A.Word.A.Day --steenth

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Mar 9, 2010

This week's theme
Words related to 16

This week's words
semiquaver
steenth
armageddon
lincolnesque
trichotillomania

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A.Word.A.Day

with Anu Garg

steenth

PRONUNCIATION:

(steenth)

MEANING:

adjective:
1. Latest in an indefinitely long sequence.
2. One sixteenth.

ETYMOLOGY:

Alteration of the word sixteenth.

NOTES:

The formation of the word "steenth" from "sixteenth" took place through a process called aphesis (from Greek, literally "a letting go"). Aphesis occurs when an unstressed sound from the beginning of a word gets lost over time. Some other examples are:
"cute" from "acute"
"'tis" from "it is"
"gypsy" from "Egyptian", from the belief that Gypsies came from Egypt (they actually came from India).

USAGE:

"And for the steenth time I wondered why he hadn't phoned me."
Robert A. Heinlein; The Cat Who Walks Through Walls; Putnam Publishing; 1985.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:

The highest result of education is tolerance. -Helen Keller, author and lecturer (1880-1968)

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