Vernal (adjective | VER-nul) Vernal is a formal adjective that describes something that relates to or occurs in the spring.
// It is such a relief after a long, cold winter to see the trees and flowers in their glorious vernal bloom.
Did You Know?
“The sun’s coming soon. / A future, then, of warmth and runoff, / and old faces surprised to see us. / A cache of love, I’d call it, / opened up, vernal, refreshed.” These are the closing lines of the poem “Runoff” by Sidney Burris, and even if you don’t (yet) know the word vernal, you can probably divine its meaning from context. The sun’s arrival? Melting snow and ice? Optimism? It all sure sounds like spring, the muse of many a poet and the essence of vernal, an adjective that describes all things related to the season. While the sun has been crossing the equator since time immemorial, producing a vernal equinox in the northern hemisphere in late March and in the southern hemisphere in late September, the word vernal has only been in use in English since the early 16th century, when it blossomed from the Latin adjective vernālis. That word in turn traces back to the noun vēr, meaning “spring.”
I assume verde meaning green is related.
From “vir” most likely, and then the amorphous nature between written word v spoken word happened.
Latin words such as viridis, virere, virile, viral, virulent, and virtue are all associated with new growth, fast growth, and youth.
And, by extension, green.
Even her sleeves are green.
Permeate (verb | PER-mee-ayt)
To permeate is to pass or spread through something.
// The scent of lilacs permeated the room.
// A feeling of anxiety permeated the office as everyone rushed to meet the deadline.
Permeate was borrowed into English in the 17th century from Latin permeatus, which comes from the prefix per- ("through") and the verb meare, meaning "to go" or "to pass." Meare hasn't exactly permeated English. Aside from permeate itself, its other English descendants include the relatively common permeable as well as the medical meatus ("a natural body passage") and the downright rare irremeable ("offering no possibility of return").
Neologism (noun | nee-AH-luh-jiz-um)
Neologism can refer either to a new word or expression or to a new meaning of an existing word.
// I love seeing all the slangy neologisms that pop up on social media every year.
The English language is constantly picking up neologisms. In recent decades, for example, social media has added a number of new terms to the language. Finsta, rizz, influencer, meme, and doomscroll are just a few examples of modern-day neologisms that have been integrated into American English. The word neologism was itself a brand-new coinage in the latter half of the 18th century, when English speakers borrowed the French term néologisme, meaning both "the habit of forming new words" and "a newly formed word." The French term, which comes from néologie, meaning "coining of new words," comprises familiar elements: we recognize our own neo-, with various meanings relating to what is new, as in neoclassical, and -logy, meaning "oral or written expression," as in trilogy.
de rigueur (adjective | duh-ree-GUR)
De rigueur is a formal adjective that describes things that are necessary if you want to be fashionable, popular, socially acceptable, etc.—in other words, things required by fashion, etiquette, or custom.
// Dark sunglasses are de rigueur these days among fashionistas.
It takes a lot of work to be cool. One needs to wear the right clothes, understand the right pop culture references, and use the right lingo before it ceases to be, ahem, on fleek. Rigor is required, is what we’re saying—a strict precision in adhering to the dictates of fashion. Such rigor is at the crux of the adjective de rigueur, a direct borrowing from French where it means “out of strictness” or “according to strict etiquette.” Rigor is also what distinguishes de rigueur from a similar French borrowing, du jour. While the latter describes things that are popular, fashionable, or prominent at a particular time, as in “topic/style/buzzword du jour,” de rigueur describes that which is considered mandatory by fashion, etiquette, or custom for acceptability within a given social sphere or context. A bucket hat, for example, may be the chapeau du jour if it is currently popular or prevalent, but it would only be de rigueur if, among a certain crowd, you would be given the side-eye for not wearing one.
Garble (verb | GAR-bul) To garble something, such as a word, name, message, etc., is to cause it to be unclear or distorted. This type of garbling can be the result of an accident, ignorance, or a transmission error. Garble can also mean "to so alter or distort as to create a wrong impression or change the meaning."
// I was so nervous I garbled their names.
Garble is a word with a spicy history, and we're not just saying that to curry favor with gastronomes. It is presumed that this word was passed from Arabic to Mediterranean Europe through trade in Eastern spices, and was first introduced into English from the Anglo-French verb garbeler, used for the action of sifting out impurities—such as dust, dirt, husks, etc.—from spices. In the 15th century, the English garble carried this same meaning as well as "to cull," i.e., to sort or pick out the best parts of something. If these origins seem curious given garble’s now more common meanings of "to so alter or distort as to create a wrong impression" and "to cause to be unclear or confusing; to introduce error into," consider that one way of garbling someone’s story is to take bits and pieces out of context.
curry favor with gastronomes
My hat off to you for this pun.
Hobbit (noun | HAH-bit) A hobbit is a member of a fictitious peaceful and friendly race of small humanlike creatures that dwell underground.
// The story was filled with all sorts of imaginary people, including hobbits.
"Hobbits were no part of Tolkien's original plan. They entered rather late and through a side door, as the unexpected central characters in a children's story, The Hobbit, which Tolkien invented for his own children but which found an immediate and lasting worldwide audience. And of which The Lord of the Rings was the commissioned, long-awaited and trebly successful sequel." — Verlyn Flieger, LitHub.com, 24 June 2025
@IronLemon I can't claim credit, Merriam-Webster authored that pun
Flippant (adjective | FLIP-unt) Something described as flippant, such as behavior or a comment, is lacking in proper respect or seriousness.
// The celebrity made a flippant remark when questioned about the scandal.
Did You Know
Consider the spatula, humble friend to many a cook: admire the pliancy with which it flips pancakes, eggs, your more wieldy cuts of meat. We’re not being flippant—that is, facetious or smart-alecky—utensils are important, and spatulas are particularly useful for understanding the origins of flippant. Flippant is believed to come from the English verb flip, which, in turn, is a supposed imitation of the sound of something (say, a flapjack) flipping. The earliest uses of flippant described flexible things (like a spatula) or nimble, spry people, capable of moving this way and that with ease. Soon enough, flippant began to be used not only for people fluent in their movements, but those whose words flow easily. To be this kind of flippant was once a good thing; however, as people who speak freely can sometimes speak more freely than propriety permits, English users eventually flipped the script on flippant, and the positive sense fell into disuse, bending to the "disrespectful" sense we know today.
Consider the spatula, humble friend to many a cook...
Remember, you can find the perfect spatula at Spatula City!!!
Archetype (noun AHR-kih-type)
Archetype refers to someone or something that is seen to be a perfect example. It is also a word for the original pattern or model of which all things of the same type are representations or copies.
// The college’s most popular philosophy professor is the archetype of the preoccupied academic, complete with the messy desk, disheveled hair, and brilliant theories.
// The film is considered a sci-fi archetype for its pioneering use of special effects and prosthetics to depict an alien world.
Did You Know? In her 2024 book Doppelganger: A Trip into the Mirror World, author Naomi Klein writes that “the doppelganger archetype has appeared across time to explore issues of life and death, the body versus the soul, the ego versus the id …” Klein doesn’t mean that the same double, evil twin, or changeling keeps popping up throughout history, of course, but that the original concept of a doppelganger has served as a pattern, model, or template for writers to use in different ways, each supplying it with their own imagined details. Archetype’s origins are in two Greek words: the verb archein, meaning “to begin,” and the noun typos, meaning “type.” Since its debut in English in the mid-1500s, archetype has taken on uses specific to the ideas of Plato, John Locke, and Carl Jung, but in everyday prose, archetype is most commonly used to mean “a perfect example,” as in “Robert Louis Stevenson’s The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is considered an archetype of doppelganger fiction."
Derelict (adjective | DAIR-uh-likt)
Derelict is a formal word that describes something that is no longer cared for or used by anyone. It can also describe someone who is negligent or who fails to do what needs to be done.
// The kids made sure to stay away from the spooky derelict houses in the neighborhood on Halloween.
// The officers were charged with being derelict in their duty.
The Latin verb relinquere, meaning "to leave behind," left English with a number of words, including derelict. Something derelict has been left behind, or at least appears that way. In another sense, someone who is derelict leaves behind or neglects their duties or obligations. Another descendant of relinquere is relinquish, meaning "to leave behind," "to give up," or "to release." Relic also ultimately comes from relinquere. Relics, in the original sense of the term, are things treasured for their association with a saint or martyr—that is, objects saints and martyrs left behind. Relinquere also gives English its name for the containers or shrines which hold relics, reliquary.
Elucidate (verb | ih-LOO-suh-dayt) To elucidate something is to make it clear or easy to understand.
// The writer elucidates complex medical findings for a general audience.
In 1974, the discovery of a remarkably intact Australopithecus skeleton elucidated a key moment in human evolution. She was famously nicknamed Lucy in reference to the Beatles’ “Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds,” but we’d still love Lucy were it simply an homage to the light she shed. You see, the Latin luc- or lux puts the “light” in many English utterances (including the name Lucy). Take, for instance, lucent (“glowing with light”), luculent (“clear in thought or expression”), luciferous (“bringing light or insight”), lucid (“clear, sane, intelligible”), and elucidate (“to make clear or understandable”). Those last two words come from the Latin lucidus, which literally translates to “lucid.” Lucidus, in turn, comes from the verb lucēre, meaning “to shine.” Elucidating, therefore, can be thought of as the figurative equivalent of shining a light on something to make it easier to see.
Untoward (adjective | un-TOH-erd)
Untoward is a formal word that describes something that is improper or inappropriate, or that is adverse or unfavorable.
// The medication is safe and effective, with no known untoward side effects.
// The investigation found that nothing untoward had happened at the event.
For centuries, the adjective toward described “forward-moving” youngsters, the kind who showed promise and were open to listening to their elders. The adjective then came to mean amiable or obliging. The opposite of this now-obsolete sense of toward is froward, meaning “disobedient.” Froward has fallen out of common use, but thankfully another toward antonym, untoward, obliged in picking up the slack. In addition to describing people or things that are “difficult to guide, manage, or work with,” untoward today is applied to that which is unfavorable or adverse, as well as to things that are inappropriate or in bad taste.