A.Word.A.Day --argillaceous

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Aug 27, 2008

This week's theme
Why use a simple word?

This week's words
dactylogram
apograph
argillaceous
maquillage
pleonexia

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A.Word.A.Day

with Anu Garg

argillaceous

PRONUNCIATION:

(ahr-juh-LAY-shuhs)

MEANING:

adjective: Made of, resembling, or relating to clay: clayey.

ETYMOLOGY:

From Latin argilla (clay). Ultimately from the Indo-European root arg- (to shine; white), that is also the source of words such as argentine (silvery) and argue (from Latin arguere, to make clear).

USAGE:

"But unlike many family movies, [the movie Akeelah and the Bee] has moments of pulchritude while showing no traces of argillaceous feet."
Ruthe Stein; Sweetly entertaining 'Bee' Takes Fresh Approach to Spelling It Out; San Francisco Chronicle; Apr 28, 2006.

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

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:

Not being able to govern events, I govern myself. -Michel de Montaigne, essayist (1533-1592)

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