Wordsmith.Org


A.Word.A.Day

About | Media | Search | Contact  


Home

Today's Word

Yesterday's Word

Archives

FAQ


A.Word.A.Day--algolagnia

    What to give to the person who has everything? Give the gift of words.
Pronunciation: WAV or RealAudio

algolagnia (algoe-LAG-nee-uh) noun

Sexual gratification derived from inflicting or experiencing pain.

[New Latin : algo- + Greek lagneia, lust (from lagnos, lustful).]

"Nurse Wolf was my name for this queen of algolagnia - of pleasure from pain. She gave pleasure by inflicting it, she got pleasure from causing it." Paul Theroux, Chastise and consent, Independent on Sunday, 19 Jul 1998.

You knew this was coming, didn't you? After previous week's words produced by adding suffixes, it's time for giving equal opportunity to the other affix, so let's look at some prefixed words. The prefixes that appear this week are: algo- (pain), miso- (hatred), phil- (love), megalo- (large), geo- (earth), pyro- (fire, heat), cosmo- (world). -Anu

X-Bonus

Goodness is the only investment which never fails. -Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862)

What they say

“Only Anu Garg, the founder of Wordsmith.org, can make word facts this much fun.”
Read more

St. Petersburg Times


More articles

Anu Garg on words

“A word in the head is worth two in the book.”

We need your help

Help us continue to spread the magic of words to readers everywhere

Donate

Subscriber Services
Awards | Stats | Links | Privacy Policy
Contribute | Advertise

© 1994-2025 Wordsmith