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Feb 23, 2018
This week’s theme
Miscellaneous words

This week’s words
defeasible
usurious
benthos
gerent
hyperborean

hyperborean
Boreas Abducting Oreithyia
Art: Giovanni Francesco Romanelli (1610-1662)

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Next week’s theme
Adverbs
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A.Word.A.Day
with Anu Garg

hyperborean

PRONUNCIATION:
(hy-puhr-BOR-ee-uhn)

MEANING:
noun: An inhabitant of the extreme north.
adjective: 1. Relating to the extreme north. 2. Very cold.

ETYMOLOGY:
In Greek mythology, Hyperboreans were people living in a land of perpetual sunshine, beyond the reaches of north wind. The word is from Greek hyper- (beyond) + Boreas (the god of the north wind). Earliest documented use: 1601.

USAGE:
“McIlroy was all set to marry tennis champion Caroline Wozniacki this summer, when he suddenly developed cold -- nay, hyperborean -- feet.”
Alex Beam; The Curse of the Bambina; Boston Globe (Massachusetts); Oct 4, 2014.

See more usage examples of hyperborean in Vocabulary.com’s dictionary.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:
The theory of democratic government is not that the will of the people is always right, but rather that normal human beings of average intelligence will, if given a chance, learn the right and best course by bitter experience. -W.E.B. Du Bois, educator, civil rights activist, and writer (23 Feb 1868-1963)

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