ROBUSTIOUS

PRONUNCIATION: (ro-BUHS-chuhs)

MEANING: adjective:
1. Strong and sturdy.
2. Boisterous.
3. Coarse or crude.

ETYMOLOGY: From Latin robur (oak, strength). Ultimately from the Indo-European root reudh- (red), which also gave us red, rouge, ruby, ruddy, rubella, robust, rambunctious, corroborate, roborant, and russet. Earliest documented use: 1548.
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RIO-BUS-TIOUS - mass transport accompanying 30 other Argentine city-dwellers

PROBUSTIOUS - in favor of fashions that emphasize the female bodice

ROMBUSTIOUS - describing an aggressive four-equal-sided parallelogram