This week’s theme
Words that have many unrelated meanings

This week’s words
malkin
os
gammon
speculum
fizgig

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A.Word.A.Day

PRONUNCIATION:

(aws)

MEANING:

noun:
1. A mouth or an orifice. [plural ora]
2. A bone. [plural ossa]

ETYMOLOGY:

For 1: From Latin os (mouth). Earliest documented use: 1859.
For 2: From Latin os (bone). Earliest documented use: 1400.

NOTES:

It also appears as an abbreviation in many fields, including
Chemistry: Os - symbol for the element osmium
Computing: OS - Operating System
Medicine: OS - left eye (from Latin oculus sinister)
Linguistics: OS - Old Saxon

USAGE:

"Naturally, the students couldn't resist testing the teachers' knowledge. 'You'd better slow down,' they would tell some unsuspecting pedagogue, 'or you might fall and break your os.'"
D.L. Stanley; I Hope This Doesn't Effectuate Your Dudgeon; Atlanta Inquirer (Georgia); Nov 16, 1996.

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

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY: