Improve a girls vocab will ya?
One of the things that bugs me these days is that I don’t run into new words very often. However I suspect that collectively we probably know a fair number of not so common words. So how about you share some of the more esoteric words in your vocabulary with the rest of us? Definitions are appreciated.
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67 Answers
Vexing – annoying.
Care for some medical terms? I have a sizable medical vocabulary.
fulsome: disgusting [ reference ]
enormity: horribleness [ reference ]
I hope we can get through this list without seeing “defenestrate.”
Oculolinctus – a sexual fetish that involves licking a person’s eyeballs or having your eyeballs licked by another person.
Antecubital fossa – triangular cavity of the elbow that contains a tendon of the biceps, the median nerve, and the brachial artery (aka the inside of your elbows.)
Oh, I almost forgot: sesquipedalian, meaning characterized by the use of big words
Intussusception – when a segment of bowel invaginates into a more distal segment.
Invaginate – to push the wall of a cavity or hollow inwards.
Hapax legomenon – “a word which occurs only once in either the written record of a language, the works of an author, or in a single text.” We came across a particular word in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight that was an example of this, but I cannot remember what it was. Tons of lurve if anyone can find it. My copy is buried under books.
Luciferous Logolepsy is a collection of “obscure” English words.
One of my favourite words is “gobbets” which I first read in Le Morte D’Arthur: “Right so came this damosel Linet before them all, and she had fetched all the gobbets of the head that Sir Gareth had thrown out at a window…”
My professor summarized this on the board for us as “defenestrated head gobbets” – or little hacked up pieces of head that had been pitched out the window :)
I love this question. I will be diligently writing words down.
@TheOnlyNeffie
Thanks for that, really made my rocky road extra tasty. The little marshmallows and all. lol
Defenestrate- to throw a person or thing out a window.
Cynosure- the center of attention or attraction.
@muppetish “defenestrated head gobbets”
wow, there’s a phrase I’ve never encoutered before.
@TheOnlyNeffie I love words like antecubital fossa. I rarely stop and think what the names of certain things are… and when I learn them, it just stays with me. Like “aiglet” – the little plastic tip on the end of a shoelace.
@fundevogel It’s so much fun to say! We read all sorts of kooky things in Middle English texts. I’ve grown quite fond of them :)
Fourb – a cheat, or impostor. Also spelled fourbe.
Quaaltagh – “The practice or custom of going in a group from door to door at Christmas or New Year, typically making a request for food or other gifts in the form of a song.”
sesquipedalian – given to using long words, containing many syllables
hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia – fear of long words (har, har)
theophagy – the practice of eating gods
xenium- a gift given to a guest.
@muppetish “Like “aiglet” – the little plastic tip on the end of a shoelace.”
At some point a knew the word for those little strips of fabric that button down on shirt and jacket shoulders but it’s left me.
white elephant: Something costly to maintain, possession of questionable value.
thrip: To snap one’s fingers
galea: A headache which covers the entire head
gaberlunzie: A wandering beggar or a harmless hobo
demiurge: The creator of a world, whether real or mythical
kamalayka: A shirt made of seal guts
zob: A worthless person
xenodochiophobia: A fear of foreign hotels
martext: A blundering preacher who stumbles through a sermon
microlipet: Someone who gets upset about trivial things
buffarilla: An extremely ugly young woman
vigesimation: The act of killing every twentieth person
rectalgia: A pain in the ass
qualtagh: The first person you see after leaving your house
quodlibertarian: A pedantic person who engages in elaborate arguments about minor things
Thank you so much for this question. I’ve got a new favorite web site.
@py_sue a thrip is also a major pain if they get into your garden
Nokicki
Definition: No kicking ( for use around hooved mammels ) lol
@Jeruba – Well you laid the ground for a classic literary prohibition/violation. You may as well have told Red to go straight to grandma’s. Is there a word for that? Designating a certain action as unacceptable and thereby ensuring it will happen?
Wondrosity…It is a word I made up myself. It is self-explanatory.
Sweet holy moly.
But nugget: Little piece of s***; dumb, Boorish, idiot, dumbass times three.
Chicken head: Loose tramp or low class gold digger but not always for money.
Bucket: (same as ”hoopty”) An older ugly car where most accessories don’t work like radio, A/C, power window, etc.
Dumbstick: Male sex organ
Baby mama: The chicken head you was dumb enough to get pregnant
Conversa: Chat, talk, conversation
5 0: Pronounced “Five Oh”, cops, law enforcement
Toss up: Easy woman you can have no holds barred sex with, a freak
Booty bandit: One who buggers women even if they don’t care for it
hymenaios: a wedding song
Cow: thing that goes moo.
I never ran into “stoichiometry” before I started my job here and is actually quite cool to mess with.
Britannica says…
Determination of the proportions (by weight or number of molecules) in which elements or compounds react with one another. The rules for determining stoichiometric relationships are based on the laws of conservation (see conservation law) of mass and energy and the law of combining weights (see equivalent weight) or volumes. The tools used are chemical formulas, chemical equations, atomic weights, and molecular weights or formula weights.
@Cruiser-That is handy info when making glazes ;)
—Eutectics is the word for what I do when formulating them—eu·tec·tic (y -t k t k). adj. 1. Of, relating to, or formed at the lowest possible temperature of solidification for any mixture of specified constituents
@Cruiser I had to do that with titrations in Chemistry at school. I was so bad my margin of error was around 18%.
@lucillelucillelucille and when making body oils! ;)
@FireMadeFlesh Dang! I thankfully didn’t have to do the chemistry thing in High school but kinda wish I did doing what I am now doing. You had to throw “titrations” in there! Show off!!
@Cruiser I’m actually quite glad its over – by the end it started to get to me. What exactly do you do?
Schadenfreude: to derive pleasure from the misfortune of others.
Bouncebackability: Able to overcome setbacks with panache & vigour :¬)
gallimaufry n. a hodgepodge, jumble; a mixture of diverse things
incondite badly put together; crude.
haptic 1: relating to, or based on the sense of touch. 2: characterized by a predilection for the sense of touch.
lacuna n. 1: a blank space or a missing part; gap. 2: a small cavity, pit, or discontinuity in an anatomical structure.
risible n. 1: causing or capable of causing laughter; laughable; comical. 2: having the ability to, or disposition to laugh. 3: of or relating to laugher or used in laughing (e.g. ‘risible muscles’).
turophile n. a connoisseur of cheese; a cheese fancier.
abecedarian adj. 1a: of or relating to the alphabet. b: alphabetically arranged. 2: rudimentary.
paronomasia n. the use of a word in different senses or the use of words similar in sound to achieve a specific effect, as humor or a dual meaning; pun.
woodnote n. verbal expression that is natural and artless.
ben trovato adj. characteristic or appropriate even if not true.
algid adj. chilly, cold.
piste n. 1: a trail, especially a downhill ski trail. 2: the area used for fencing.
From my word of the day app:
kenspeckle: Conspicuous; easily seen or recognized.
Strange- Lady Gaga
Cheedle- the cheese residue on your fingers after eating Cheetos
Bleemus- the film that forms over the top of soup
Odd- Lady Gaga
Gynecologist- educated person who gets paid to fiddle and tinker with female genitals
Midwife- smart woman who knows the doctor just screwed up
Weird- Lady Gaga
Blossor- your hairstyle after wearing a ballcap
Flarpswitch- lightswitch in your home that has no function
Creepy- Lady Gaga
Photograph- part of your soul that has been captured on paper
Pretzaline- the salt at the bottom of a pretzel bag
Disturbing- Lady Gaga
Chocolate- an orgasm for your mouth
“Esoteric” words are not as ameliorative as exacting words. Look for the inimitable, the trenchant; look for the intrepid, the redoubtable words! (But without being too capricious, puerile, or stultifying.)
Strive for equanimity and edification equally, but with an eye for the puissant!
silly..
Favorite terms:
– Coup d’oeil – absolute favorite term of all time!! The general’s first second understanding of a battlefield.
– Polysemous – as in a billboard that can be interpreted soundly X different ways, embracing the lurid and the righteous and everything in between equally – on their own terms. Or like reading Shakespeare multiple times and conjuring unique interpretations each.
– Tessellation – as in M. C. Escher’s work, or fractals, ..or so many things.
– Pukka – because it’s perfect. It’s pukka.
– Koozie – as in my Glamis koozie kicks ass!
Hoon: Referred to in Australia as someone usually young person who fools around. Originally a racing term – hooning around was racing with excessive speedingm skids etc.
@lynneblundell I had no idea that was an exclusively Australian term!
Bogan – An Australian term for an uncouth, classless person, typified by flannel shirts, bare feet and unemployment (although none of these are compulsory). The word is often used by people in a friendly, humorous way, and there are no offensive connotations.
@FireMadeFlesh well as far as I’m aware it originated in Australia and New Zealand, I heard about it on a radio show in the UK
mollycoddle – to be overprotective and indulgent
Sorry for all the brouhaha; I just couldn’t resist.
@Hobosnake I just used “brouhaha” this weekend, with my kids. They told they can’t help but laugh when I use words that sound ridiculous to describe a serious situation. I said they were lucky I didn’t use kerfuffle, instead!
Ooh, here’s one I just stumbled upon: Pilcrow. I had no idea that the paragraph symbol had a name!
@augustlan You thought it was like Prince’s symbol? XD
@bob_ Mind blown. My favorite expression from the list is “Vulgar fraction”. What would a fraction have to do to be considered vulgar?
In case any of you fine wordsmiths are interested in saving endangered words you might head over to Save the Words and pledge to keep a word like pugnastics (displays of pugilistic ability) or gutturniform (shaped like a water pitcher) in circulation.
also:
jiggery-pokery – n trickery, hocus-pocus; fraud
jodhpurs – n riding breeches cut very full over the hips and tapering at the knees to become tightfitting from the knees to the ankles
boondoggle – n a product of simple manual skill, work of little or no value done merely to keep or look busy, a project funded by the federal government out of political favoritism that is of no real value to the community or the nation
myriander – adj consisting of 10,000 men
quim – n female genitals
Are ‘jodhpurs’ and ‘boondoggle’ really endangered? I didn’t even think they were particularly esoteric. It’s worse than I imagined. :/
Those are just words I like. Probably not endangered but then again I don’t know the last time ‘jodhpurs’ came up in conversation.
We should make it a point to use it today. :)
<<< racking her brains trying to slip boondoggle into the conversation…
My 11-year-old niece taught me a new term this week! I thought she was pulling my leg at first because it totally sounds made-up. Ha.
glottal fry
Montane – of or inhabiting mountainous country
Autochthonous – indigenous rather then descended from colonists or migrants (Antonym: Allochthonous)
Mammon – wealth regarded as an evil influence or false object of worship and devotion
Syntonicity – understanding something by identifying with it (rather than by grasping it as an abstract concept)
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