This week's theme
Words derived from body parts

This week's words
cordate
amanuensis
impedimenta
spleen
mansuetude

The Word Connection
Autumn Contributing Membership Drive

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A.Word.A.Day

PRONUNCIATION:

(uh-man-yoo-EN-sis)

MEANING:

noun: A person employed to take dictation or to copy manuscripts.

ETYMOLOGY:

From Latin servus a manu (slave at hand[writing]), from manus (hand). Ultimately from the Indo-European root man- (hand), which also gave us manual, manage, maintain, manicure, maneuver, manufacture, manuscript, command, manque, legerdemain, manumit, and mortmain. Earliest documented use: 1619.

USAGE:

"Strange to say but many writers, Wordsworth and Tennyson included, are averse to the act of writing. Once they have heard the words in their heads, an amanuensis is needed to put them down on paper."
Frances Wilson; The Lady Vanishes; New Statesman (London, UK); Feb 6, 2014.

See more usage examples of amanuensis in Vocabulary.com's dictionary.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY: