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This week's theme
There's a word for it

This week's words
acnestis
daymare
nihilarian
lentiginous
spurtle

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  • A.Word.A.Day
    with Anu Garg

    Little 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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