risk of failing to be breviloquent, there is no lack of other ways you could speak, speaking too much: pleniloquence https://wordsmith.org/words/pleniloquence.html speaking pompously: magniloquent https://wordsmith.org/words/magniloquent.html, grandiloquent, https://wordsmith.org/words/grandiloquent.html, altiloguent https://wordsmith.org/words/altiloquent.html, speechify https://wordsmith.org/words/speechify.html, declaim https://wordsmith.org/words/declaim.html, or bloviate https://wordsmith.org/words/bloviate.html speaking foolishly: stultiloquy https://wordsmith.org/words/stultiloquy.html speaking without moving lips: ventriloquism https://wordsmith.org/words/ventriloquism.html speaking while sleeping: somniloquy https://wordsmith.org/words/somniloquy.html and speaking while spraying saliva: sialoquent. https://wordsmith.org/words/sialoquent.html See usage examples in Vocabulary.com's dictionary: https://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/breviloquent "Shrugging the Shoulders", 19th century https://wordsmith.org/words/images/breviloquent_large.jpg Photo: Oscar Gustave Rejlander https://picryl.com/media/shrugging-the-shoulders-360fc1 "[The driver] raised his hands from the wheel in a 'What can you do?' shrug. For once, the exchange was breviloquent." Tara Gallagher; Gratitude: Don't Mention It; Town & Country (New York); Nov 2012. -------- Date: Mon Sep 14 12:01:01 AM EDT 2026 Subject: A.Word.A.Day--evert X-Bonus: Patriotism is proud of a country's virtues and eager to correct its deficiencies; it also acknowledges the legitimate patriotism of other countries, with their own specific virtues. The pride of nationalism, however, trumpets its country's virtues and denies its deficiencies, while it is contemptuous toward the virtues of other countries. It wants to be, and proclaims itself to be, "the greatest", but greatness is not required of a country; only goodness is. -Sydney J. Harris, journalist and author (14 Sep 1917-1986) This week, the letter a is taking a vacation, and e is covering its shifts. Each of our five words differs from a familiar word by that single substitution. They may look like typos, but they're all real words, and none contains an a. For each word, can you write a sentence using it alongside its more familiar lookalike? evert (i-VUHRT) verb tr. To turn inside out or outward. [From Latin evertere (to overturn), from e- (out) + vertere (to turn). Earliest documented use: 1533.] NOTES: Some sea stars evert their stomachs through their mouths to digest prey outside their bodies. They take dining out literally. Evert and avert share Latin vertere (to turn). Their prefixes supply the difference: e- (out) vs a- (away). If the wind everts your umbrella, averting your eyes won't help. See usage examples in Vocabulary.com's dictionary: https://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/evert From the book "Golden Rays", 1882 https://wordsmith.org/words/images/evert_large.jpg Engraving: Samuel E. Brown https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Overtaken_by_Wind.jpg "And the spattery gale that has knocked over parking signs and everted umbrellas all morning suddenly quits an hour before match time." David Foster Wallace; Roger Federer as Religious Experience; The New York Times; Aug 20, 2006. https://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/20/sports/playmagazine/20federer.html