This week's theme
Words derived from body parts

This week's words
cordate
amanuensis
impedimenta
spleen
mansuetude

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A.Word.A.Day

PRONUNCIATION:

(im-ped-uh-MEN-tuh)

MEANING:

plural noun: Baggage, supplies, or equipment related to an activity or expedition, especially when regarded as slowing one's progress.

ETYMOLOGY:

From Latin, plural of impedimentum, from impedire (to impede), from im-/in- (in) + ped- (foot). Ultimately from the Indo-European root ped- (foot) which also gave us pedal, podium, octopus, impeach, antipodal, expediency, peccadillo (alluding to a stumble or fall), impeccable, and peccavi. Earliest documented use: 1600.

USAGE:

"Games impedimenta -- hockey-sticks, boxing-gloves, a burst football, a pair of sweaty shorts turned inside out -- lay all over the floor."
George Orwell; Nineteen Eighty-Four; Secker and Warburg; 1949.

See more usage examples of impedimenta in Vocabulary.com's dictionary.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY: