refluent (REH-floo-unt), adjective

: flowing back

Example Sentence:
There are some lakes in Louisiana that appear to be formed by the refluent waters of the Mississippi River.

"Refluent" was first documented in English during the 15th century, and it can be traced back to the Latin verb "refluere," meaning "to flow back." "Refluere," in turn, was formed from the prefix "re-" and the verb "fluere" ("to flow"). Other "fluere" descendants in English include "confluent" ("flowing together"), "fluent" and "fluid" (both of which share the earliest sense of "flowing easily"), "circumfluent" ("flowing around"), and even "affluent" (which first meant "flowing abundantly"). "Refluent" even has an antonym derived from "fluere" -- "effluent," meaning "flowing out."

Merriam-Webster Online

I like this word!- Gail

Word of the Day: Rhinorrhea (noun)


Pronunciation: [rI-nê-'ree-ê]

Definition: No, not a rhino with an upset tummy but the medical term for a runny nose.

Usage: We examined rhinoplasty "a nose-job" earlier, so we should have a pretty good idea by now how "rhino-" combines in English compounds. "Rhinorragia" is a nose-bleed and "rhinophonia," as I'm sure you've been told many times, is not an orchestra of nose-blowers, but the resonance of the nose, which causes the speech of some of us to sound a bit nasal.

Suggested Usage: As runny-nose season spreads slowly over us here in America, we need a more imposing and sympathetic word to express this condition than the English counterpart: "I only missed work yesterday because I was laid low by acute rhinorrhea." Not only will your boss be impressed and forgiving, he will avoid contact with you for a month at least. Why risk your reputation calling someone a snot-nosed jerk when you can actually build it by calling them a rhinorreal smellfungus?

Etymology: From the Greek words "rhinos "of the nose" (from rhis, rhin- "nose") and rhoia "a flow." "Rhinos" is most famous for rhinoceros, the nose-horn, based on "rhinos" + keras "horn." In fact, "keras" and "horn" derive from the same original Proto-Indo-European root. Greek karoton "carrot," which entered English via Latin carota "carrot," also comes from the same root, which suggests a horn-like shape. We know far less about the relationships of "rhinos."

–Dr. Language, YourDictionary.com

crambo (KRAM-boh), noun

: a game in which one player gives a word or line of verse to be matched in rhyme by other players

Example Sentence:
According to his early letters, James Boswell, friend and biographer of English lexicographer Samuel Johnson, was a keen crambo player.

Did you know?
We've called the game "crambo" since at least 1660, but it was originally dubbed "crambe." The now-obsolete word "crambe" literally meant "cabbage," but it was rarely used for the leafy plant. Instead, it was used figuratively (in reference to a Latin phrase meaning "cabbage repeated or served up again") for things that were overused or repeated. The game, which was popular in the 17th and 18th centuries, began with one player picking a word. A second player then tried to guess it by asking questions. For example: "I know a word that rhymes with 'bird.'" "Is it ridiculous?" "No, it is not absurd." "Is it a part of speech?" "No, it is not a word." And so on, until the word was guessed.

- Merriam-Webster Online

syncategorematic (sin-kat-uh-gor-uh-MAT-ik), adjective

: forming a meaningful expression only in conjunction with a denotative expression (as a content word)

Example Sentence:
"In any language, there will be what are called syncategorematic words, such as prepositions and articles," explained Dr. Lewis. \

Did you know?
In ancient Greek logic, "katēgorēma" referred to something that was affirmed or denied about the subject in a proposition. For instance, in "the paper is white," "whiteness" would be the "katēgorēma." Seventeenth-century logicians extended this concept, which they called "categorem," to cover the subject of the proposition as well. So, in the proposition "All men are mortal," "mortality" is a categorem and so is "man." But what about "all"? Words like "all" that signify quantity (as well as words that function as adverbs, prepositions, or conjunctions) are syncategoremata -- that is, they are words that have meaning in propositions only when used in conjunction "with" other words. ("Syn-" means "with.")

- Merriam Webster Online

infrangible (in-FRAN-juh-bul), adjective

1 : not capable of being broken or separated into parts
*2 : not to be infringed or violated

Example Sentence:
Page explained that family is sacred to her because she believes that few things in life are more infrangible than the bonds of kinship.

Did you know?
"Infrangible" comes to us via Middle French from the Late Latin "infrangibilis" and is ultimately derived from the prefix "in-" and the Latin verb "frangere," meaning "to break." (Believe it or not, our "break" is ultimately derived from the same ancient word that gave rise to "frangere.") "Infrangible" first appeared in print in English in the 16th century with the literal meaning "impossible to break"; it was later extended metaphorically to things that cannot or should not be broken.

*Indicates the sense illustrated in the example sentence

- Merriam-Webster Online

fissiparous (fih-SIP-uh-rus), adjective

: tending to break up into parts : divisive

Example Sentence:
The reorganization of management can have a fissiparous effect on the rest of the company.

Did you know?
When it first entered English in the 19th century, "fissiparous[b]" was concerned with reproduction. In biology, a [b]fissiparous organism is one that produces new individuals by fission; that is, by dividing into separate parts, each of which becomes a unique organism. (Most strains of bacteria do this.) "Fissiparous" derives from Latin "fissus," the past participle of "findere" ("to split"), and "parere," meaning "to give birth to" or "to produce." Other "parere" offspring refer to other forms of reproduction, including "oviparous" ("producing eggs that hatch outside the body") and "viviparous" ("producing living young instead of eggs"). By the end of the 19th century "fissiparous" had acquired a figurative meaning, describing something that breaks into parts or causes something else to break into parts.

- Merriam-Webster Online

I hope to partake of this one day- Gail:

Word of the Day: Opsimathy (noun)

Pronunciation: [ahp-'si-mê-thi]
Definition: (Literary) Late learning, learning late in life.

Usage: The word is a rare literary form but we predict an imminent come-back. A person who takes on learning late in life is an "opsimath" ['ahp-si-mæth], as a "polymath" (poly "many" + math) is someone of encyclopedic learning or polymathy [pa-'li-mê-thi]).

Suggested Usage: As the English-speaking population ages and the limits of life expectancy advance, opsimathy promises to become more prominent and the word less literary and more colloquial. Opsimathy was once frowned upon, considered less effective by educators than early learning. However, any university administrator will tell you that the opsimath population is growing in the U.S.

Etymology: Greek opse "late" + math- "learning." "Mathematics" shares the same origin; it derives from the adjective of mathema "science, learning" from manthanein "to learn." The PIE stem *men-dhe- also underlies Russian mudry "wise," Avestan mazda "wise," Sanskrit mantrah "counsel, prayer," and Albanian mund "can." Akin to Latin mens, mentis "mind" in "mental," Greek "mentor," and the Latin suffix -ment. The initial constituent, "opsi-," is also used in the rare word, "opsigamy" [op-'si-gê-mi] which means "marriage late in life."

—Dr. Language, yourDictionary.com

Very interesting. Am seriously considering indulging in some opsimathy myself - soon. I hope never to have the opportunity for opsigamy!

morganatic (mor-guh-NAT-ik), adjective

: of, relating to, or being a marriage between a member of a royal or noble family and a person of inferior rank in which the rank of the inferior partner remains unchanged and the children of the marriage do not succeed to the titles, fiefs, or entailed property of the parent of higher rank

Example Sentence:
The king's son, the child of a morganatic marriage, will never rule.

Did you know?
Although the deprivations imposed on the lower-ranking spouse by a morganatic marriage may seem like a royal pain in the neck, the word "morganatic" actually comes from a word for a marriage benefit. The New Latin term "morganatica" means "morning gift" and refers to a gift that a new husband traditionally gave to his bride on the morning after the marriage. So why was the New Latin phrase "matrimonium ad morganaticam," which means literally "marriage with morning gift," the term for a morganatic marriage? Because it was just that -- the wife got the morning gift, but that's all she was entitled to of her husband's possessions.

-Merriam-Webster Online

Oh, Dave- don't quite give up on the idea yet! You just never know!!