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May 8, 2026
This week’s themeWords to describe people This week’s words cadgy querimonious bombaster canescent cumberground
The Land of Cockaigne, 1567
Art: Pieter Bruegel the Elder Wordsmith Games
A.Word.A.Day
with Anu Gargcumberground
PRONUNCIATION:
MEANING:
noun: A useless person.
ETYMOLOGY:
From cumber (to hinder or encumber), from Anglo-French acumbrer
(encumbrer) + ground. Earliest documented use: 1657.
NOTES:
A cumberground is someone who encumbers the ground while adding
nothing of value. The image echoes Luke 13:7, in the parable of the
barren fig tree: “Why cumbereth it the ground?” A synonym is cumberworld.
USAGE:
“Tuli, sweetheart, can you fetch me more cake? And put it on this
side, far away from my friend the cumberground here.” Evelyn Puerto; Flight of the Spark; Open Water Books; 2019. A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:
If they can get you asking the wrong questions, they don't have to worry
about the answers. -Thomas Pynchon, novelist (b. 8 May 1937)
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