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Jan 7, 2026
This week’s themeWords that look like misspelling This week’s words abjective librate psilanthropy odorable impassible
Mary and Jesus (detail) in Christ in the House of His Parents, 1849-1850
Art: John Everett Millais
A.Word.A.Day
with Anu Gargpsilanthropy
PRONUNCIATION:
MEANING:
noun: The doctrine or belief that Jesus was merely human.
ETYMOLOGY:
From Greek psilo- (mere) + anthropos (human). Earliest documented use: 1821.
NOTES:
Charles Dickens loathed this painting for depicting Jesus and his
family as ordinary, working-class people rather than divine icons. He
called John Everett Millais’s Jesus “a hideous, wry-necked, blubbering, red-headed
boy, in a bed-gown” and described Mary as “so horrible in her ugliness,
that ... she would stand out from the rest of the company as a monster,
in the vilest cabaret in France, or the lowest ginshop in England.”
The artist embedded this beautiful painting with numerous Christian
symbols, which Dickens seems to have overlooked.
USAGE:
“I have never believed in psilanthropy. I am a Catholic priest and you
might expect these words from me.” Richard Conde; Century One; Writer’s Showcase; 2001. A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:
He who does not bellow the truth when he knows the truth makes himself the
accomplice of liars and forgers. -Charles Peguy, poet and essayist (7 Jan
1873-1914)
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