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Sep 25, 2014
This week's theme
Words made with combining forms

This week's words
fissiparous
teleology
xerophilous
dactyloscopy
plutomania

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A.Word.A.Day
with Anu Garg

dactyloscopy

PRONUNCIATION:
(dak-tuh-LOS-kuh-pee)

MEANING:
noun The analysis of fingerprints for identification of individuals.

ETYMOLOGY:
From Greek dactylo- (finger or toe) + -scopy (observation). Earliest documented use: 1908.

USAGE:
"Doctor Oloriz, from Madrid, tried to introduce dactyloscopy into the police force, with prints from those arrested carefully classified."
Marc Pastor; Barcelona Shadows; Pushkin Press; 2014.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:
No battle is ever won, he said. They are not even fought. The field only reveals to man his own folly and despair, and victory is an illusion of philosophers and fools. -William Faulkner, novelist (1897-1962)

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