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 | Feb 2, 2011This week's theme Words derived from the names of places This week's words gasconade milliner helot spartan verdigris Caught in spam? Whitelist us to ensure uninterrupted delivery of A.Word.A.Day. Here's how to do it.  Discuss  Feedback  RSS/XML             A.Word.A.Daywith Anu Garg helot
 PRONUNCIATION:(HEL-uht, HEE-luht)   
 MEANING:noun:
   A serf or slave. ETYMOLOGY:After Helos, a town in Laconia in ancient Greece, whose inhabitants were
enslaved. First recorded use: 1579. NOTES:Another word derived from the name of a town in Laconia is spartan,
which is coined after Sparta, the capital of Laconia. And Laconia has a
word coined after it too: laconic. USAGE:"Many wind up in jobs irrelevant to their training. That helot frothing
   your coffee expected to become a barrister, not a barista." Jonathan Guthrie; Russell Groupies to Target Newbie Unis; Financial Times (London, UK); Sep 23, 2010. See more usage examples of helot in Vocabulary.com's dictionary. A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:Wild animals never kill for sport. Man is the only one to whom the torture and death of his fellow creatures is amusing in itself. -James Anthony Froude, author and editor (1818-1894) | 
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