This week’s theme
Words made with combining forms

This week’s words
polyandry
hypernym
arthroplasty
neophile
hierophant


This week’s comments
AWADmail 1160

Next week’s theme
Words differing by a letter

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A.Word.A.Day

PRONUNCIATION:

(HY-uhr-uh-fant, HY-ruh-)

MEANING:

noun:
1. An interpreter of sacred mysteries or esoteric knowledge.
2. One who explains or provides commentary on complex or obscure topics.

ETYMOLOGY:

From Greek hiero- (sacred, priestly) + -phant (one who shows). Earliest documented use: 1676.

USAGE:

“The Hungarian pianist Andras Schiff has become ... something of a hierophant of the central Austro-German canon.”
Robert Battey; Classics Delivered With Finesse, Feeling; The Washington Post; Mar 17, 2015.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY: