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Dec 31, 2025
This week’s theme
New words

This week’s words
nutation
noodly
pneumic

pneumic
Zephyr and his companion in The Birth of Venus (detail), (c. 1484-1486)
Art: Sandro Botticelli

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A.Word.A.Day
with Anu Garg

pneumic

PRONUNCIATION:
(NOO/NYOO-mik)

MEANING:
adjective: Of or relating to the lungs.

ETYMOLOGY:
From French pneumique, from Greek pneuma (breath, wind, spirit). Earliest documented use: 1861.

NOTES:
Not to be confused with mnemonic, which helps you remember things. If you confuse the two, remember: one is about your lungs, the other is about your memory. Actually, don’t remember that. That’s a terrible mnemonic.

USAGE:
“He took three controlled breaths, filling his blood with pneumic energy.”
Matthew Hughes; Avianca’s Bezel; Fantasy & Science Fiction (Newark, New Jersey); Sep/Oct 2014.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:
The only way human beings can win a war is to prevent it. -George Marshall, US Army Chief, Secretary of State, Secretary of Defense, Nobel laureate (31 Dec 1880-1959)

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