Today’s word of the day is cashew, the kidney-shaped seed of a tropical American evergreen tree, Anacardium occidentale.
This is the fruit that contains the nut. Photo by Joao Vicente, used under a Creative Commons license.
Tag Archives: dictionary
Wordnik word of the day: mell
Wordnik word of the day: cacoethes
Today’s word of the day is cacoethes, an irrational but irresistible motive for a belief or action. It is also spelled cacoëthes and it is pronounced /kahk-uh-EE-theez/. Cacoëthes loquendi is a mania for talking or a morbid desire for gossip or speechmaking. Cacoëthes scribendi is a morbid propensity for writing or an itch for authorship.
Wordnik word of the day: bosky
Wordnik word of the day: preterist
Today’s word of the day is preterist, a person who is largely interested only in the past. The root preter- is from the Latin praeter meaning “past” or “beyond.” Anyone who has studied grammar will recognize it in preterite, but it’s also found in preternatural ‘beyond what is normal or natural’ and preterhuman ‘beyond what is human.’
Wordnik word of the day: jesting-beam
Today’s word of the day is jesting-beam, which is, in building, a beam introduced for appearance, and not for use. It’s related to jest, a playful or amusing act, and jesting-stock, a laughingstock or a butt for ridicule.
Wordnik word of the day: sobersides
Today’s word of the day is sobersides, a sedate or serious person. Like yesterday’s word of the day, sobersides is both the singular and plural form. It literally refers to someone whose sides—the face, for example—are sober in the meaning “plain or subdued.” In another era, such a grave and serious person might be said to have “visited the cave of Trophonious,” which was an oracle which left supplicants “pale and dejected.”