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Oct 11, 2023
This week’s theme
Words for body parts

This week’s words
hallux
pinna
canthus
uvula
gnathion

canthus
Miss Kansas’s canthus (rather canthi)

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A.Word.A.Day
with Anu Garg

canthus

PRONUNCIATION:
(KAN-thuhs)

MEANING:
noun: Either of the two corners of the eye, specifically where the upper and lower eyelids meet, known as the inner and outer canthus.

ETYMOLOGY:
From Latin canthus, from Greek kanthos (corner of the eye). Earliest documented use: 1646.

USAGE:
“There was a dip in the arc from Mick’s inner canthus to the top of his eyelid that moved me. No matter how widely Mick smiled, he still had that aching arch.”
Martha Moody; Sometimes Mine; Riverhead; 2009.

“I began to think of the artist as a sort of antenna, picking up invisible signals from across time and space (this impression was likely bolstered by the way they wear their eyeliner: antenna-like, drawn an inch or so past each outer canthus).”
Julia Felsenthal; Artist’s Questionnaire; The New York Times; Mar 23, 2023.

See more usage examples of canthus in Vocabulary.com’s dictionary.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:
Beautiful young people are accidents of nature, but beautiful old people are works of art. -Eleanor Roosevelt, diplomat and writer (11 Oct 1884-1962)

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