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Sep 29, 2025
This week’s themeThere is a word for it This week’s words 
“The solar-powered chainsaw makes me feel less guilty about deforestation.”
Cartoon: Dan Piraro Previous week’s theme Words with Seattle connections 
A.Word.A.Day
with Anu GargRecently an article in The New York Times (Permalink) caught my eye. It was about people killing trees on a neighbor’s property just to get a better view. This article got me thinking for many reasons. It reminded me of the time a few years back when a neighbor of mine killed a cherry tree, not for the views, but because it made a “mess”. One of the persons in the NYT story was named Hackett. Now that’s what I call nominative determinism. It’s like a man named Kindler who burned down his house or an intoxicated man named Crunk. The article also dropped a word I hadn’t seen before: arboricide. Thankfully it’s a rare word yet it’s easy to figure out its meaning. This week we’ve picked five words that might stump you at first glance. Some you can decode, others will make you say: I didn’t know there was a word for it. arboricide
PRONUNCIATION:
(ar-BO-ruh-syd)
MEANING:
noun: The killing of a tree.
ETYMOLOGY:
From Latin arbor (tree) + -cide (killing). Earliest documented use: 1899.
NOTES:
Save the trees. They give us shade, fruit, and the occasional
squirrel drama to watch. They also keep us alive. Studies show that
fewer trees can literally cut lives short. See:
How Removing Trees Can Kill You (PBS News).
USAGE:
“In 2021 another incident of neighborly arboricide in Camden, Maine,
a town next to Rockport, resulted in more than $1 million in a legal
settlement and fines after the industrial herbicide a couple used to
kill a neighbor’s oaks leached onto a public beach.” Elizabeth Williamson; Did a Brooklyn Couple Kill a Neighbor’s Trees for a Better View in Maine?; The New York Times; Sep 11, 2025. A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:
No fathers or mothers think their own children ugly; and this self-deceit
is yet stronger with respect to the offspring of the mind. -Miguel de
Cervantes, novelist (29 Sep 1547-1616)
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