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A.Word.A.Day--margaritaceous

This week's theme: unusual words.

margaritaceous (mar-guhr-i-TAY-shuhs) adjective

Pearly.

[From Latin margarita, from Greek margarites (pearl).]

Margarita, the tequila cocktail, is named after Margarita, the Spanish form of the name Margaret, meaning pearl. Who this woman was isn't certain. Perhaps this offers an opportunity to extend the meaning of the word margaritaceous after the drink.

-Anu Garg (garg AT wordsmith.org)

"The mesial band has something of a margaritaceous sheen, but it is very slight and dull." Charles James Stewart Bethune, et al; The Canadian Entomologist; 1868.

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