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Aug 20, 2026
This week’s themeWords that say it twice This week’s words hapchance concomitance overplus
A coin depicting a double cornucopia, 261 BCE
Image: Art Institute of Chicago Wordsmith Games
A.Word.A.Day
with Anu Gargoverplus
PRONUNCIATION:
MEANING:
noun: Something extra; a surplus.
ETYMOLOGY:
A partial translation of French surplus: French sur (over) was replaced
by English over, from Old English ofer, while French plus (more), from
Latin plus, was retained. Earliest documented use: before 1387.
NOTES:
Overplus is, more or less, more more. Apparently, one more was
simply not enough, so the English language had to go above and beyond.
It is the linguistic equivalent of wearing a belt and suspenders.
USAGE:
“A verbal art requires more than saying that, for example, a cardinal
is bright red and has a fat beak. Sometimes [May] Swenson gives us
that overplus and sometimes not.” Alfred Corn; Finders, Keepers; Poetry (Chicago, Illinois); Dec 2013. See more usage examples of overplus in Vocabulary.com’s dictionary. A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:
The politician wants men to know how to die courageously; the poet wants
men to live courageously. -Salvatore Quasimodo, poet, Nobel laureate (20
Aug 1901-1968)
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