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Jul 3, 2025
This week’s theme
Unusual antonyms

This week’s words
malison
pogonotomy
agnoiology
iteroparous

iteroparous
Illustration: Anu Garg + AI

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A.Word.A.Day
with Anu Garg

iteroparous

PRONUNCIATION:
(IT-uh-ro-PAR-uhs)

MEANING:
adjective: Reproducing multiple times in one’s lifetime.

ETYMOLOGY:
From Latin iterum (again) + -parous (producing). Earliest documented use: 1954.

NOTES:
The spirit of being iteroparous is saying, “That was fun, let’s do it again!” (reproductively speaking). The opposite is semelparous: the one-and-done approach.

USAGE:
“‘Based on the detection of ripe females across a broad range of total lengths (70-135mm) it seems likely that torrentfish are iteroparous and multiple spawning migrations are taking place,’ wrote Warburton, Closs, and another researcher in a paper published earlier this month.”
Will Harvie; Enigmatic Torrentfish a Unique Native; Dominion Post (Wellington, New Zealand); Sep 27, 2021.

“Man is supposed to be iteroparous. Maybe that’s why sex becomes a bore after marriage. If sex was a one-time thing with fatal consequences, people might think twice before going forth and multiplying.”
Julya Oui; There Be Monsters; Buku Fixi; 2015.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:
In the struggle between yourself and the world, second the world. -Franz Kafka, novelist (3 Jul 1883-1924)

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