\ob-NOO-buh-leyt\ [verb]

to cloud over; becloud; obscure

History & Origin

Obnubilate (1580s), is the past participle of obnubilare "to cover with clouds or fog," and derives from the Latin nubes "cloud, mist, vapor," from Proto Indo-European *sneudh- "fog" (shared root word of Latin obnubere "to veil," Welsh nudd "fog," Greek nython).

Usage

\hip-nuh-POM-pik\ [adjective]

Of or pertaining to the semiconscious state prior to complete wakefulness

History & Origin

Hypnopompic literally means "sending away sleep" in Greek. It was coined in English in the early 1900s from the roots hypno- meaning "sleep" and pomp meaning "sending away."

Hypnos was the god of sleep in Greek mythology, the son of Night and Darkness, and the half-brother of Death. He was married to Pasithea, the deity of hallucination and relaxation, and fathered Morpheus, Phobetor and Phantasos, the gods of dreams and nightmares.

Usage

\PROF-li-guh-see\ [noun]

1. Reckless extravagance. 2. Shameless dissoluteness. 3. Great abundance.

History & Origin

Profligacy (1670s) comes from the Latin word prōflīgātus, which meant "destroyed, ruined, corrupt, abandoned, dissolute; broken down in character or degraded," from pro- "down, forth" + fligere "to strike."

Usage

\an-hee-DOH-nee-uh\ [noun]

Lack of pleasure or of the capacity to experience it.

History & Origin

Anhedonia (1897), comes from the French anhédonie, coined in 1896 by the French psychologist Theodule Ribot (1839-1916) as an opposite to analgesia, from Greek an- + hedone "pleasure."

Usage

\LIL-ee-LIV-erd\ [noun]

Weak or lacking in courage; cowardly; pusillanimous

History & Origin

Lily-livered (1605) was first used in English by Shakespeare in Macbeth. The liver was supposedly the seat of passion and is typically dark reddish brown. Since a lily is pale and light-colored, a lily-livered person was weak and passionless.

Usage

"Go, prick thy face and over-red thy fear,

Thou lily-livered boy."

-Macbeth Act 5, Scene 3

\GOB-it\ [noun]

1. a lump or mass

2. a fragment or piece, especially of raw flesh

History & Origin

Gobbet (late 13th century) comes from the Old French word gobet meaning "piece, mouthful," a diminutive of gobe, "mouthful, lump," related to gober "gulp, swallow down," probably from Gaulish *gobbo- (shared root of the Irish gob "mouth," Gaelic gob "beak"). This Celtic source also seems to be the root of gob "mouth" (mid-16th century), which is the first element in gob-stopper "a kind of large hard candy" (1928).

Usage

\ek-oh-LEY-lee-uh\ [noun]

The imitation by a baby of the vocal sounds produced by others, occurring as a natural phase of childhood development.

History & Origin

Echolalia (1885) originates from two Greek roots: echo derived from the name of the mythic nymph Echo fabled to have pined herself away to nothing but her name, combined with lalia meaning "talk or prattle."

Usage

\JIN-er-kee, GAHY-ner-, JAHY-ner-\ [noun]

Government by women or a woman

History & Origin

Gynarchy (1570s) comes from the Greek gyné + -arkhe, literally meaning "woman rule."

Gyné "a woman, a wife," comes from the Proto Indo-European *gwen- "woman, wife" supposedly originally "honored woman."

-arkhe, "rule, beginning" comes from arkhon "ruler," a noun use of the present participle of arkhein, "to rule," from Proto Indo-European *arkhein "to begin, rule, command."

Gynaecocracy and gyneocracy attested from 1610s.

Usage

\spli-NET-ik\ [adjective]

irritable; peevish; spiteful

History & Origin

Splenetic (1540s) comes from Late Latin spleneticus, from Greek splen, from the Proto-Indo-European *splegh-

The spleen was regarded in medieval physiology as the seat of morose feelings and bad temper.

Usage

\filch\ [noun]

To steal (especially something of small value); pilfer

History & Origin

Filch (1560s) is a slang word of unknown origin. It may be related to the name for a kind of hook that could be used to steal small items from kitchen windows. It may have come from the Middle English word (c. 1300) filchen meaning "to attack (in a body), take as booty." It may also be related to the German word filzen "comb through."

Usage

\HOU-duh\ [noun]

A seat or platform for one or more persons, commonly with a railing and a canopy, placed on the back of an elephant.

History & Origin

Howday (1774), comes from Persian and Urdu haudah, and from Arabic haudaj "litter carried by a camel" (or elephant).

Usage

/fil-oh-proh-JEN-i-tiv/ [adjective]

1. Producing offspring, especially abundantly; prolific

2. Of, pertaining to, or characterized by love for offspring, especially one's own

History & Origin

Philoprogenitive (1815), irregularly formed from Greek philo- + Latin progignere. Philo- is a word-forming element meaning"loving, fond of, tending to," from Greek philo-, a form of philos "dear" (adjective), "friend" (noun), from philein "to love." Progignere is a Latin word meaning "beget," from pro- "forth" + gignere "to produce, beget." Gignere shares a Proto-Indo-European root *gen with the Latin genus "race, stock, kind; family, birth, descent, origin," which gives us many words in English related to reproduction: gene, gender, genealogy, generation, genitals, etc.

Usage