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Feb 7, 2011
This week's themeWords to describe people This week's words dyspeptic caitiff tetchy valetudinarian reticent 
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A.Word.A.Day
with Anu GargOscar Wilde once said, "It is absurd to divide people into good and bad. People are either charming or tedious." This week we'll offer five words you can safely use to describe your co-workers, associates, and others. Try these elegantly veiled insults without fear of offending. Just make sure your targets are not already AWAD subscribers! dyspeptic
PRONUNCIATION:
(dis-PEP-tik)
MEANING:
adjective: 1. Relating to or suffering from dyspepsia (indigestion).
2. Having a bad temper; gloomy; irritable.noun: One suffering from dyspepsia. ETYMOLOGY:
Via Latin from Greek dys- (bad) + peptos (digested). Ultimately from the
Indo-European root pekw- (to cook or ripen), which is also the source of
cook, cuisine, kitchen, kiln, biscuit, apricot (an early-ripening peach,
literally speaking), pumpkin, and Hindi pakka (ripened, cooked).
Earliest documented use: 1694.
USAGE:
"It's the 1300s, and plague and pestilence have left those still alive in
sour, dyspeptic moods."Steven Rea; Sir Knight Nicolas in a 1300s' Slog; Philadelphia Inquirer; Jan 8, 2011. See more usage examples of dyspeptic in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:
It is impossible to enjoy idling thoroughly unless one has plenty of work to do. There is no fun in doing nothing when you have nothing to do. Wasting time is merely an occupation then, and a most exhausting one. Idleness, like kisses, to be sweet must be stolen. -Jerome K. Jerome, humorist and playwright (1859-1927)
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