This week's theme
Words with initial silent letters

This week's words
pteridology
knacker
gnathic
wraith
chthonic

---

Discuss
Feedback
RSS/XML

---

A.Word.A.Day

PRONUNCIATION:

(NATH-ik)

MEANING:

adjective: Of or relating to the jaw.

ETYMOLOGY:

From Greek gnathos (jaw). Ultimately from the Indo-European root genu- (jawbone, chin), which is also the source of chin, prognathous , and Sanskrit hanu (jaw). Hanuman (literally, having a large jaw) is the name of a monkey god in the Hindu pantheon. Earliest documented use: 1882.

USAGE:

"For the first time in his life Judah sees the strangeness of the khepri, hears the scissor-sounds their gnathic movements make."
China Miéville; Iron Council; Del Rey; 2004.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY: