A.Word.A.Day -- caliginous

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Jun 27, 2005

This week's theme
Archaic words

This week's words
caliginous
quotha
cark
crasis
enow

A.Word.A.Day

with Anu Garg

Are you one of those people who love antiques? You hound yard sales on weekends for some rare piece that might be up for sale. You stop at every antique mall on your way to grandpa's house. In a way, you love to travel back in time.

If you're one of those folks, consider this week's words as an antique equivalent of the English language. Linguistically, they're called archaic terms. They were once everyday words, but today they reveal their age. They've that certain old-time flavor to them.

Not that these words show any wear and tear. They're still ready to serve, patiently waiting in the pages of dictionaries, even though labeled as senior citizens of the language. They haven't called it quits. They still have their shingles up. Verily, I urge you to become better acquainted with them.

caliginous

(kuh-LIJ-uh-nuhs)

adjective: Dark, gloomy, obscure, misty.

From Latin caliginosus (misty, dark), from caligo (darkness).

"In March the cover got blown off of Brightly's caliginous caper."
Steve Mirsky; Academic Exams Taken by True And False People; Scientific American (Washington, DC); Jun 2005.

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

X-Bonus

Doubt everything at least once, even the proposition that two times two equals four. -Georg Christoph Lichtenberg, scientist and philosopher (1742-1799)

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