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This week's theme
There's a word for it This week's words acnestis daymare nihilarian lentiginous spurtle Many ways to read AWAD Discuss Feedback RSS/XML A.Word.A.Day
with Anu GargLittle strokes make a letter and those letters come together to form words. We assign meanings to the words. Often they express everyday things: a tree, a rock, water, and so on. Sometimes a word describes a more complex idea. Have you ever found yourself wondering, "Wouldn't it be nice if there were a word for it?" Well, there is a word for almost everything under the sun. This week we have dug up five words you may not have known existed. acnestis
PRONUNCIATION:
(ak-NEES-tis)
MEANING:
noun:
The part of the body where one cannot reach to scratch.
ETYMOLOGY:
From Greek aknestis (spine), from Ancient Greek knestis (spine, cheese-grater).
USAGE:
"In what has to be the longest post-election season in living memory, the
last five months have felt like an acnestis upon our collective soul;
like that little patch of skin on our backs that we just can't reach to
scratch ourselves. It's irritating. It's annoying. It's left us reaching
and spinning around in circles."A Wish List to Soothe Our Collective Itch; New Straits Times (Malaysia); Aug 5, 2008. A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:
A decent provision for the poor is the true test of civilisation. -Samuel Johnson, lexicographer (1709-1784)
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