Today's Word

Yesterday's Word

Archives

FAQ

Discuss
Email this
Feedback
RSS/XML
Permalink

A.Word.A.Day--vagitus

This week's theme: There is a word for it

vagitus (vuh-JI-tuhs)

noun: The cry of a newborn.

[From Latin vagire (to wail).]

NOTES: A newborn child's cry is called vagitus. Babies' cries have been heard even before their births. It's rare but vagitus uterinus has been observed on occasions when the membranes rupture, allowing air to enter the uterine cavity.

"Pnin unfolded, for he actually seemed to forehear the babe's vagitus, and its first word in the near future."
Vladimir Nabokov; Pnin; 1957.

X-Bonus