No, this isn’t really about imbrication. The word is just an example representing all those complex, textured words we’re told not to use anymore. This is about what happens when we stop using precise, rich, language. Pause. Why do I keep saying imbrication, anyway? It’s an odd word, obscure even. Every AI writing assistant flags it. Long before AI, my writing coach — yes, that’s a real thing —…

Imbricate - (adj.) having regular overlapping edges; intertwined

imbricate | Words Make My Day

“She lined us men up like imbricate fools waiting to get lopped off, but I couldn’t wait, I had to find a way out before the madness pervaded my mind and I became another one of her subjects just hoping to be next in line.”

imbricate | adjective im-bri-kit, -keyt Definition

adjective 1. overlapping in sequence, as tiles or shingles on a roof. 2. of, relating to, or resembling overlapping…

Fred Lahache

How do you go from yesterday's word about astronomical objects (nebula) to today's word imbricate, imbrication which describes the way reptilian scales lie? There is an ancient and surprising link, so keep reading: The word imbricate arrived in English in 1704 from the Latin word imbricatus, which was the fourth principal part of the verb imbrecare meaning to cover in rain tiles. The Romans called a curved roof tile an imbrex, which came from the Latin word imber meaning rain. The word imber came from the Proto Indo-European root *ombh-ro- which meant rain (the Ancient Greeks had ombros), which in turn came from the base *nebh- which meant moist or water, which was the base for the word nebula meaning mist or fog.

The words imbricate/imbrication have uses in several branches of science.  First, in geology, imbrication is a sedimentary deposition in which small, flat stones are tiled in the same direction so that they overlap.  In herpetology, imbrication is used to describe the way scales overlap in reptiles and fish.  In medicine, imbrication is used to describe overlapping layers of scar and healthy tissue as a wound heals. Finally, the current most well known nebula is the Eagle Nebula, home of the Pillars of Creation, found in the constellation Serpens, the Snake.  

Nice how these words all tie together, isn't it!

Image of snake scales courtesy pipistrula under Creative Commons 3.0 license.

Image of Roman tile roof courtesy the noggin-nogged under Creative Commons 3.0 license.