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A.Word.A.Day--septum

Pronunciation: WAV or RealAudio

septum (SEP-tuhm) noun, plural septa (SEP-tuh)

A dividing wall, in an animal or a plant. For example, the partition between the nostrils.

[Latin saeptum, partition, from neuter of saeptus, past participle of saepire, to enclose, from saepes, fence.]

"A 10-year-old Massachusetts girl wound up in hospital after trying to achieve the pierced nose look with a magnetic earring on her nostril... The magnets were so powerful that they had broken from the rings and become embedded on either side of the nasal septum, out of reach of available medical instruments." U.S. Girl Gets Painful Lesson in Attraction, Reuters, May 13, 1998.

This week's theme: words to describe odds and ends.

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