Last week you may have noticed that we started featuring “orphan” words on Twitter.

First off, what the heck is an orphan word? It’s any word that has yet to be adopted in our Adopt a Word program. A featured orphan word is up for bidding — that is, it goes to the highest bidder regardless of price, even if it’s under the standard $50.

And like with all adopted words, not only will the orphan word winner “own” the word for a year, his or her Twitter handle and name will appear at the top of the word page. And, as always, you’ll help keep Wordnik ad-free.

If you didn’t have a chance to bid yet, don’t worry! You can do so on any featured orphan word any time, whether by replying to us on Twitter or by email to feedback@wordnik.com.

To remind you, these are the featured orphan words so far:

zephyr
chatoyant
lapidary

Keep your eye out for new featured orphan words every weekday. You’ll also be able to find them all here.

What are you waiting for? Start bidding!

[Photo via Flickr: “Joe Michl’s fifty little orphans. [front],” CC BY 2.0 by Boston Public Library]