This week’s theme
Coined words

This week’s words
grawlix
bardolatry
semelparous
broadbrow
topophilia

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A.Word.A.Day

PRONUNCIATION:

(se-MEL-puh-ruhs)

MEANING:

adjective: Reproducing only once in a lifetime.

ETYMOLOGY:

Coined by the biologist LaMont C. Cole (1916-1978). From Latin semel (once) + -parous (producing). Earliest documented use: 1954. The opposite is iteroparous, reproducing multiple times in one’s lifetime.

NOTES:

Semelparity may sound unusual, but it’s common in the plant kingdom. Consider annual plants vs perennials. Some animal species are also semelparous, for example, Pacific salmon die after spawning. Male kalutas, Australian marsupials, are also semelparous. As the NYT describes it: “During these brief, frenzied breeding seasons, male kalutas mate with several females -- for up to 14 hours at a time -- until they succumb to exhaustion and die.” Talk about going out with a bang!
Note that reproducing only once isn’t the same as producing only one offspring, although this would also qualify.

USAGE:

“There are semelparous animals as well ... After laying her eggs, the female octopus stops eating and slowly starves to death.”
Joshua Mitteldorf; Whence Comes Death?; The Humanist (Washington, DC); Jan/Feb 2002.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY: