Did You Know?
Veritable, like its close relative verity (“truth”), came to English through Anglo-French from Latin, ultimately the adjective vērus, meaning “true,” which also gave English verify, aver, and verdict. Veritable is often used as a synonym of genuine or authentic (“a veritable masterpiece”), but it is also frequently used to stress the aptness of a metaphor, often with a humorous tone (“a veritable swarm of lawyers”). In the past, language commentators objected to the latter use, but today it doesn’t draw much criticism.
etymology (noun|eh-tuh-MAH-luh-jee)
An etymology is an explanation of a word’s history—that is, where the word came from and how it developed.
// As a word nerd, I’m always eager to learn a word’s etymology and trace it back to its earliest known origins.
The etymology of etymology itself is relatively straightforward, so we won’t bug you with a lengthy explanation. Etymology ultimately comes from the Greek word etymon, meaning “literal meaning of a word according to its origin.” Etymon in turn comes from etymos, which means “true.” Be careful not to confuse etymology with the similar sounding entomology. Entomon means “insect” in Greek, and entomology is a branch of zoology that deals with insects.
People who confuse entomology with etymology bug me in ways I have no words for.
Lol
sedentary (adjective|SED-un-tair-ee)
Something described as sedentary does or involves a lot of sitting. Sedentary can also mean "not physically active" (as in "a sedentary lifestyle") or "not migratory" (as in "sedentary birds" or "a sedentary civilization").
// Editing the dictionary is a sedentary job.
Sedentary comes from the Latin verb sedēre, meaning "to sit." Other descendants of sedēre include dissident, insidious, preside, reside, and subsidy. Sedēre is also the base of the rare sedens, a noun that refers to a person who remains a resident of the place or region of their birth.
frolic (verb|FRAH-lik)
To frolic is to play and move about happily.
// We watched the seals as they frolicked in the harbor.
Frolic is a word rooted in pleasure. Its most common function today is as a verb meaning “to play and move about happily,” as in “children frolicking in the waves,” but it joined the language in the 16th century as an adjective carrying the meaning of its Dutch source vroolijk: “full of fun; merry.” Shakespeare’s Puck used it this way in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, saying “And we fairies … following darkness like a dream, now are frolic.” Verb use quickly followed, and by the early 17th century the word was also being used as a noun, as in “an evening of fun and frolic.”
litany (noun|LIT-uh-nee)
Litany usually refers to a long list of complaints, problems, etc. It can also refer to a sizable series or set, a lengthy recitation, a repetitive chant, or a particular kind of call-and-response prayer.
// Among the television critic’s litany of complaints about the new series is the anachronistic costume design.
How do we love the word litany? Let us count the ways. We love its original 13th century meaning, still in use today, referring to a call-and-response prayer in which a series of lines are spoken alternately by a leader and a congregation. We love how litany has developed in the intervening centuries three figurative senses, and we love each of these as well: first, a sense meaning “repetitive chant”; next, the “lengthy recitation” sense owing to the repetitious—and sometimes interminable—nature of the original litany; and finally, an even broader sense referring to any sizeable series or set. Though litanies of this third sort tend to be unpleasant, we choose today to think of the loveliness found in the idea of “a litany of sonnets by Elizabeth Barrett Browning.”
rancid (adjective|RAN-sid)
Rancid usually describes something edible that has a strong and unpleasant smell or taste because it is no longer fresh. In figurative use, rancid describes things that are very distasteful or offensive.
// The corpse flower, which is the largest known individual flower of any plant species, stays open five to seven days and emits a rancid odor.
Rancid and putrid and fetid—oh my! All three words are used to describe unpleasant smells and tastes, and each traces its roots to a "stinky" Latin word: rancid can be traced back to rancēre; the root of putrid shares an ancestor with putēre; and fetid comes from foetēre—all verbs meaning "to stink." Not long after entering the language in the early 17th century, rancid also developed a second, figurative sense which is used for non-gustatory and non-olfactory offenses, as in "rancid hypocrisy."
wreak (verb|REEK)
Wreak means “to cause something very harmful or damaging.” It is often used with on or upon.
// The virus wreaked havoc on my laptop
In its early days, wreak was synonymous with avenge, a meaning exemplified when Shakespeare’s Titus Andronicus proclaims “We will solicit heaven, and move the gods / To send down Justice for to wreak our wrongs.” This sense is now archaic, but the association hasn't been lost: although wreak is today most often paired with havoc, it is also still sometimes paired with words like vengeance and destruction. We humbly suggest you avoid wreaking any of that, however, no matter how badly you may crave your just deserts.
cognoscente (noun|kahn-yuh-SHEN-tee)
Cognoscente refers to a person with expert knowledge in a subject. It is usually encountered in its plural form, cognoscenti, and preceded by the.
// The audience at the club, though small, was full of writers, musicians, and other noteworthy members of the jazz cognoscenti.
Cognoscente and connoisseur—both terms for those in the know—are more than synonyms; they’re also linguistic cousins. Both terms descend from the Latin verb cognōscere, meaning "to know," and they’re not alone. You might guess that cognizance and cognition are members of the cognōscere clan. Do you also recognize a family resemblance in recognize? Can you see through the disguise of incognito? Did you have a premonition that we would mention precognition? Cognoscente itself came to English by way of Italian and has been a part of the language since the late 1700s.
acerbic (adjective|uh-SER-bik)
Something described as acerbic is sharply or bitingly critical, sarcastic, or ironic in temper, mood, or tone.
// The comedian draws crowds that appreciate his acerbic wit.
English speakers created acerbic in the 19th century by combining the adjective acerb with the suffix -ic-. Acerb had already been around for a couple centuries, but for most of that time it had been used only to describe foods with a sour taste. (Acerb is still around today, but now it's simply a less common synonym of acerbic.) Acerbic and acerb ultimately come from the Latin adjective acerbus, which can mean "harsh" or "unpleasant." Another English word that comes from acerbus is exacerbate, which means "to make more violent or severe."
October 28, 2025
menagerie (noun|muh-NAJ-uh-ree)
Menagerie refers to a collection of animals kept especially to be shown to the public, as well as a place where such animals are kept. It can also refer figuratively to any varied mixture of things.
// The aviary featured a menagerie of exotic birds.
// The space is eclectically furnished with a menagerie of flea market finds.
Back in the days of Middle French, ménagerie meant “the management of a household or farm” or “a place where animals are tended.” When English speakers adopted menagerie in the 1600s, they applied it specifically to places where wild and often also foreign animals were kept and trained for exhibition, as well as to the animals so kept. This second meaning was eventually generalized to refer to any varied mixture, especially one that includes things that are strange or foreign to one’s experience.
deliquesce (verb|del-ih-KWESS)
Deliquesce can mean "to dissolve or melt away" or, in reference to some fungal structures (such as mushroom gills), "to become soft or liquid with age or maturity."
// The mushrooms deliquesced into an inky fluid.
Deliquesce comes from the prefix de- ("from, down, away") and a form of the Latin verb liquēre, meaning "to be fluid." Things that deliquesce, it could be said, turn to mush in more ways than one. In scientific contexts, a substance that deliquesces absorbs moisture from the atmosphere until it dissolves in the absorbed water and forms a solution. When plants and fungi deliquesce, they lose rigidity as they age. When deliquesce is used in non-scientific contexts, it is often in a figurative or humorous way to suggest the act of "melting away" under exhaustion, heat, or idleness, as in "teenagers deliquescing in 90-degree temperatures."
truculent (adjective|TRUCK-yuh-lunt)
Truculent describes a person who is easily annoyed and eager to argue or fight. It can also describe the mood or attitude of such a person.
// The approach of multiple deadlines had put me in a truculent mood, and I could tell my colleagues were avoiding me.
English speakers adopted truculent from Latin in the mid-16th century, trimming truculentus, a form of the Latin adjective trux, meaning “savage,” and keeping the word’s meaning. Apparently in need of a new way to describe what is cruel and fierce, they applied truculent both to brutal things (wars, for example) and people (such as tyrants). Eventually even a plague could be truculent. In current use, though, the word has lost much of its etymological fierceness. It now typically describes the sort of person who is easily annoyed and eager to argue, or language that is notably harsh.
hobgoblin (noun|HAHB-gahb-lin
A hobgoblin is a mischievous goblin that plays tricks in children’s stories. When used figuratively, hobgoblin refers to something that causes fear or worry.
// This Halloween we were greeted at our door by werewolves, mummies, and a wide assortment of sweet-toothed hobgoblins.
While a goblin is traditionally regarded in folklore as a grotesque, evil, and malicious creature, a hobgoblin tends to be more of a playful troublemaker. (The character of Puck from Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream might be regarded as one.) First appearing in English in the early 1500s, hobgoblin combined goblin (ultimately from the Greek word for “rogue,” kobalos) with hob, a word from Hobbe (a nickname for Robert) that was used both for clownish louts and rustics and in fairy tales for a mischievous sprite or elf. The American writer Ralph Waldo Emerson famously applied the word’s extended sense in his essay Self-Reliance: “A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, adored by little statesmen and philosophers and divines.”
ostracize (verb|AH-struh-syze)
To ostracize someone is to exclude them from a group by the agreement of the group's members.
// She was ostracized by her community after refusing to sign the petition.
In ancient Greece, citizens whose power or influence threatened the stability of the state could be exiled by a practice involving voters writing that person's name down on a potsherd—a fragment of earthenware or pottery. Those receiving enough votes would then be subject to temporary exile from the state. Ostracize comes from the Greek verb ostrakízein (itself from the noun óstrakon meaning "potsherd"), used in 5th century Athens for the action of banishing someone by way of such a vote. Someone ostracized today is not exiled, but instead is excluded from a group by the agreement of the group's members.
Fun fact: in ornithology, the word ostracize means the act of measuring the dimensions of an ostrich.