A.Word.A.Day --quotennial

A.Word.A.Day

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Jul 19, 2021

This week’s theme
Words that aren’t what they seem

This week’s words
quotennial
philocynic
obviate
mamaguy
diplomatics

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Previous week’s theme
Words coined after buildings and venues

A.Word.A.Day

with Anu Garg

Anticruelty means against cruelty, anticavity is against cavities, but antiquity does not mean against quitting.

That’s language for you. Patterns are useful, but don’t anticipate them to help you out each time.

This week we’ll introduce you to five terms and you might think you can figure them out, but watch out for their antics -- they are not what they seem.

quotennial

PRONUNCIATION:

(kwo-TEN-ee-uhl)

MEANING:

adjective: Yearly.

ETYMOLOGY:

From Latin quot (how many) + annus (year). Earliest documented use: 1878. A related word is quotidian (happening every day; commonplace).

USAGE:

“The Dallas Cowboys defense has been a point of contention with fans over the past few years.”
Daniel Ruppert; Dallas Cowboys: Quality vs Quantity, the Quotennial Question; FanSided; Feb 14, 2017.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:

I dream of giving birth to a child who will ask, "Mother, what was war?" -Eve Merriam, poet and writer (19 Jul 1916-1992)

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