This week’s theme
Words that aren’t what they appear to be

This week’s words
plutography
miniate
irredentist
recurse
decalcomania


This week’s comments
AWADmail 1051

Next week’s theme
Movies that became words

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A.Word.A.Day

PRONUNCIATION:

(de-kal-kuh-MAY-nee-uh)

MEANING:

noun:
1. The process of transferring a design from a specially prepared paper onto another surface.
2. A decal: a design on a specially prepared paper made to be transferred onto another surface.

ETYMOLOGY:

From French décalcomanie, from décalquer (to transfer a tracing), from de- (from) calquer (to trace), from manie (craze). Earliest documented use: 1864.

NOTES:

Today the word decalcomania is simply the longer spelling for what we call a decal or a transfer, but it was a mania at one time. A craze for decorating things with transfers swept France in the late 1860s which eventually made its way to Britain, the US, and other places.

USAGE:

“He put wet theatrical-quality decalcomania tattoos onto his right upper arm.”
Anthony Wolff; The Case of the Monja Blanca; AuthorHouse; 2014.

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

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY: