This week’s theme
Back-formations

This week’s words
resurrect
penetralium
brindle

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A.Word.A.Day

PRONUNCIATION:

(peh-nuh-TRAY-lee-uhm)

MEANING:

noun: The innermost, secret, or hidden parts of something.

ETYMOLOGY:

Back-formation from penetralia (plural of penetrale), based on the mistaken assumption that it was singular. Earliest documented use: 1817.

USAGE:

“[The owner’s] attitude at the door appeared to demand my speedy entrance, or complete departure, and I had no desire to aggravate his impatience previous to inspecting the penetralium.”
Emily Brontë; Wuthering Heights; Thomas Cautley Newby; 1847.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY: