This week's theme
Words and Medicine

This week's words
apheresis
syncope
aspirate
prolepsis
agglutinate

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A.Word.A.Day

PRONUNCIATION:

(verb: AS-puh-rayt, noun: AS-puhr-it)

MEANING:

verb tr.:
1. To pronounce a sound with an exhalation of breath.
2. To pronounce the h sound at the beginning of a word as (hwich) for which.
3. To inhale something (such as a fluid) into the lungs, as after throwing up.
4. To draw a fluid from a body cavity by suction.

noun:
1. The sound represented by h.
2. A speech sound followed by an audible puff of breath.
3. The matter removed from a body cavity by suction.

ETYMOLOGY:

From Latin aspirare (to breathe, blow). Earliest documented use: 1669.

USAGE:

"Woody Allen's tone is often aspirated and screechy, lacking the clarinet's melted chocolate smoothness."
Steven Mirkin; Woody Allen and His New Orleans Jazz Band at UCLA; The Hollywood Reporter; Dec 31, 2011.

"Whitney Houston brings out the aspirates or glottals at the start of each word."
Alexandra Coghlan; A Voice That Destroyed Itself; New Statesman (London, UK); Feb 20, 2012.

"This condition causes everything that he eats to aspirate into his lungs."
Benefit Dinner; Idaho State Journal (Pocatello); Dec 1, 2011.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY: