This week’s theme
There’s a word for it

This week’s words
whatness
fleshment
pejorism
uniquity
whereness

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A.Word.A.Day

PRONUNCIATION:

(FLESH-muhnt)

MEANING:

noun: Excitement resulting from a first success at something.

ETYMOLOGY:

From Old English flǣsc (flesh). Earliest documented use: 1616.

NOTES:

The verb to flesh historically referred to the practice of rewarding hunting animals, such as a hound or a hawk, with flesh, thereby instilling a desire to hunt. This connection highlights the concept of initial, visceral excitement associated with both a successful hunt and a first achievement.

USAGE:

“Lexicographers sought out the thrill of the chase as much as detectives did. She remembered her linguistic fleshment, when she’d discovered as a student that ‘thrill’ itself, in medieval times, had meant to pierce someone with a sword; only later did the ‘piercing’ move to excitement.”
Susie Dent; Guilty by Definition; Bonnier Books; 2024.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY: