How to Sound Clever

Master the 600 everyday words you pretend to understandwhen you dont

Hubert van den Bergh

Illustrations by www.sandrahowgate.com

First published in Great Britain 2010 A & C Black Publishers Ltd 36 Soho Square, London W1D 3QY www.acblack.com Copyright Hubert van den Bergh, 2010 Copyright illustrations Sandra Howgate, 2010 All rights reserved; no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the Publisher. No responsibility for loss caused to any individual or organisation acting or refraining from action as a result of the material in this publication can be accepted by A & C Black Publishers Ltd or the author. A CIP record for this book is available from the British Library. ISBN: 9-781-4081-2509-0 This book is produced using paper that is made from wood grown in managed, sustainable forests. It is natural, renewable and recyclable. The logging and manufacturing processes conform to the environmental regulations of the country of origin. Design by Fiona Pike, Pike Design, Winchester Typeset by Saxon Graphics Ltd, Derby Printed and bound in Great Britain by MPG Books Limited

Introduction
A couple of years ago, I was in a meeting trying to persuade some people of the merits of a business idea. The presentation seemed to be going well: the three people opposite me were nodding as I spoke. After ten minutes I stopped talking and put my pen down on the table in what I hoped was a business-deal-sealing kind of way. Then one of them spoke. You kept on using the word salubrious, he said. Do you know what the word actually means? I should confess at this point that salubrious is one of those words Ive never been sure about. It sounds like the French word for dirty, which is sale, but I can never remember if it in fact means the opposite: if it means clean. I had to go for one or the other now. Erdoesnt it mean dirty?, I said weakly. He shook his head. Salubrious means the opposite it means clean. The deal collapsed five minutes later. Now, that particular gentleman may have been a stickler, but his point stands: if you cant be trusted with your use of those most elementary units of communication, words, then what can you be trusted with exactly? That incident was the catalyst for this book. Over a two-year period, I looked up every word I didnt understand when I heard it in a conversation or read it in a newspaper. But is this book for you? Have a look at the three sentences below if you dont understand the

How to Sound Clever

words in bold, then youll get something of out this book. Be honest; dont dissimulate (turn to p. 51 if youre not sure of this word): Manchester Uniteds shirt sales depend on the clubs continued hegemony (p. 90) A phalanx (p. 150) of security guards monitors Obama Journalists often describe stock markets as febrile (p. 70) The three words highlighted above are part of a group that we all struggle with these are the words we find abstruse (p. 5) yet nod to during conversations; the words that we see in newspaper articles and hope their context will elucidate (p. 60). But the problem with leading our lives in this way is this: If we need a words context to understand its meaning, it follows that we lack the confidence to use that word ourselves. Which means that, after our halcyon (p. 87) schooldays are over, our vocabulary never improves. This book contains 600 or so English words that were always meaning to look up. Each word summons up a concept that is idiosyncratic (p. 96); and so each word increases your ability to express what is in your head. And the unintended corollary (p. 39) of your using language in this more precise way is that you will sound clever.

Introduction

For each word, I list its root and then give an example of how to use it, such as:

perfunctory (adj.)
= (of an action) done carelessly, as a matter of routine from the Latin perfunctorius: careless e.g. Breakfast at Tiffanys author Truman Capote hated writing, so postponed it by sharpening pencils for hours: he found this perfunctory action soothing

The place for this book is on top of your bedside table or toilet cistern. Once youve flicked through it as you nod off or focus on scatological (p. 181) matters, youll start to notice these 600 words everywhere. Its like buying a new car, a BMW, say; in the weeks afterwards, BMWs

How to Sound Clever

seem to fill the roads not because their number has proliferated (p. 160) but because you are more alert to their presence. Soon you will be so comfortable with these 600 words that you can use them yourself. This will give you a kick because you are expressing yourself in as pellucid (p. 147) a fashion as possible; and the unintended consequence of this is that your sentences will become lapidary (p. 110) and, as it happens, you will sound clever. So, enjoy

This book is dedicated to my mother, with her gift for science; and for my father, with his gift for art.

abstruse (adj.)

= hard to understand from the Latin abstrudere: to conceal e.g. When we can recall events from our dreams, they seem abstruse to us

actuate

actuate (verb) = to put into motion from the medieval Latin actuare: to carry out
e.g. When you leave the house, you must tap in a pin code to actuate the alarm

acuity (noun) = sharpness of mind or of the senses from the Latin acuere: to sharpen
e.g. The oratory of Barack Obamas speeches reflects his intellectual acuity

adage / aphorism (noun)

= a proverb expressing a universal truth adage derives from the Latin adagium: a saying (based on an early form of aio: I say); aphorism from the Greek aphorismos: a definition e.g. One of Oscar Wildes best-known aphorisms / adages is: a little sincerity is a dangerous thing, and a great deal of it is absolutely fatal

adduce (verb) = to cite by way of evidence from the Latin adducere, from ad-: toward, and ducere: to lead
e.g. Mark Twain passed on investing in Alexander Bells telephone, wrongly adducing that static on the line would mean no one would buy the device

adjunct (noun) = a thing added to something else but as a non-core part from the Latin ad-: to, and jungere: to join

agent provocateur

e.g. Women find that more attention from men is an adjunct to breast augmentation

adjutant (noun)
= a deputy from the Latin adjuvare: to assist e.g. To show he was serious about his government being a coalition, Conservative David Cameron appointed Liberal Democrat Nick Clegg as his adjutant

aegis (noun) = the protection of a particular body for etymology, see box below
e.g. George Bush Snr was forced to punish Saddam for attacking Kuwait because Kuwait is under the aegis of the US According to The Iliad (the Greek poem written by Homer in the 8th century BC), the aegis (or aigis in Greek) was the shield wielded by Zeus, the king of the gods. From the shield hung one hundred golden tassels, which were depicted by Classical vase-painters as writhing snakes. Today, we continue to use the word aegis to denote any protection afforded to one person by another and it is often used to describe one countrys looking after another in the international arena.

agent provocateur (noun)

= a person who seeks to harm another by provoking them to commit an unlawful or wrong act from the French agent provocateur: inciting agent e.g. In the film Donnie Brasco, Johnny Depp plays an FBI agent who infiltrates the Mafia and encourages their criminality; Depp is an agent provocateur

alabaster

alabaster (adj.) = smooth and white from the Latin alabaster: a perfume casket made from the mineral alabaster; alabaster literally means resembling alabaster, a white variety of gypsum
e.g. Nicole Kidmans ginger locks contrast with her alabaster skin

aleatory (adj.) = random from the Latin alea: a game with dice (singular of die); aleatory literally means depending on the toss of a die
e.g. Travelling across London at the weekend can be a somewhat aleatory experience in view of the improvement works on the underground

amanuensis (noun)
= an assistant to an artist from the Latin (servus) a manu: (slave) at hand(writing), and -ensis: belonging to e.g. Agatha Christie had difficulty with writing and spelling owing to a learning disability so dictated all her detective stories to an amanuensis

amulet (noun) = a small piece of jewellery thought to ward off evil for etymology, see box below
e.g. After breaking up with his fiance, James Dean wore an enamel locket containing strands of her hair: this was his lucky amulet amulet derives from the Latin amuletum, meaning an object that protects a person from trouble.

anodyne

Examples of amulets include gems, rings and coins; all these objects are small enough to carry around and are believed to bring good luck to the bearer. Amulets also exist in larger form and perhaps the most famous amulet is the crucifix, which is found in the homes of Christians to protect against evil.

anachronistic (adj.)
= very old-fashioned from the Greek anakhronismos, from ana-: backward, and khronos: time; anachronistic literally means appropriate to a different time e.g. The Tower of London is guarded by Beefeaters who dress anachronistically

anaemic (adj.)
= lacking in vigour from the Greek anaemia, from an-: without, and haima: blood; anaemic literally means suffering from anaemia; this is a medical condition caused by a deficiency of red blood cells, resulting in paleness and weakness e.g. Compared with Rita Hayworth and other voluptuous stars of her day, Grace Kelly appeared anaemic

anodyne (adj.)
= not contentious, often deliberately so from the Greek anodunos: painless, from an-: without, and odune: pain e.g. The Great Gatsby author F. Scott Fitzgerald didnt believe in anodyne entrances, once turning up to a Hollywood party on all fours and barking

anomic

anomic (adj.) = (of a person) lacking normal ethical standards from the Greek anomos: lawless
e.g. Serial killer Fred West murdered people on a whim: he was an anomic individual

antediluvian (adj.)
= so old-fashioned as to be ridiculous from the Latin ante-: before, and diluvium: flood; antediluvian literally means from a time before the flood created by God to punish man (as described in the Bible) e.g. Critics of the Catholic Church view the refusal to ordain women as antediluvian

anthropogenic (adj.) = (usually of environmental pollutants) created by humans from the Greek anthropos: human being and genic: produced by
e.g. The ozone is shrinking due to anthropogenic carbon dioxide emissions

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anthropomorphise

anthropomorphise (verb) = to attribute human form to something not human, such as an animal from the Greek anthropos: human being, and morphe: form
e.g. Humans like watching dogs open doors with their paws as though they had hands because we like to anthropomorphise animals

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apocryphal

apocryphal (adj.)
= (of a story) of dubious authenticity, but relayed as if true (and having the ring of truth) for etymology, see box below e.g. Although it is true that he declared himself Emperor, the story that Napoleon performed the coronation himself is apocryphal this duty went to Pope Pius VII apocryphal derives from the Greek noun Apocrypha, which means having been hidden away. The early Christian Church gave this label to religious writings considered useful but not inspired by God hence these volumes were excluded from the accepted canon of scripture. Today, when we label a story apocryphal, it means we are casting doubt on its authenticity.

apologist (noun)
= a person who defends a cause that people find controversial from the Greek apologizesthai: to give an account e.g. Apologists for Nazism are treated with contempt by most people

apostatise (verb) = to abandon a religious or political belief from the Greek apostates: a runaway slave
e.g. In some interpretations of sharia law, Muslims who have apostatised deserve death

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Arcadian

apparatchik (noun) = (derogatory in tone) an official in a huge organisation from the Russian, apparat: apparatus, and -chik: denoting agent
e.g. Within the Conservative Party, George Osborne is no mere apparatchik, for he is one of David Camerons closest advisers and the Chancellor

apposite (adj.)
= appropriate from the Latin appositus, past participle of apponere: to apply (from ad-: toward, and ponere: to put) e.g. It is apposite to wear black to a funeral

approbation (noun)
= approval from the Latin approbare: to approve e.g. Bill Gates donation of billions to charity was greeted with global approbation

Arcadian (noun)
= relating to a paradise in the country for etymology, see box below e.g. Many town-dwellers dream of leading Arcadian existence Arcadia is in Greek mythology the home of Pan, the god of flocks and herds; hence today the use of the word Arcadia to signify a rural paradise. (Incidentally, the god Pan gives us another word derived from his name: panic. This is because the Greeks represented Pan as being frightening in appearance having the horns and legs of a goat but a mans body which caused anyone who saw him to panic.)

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arcane

arcane (adj.) = shut off to outsiders, hence mysterious from the Latin arca: a chest, from arcere: to shut up
e.g. To a Christian, the customs of a Muslim wedding ceremony such as the elaborate decorating of the brides hands and feet with henna seems arcane

archipelago (noun)
= islands grouped together; OR a sea containing islands grouped together from the Greek arkhi-: chief, and pelagos: sea e.g. The West Indies form an archipelago lying between the Caribbean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean

argot (noun)
= the slang of a particular clique (usually one under threat from society, such as criminals) from the French argot: slang e.g. The police are called the pigs in the argot of criminals

arriviste (noun) = an ambitious person who has only recently made it from the French arriver: to arrive
e.g. People who have inherited wealth regard people whose wealth derives from their own endeavours as arrivistes

assiduous (adj.) = very diligent from the Latin assidere: to be engaged in doing
e.g. Conspiracy theorists say the disappearance of the phone records for Marilyn Monroes flat on the night of her death is evidence of an assiduous cover-up

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Augean

atavistic (adj.)
= concerning the re-emergence of traits that had disappeared generations ago from the Latin atavus: forefather e.g. A human foetus starts life with a tail; but as the foetus grows this atavistic feature drops off

attrition (noun)
= the process of slowly reducing the strength of someone or something by pressure over time from the Latin atterere: to rub e.g. By continually returning the ball, Rafael Nadal wears out his opponents by a process of attrition

Augean (adj.)
= (of a challenge) needing so much effort to finish as to seem impossible for etymology, see box below e.g. After overthrowing Saddam Hussein, President Bush faced the Augean task of establishing a democracy in Iraq Augean derives from the name of King Augeas, who was best known in Greek mythology for his stables, which held the biggest herd of cattle in the country. These cattle were so strong and healthy in fact divinely so that they produced huge heaps of dung every day, meaning that no one could ever clean out the stables properly. One of Herculess 12 labours was to make these stables clean in just 24 hours; he succeeded in this by diverting the path of two rivers into the buildings, thus sweeping away the excrement. Today we continue to refer to any task that seems impossible as Augean.

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auspices

(auspices) under the auspices of (phrase) = with the protection of for etymology, see box below
e.g. When Russia invaded Georgia, the UN objected because Georgia falls under the auspices of the UN The expression under the auspices of derives from the Latin auspicium, which means an observation by a soothsayer who relied on the flight of birds to divine the future. Auspicium itself derives from the Latin words avis: a bird, and specere: to observe. If the soothsayer liked what he saw in the sky in other words, if the auspicium, or birdwatching, was favourable he would tell his client that the gods approved a particular plan. Hence, today, the expression under the auspices of someone means with the protection of someone.

autocrat (noun) = someone who demands total obedience from other people from the Greek autokrates, from autos-: self, and kratos: power; an autocrat literally means a ruler who has absolute power
e.g. Idi Amin was an autocrat who ruled Uganda with an iron rod, tolerating no dissent

autodidact (noun) = a self-taught person from the Greek autodidaktos: self-taught, from autos-: self, and didaktos: taught
e.g. He left school with no qualifications, became an autodidact and now lectures the world over an Italian art

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automaton

automaton (noun) = a person who seems to behave in a way that is more mechanical than human from the Greek automatos: acting of itself, from autos-: self, and matos: willing
e.g. Author Virginia Woolf drowned herself by putting stones into her pockets and walking calmly into a river like an automaton

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bacchanalian (adj.)

= characterised by drunkenness and partying for etymology, see box overleaf e.g. After success in Hollywood, Marilyn Monroe developed an addiction to pills and Dom Perignon: hers was a bacchanalian lifestyle

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badinage

bacchanalian originates from the name of Bacchus, a Roman god. Bacchus was at first the god of fertility in nature and was thus at the centre of wild religious ceremonies; later Bacchus continued this association with abandonment by being known as the god of wine who reduced inhibitions and promoted creativity in the arts. (Bacchus was the name given by the Romans to the Greek God Dionysus, see Dionysian)

badinage (noun)
= witty talk from the French badiner: to joke e.g. The Queen Mother used to enjoy a nightly gin and tonic along with some badinage

bathetic (adj.)
= relating to an anticlimax (the kind that occurs when the mood unintentionally lurches from awe to ridicule) from the Greek bathos: depth e.g. Does nobody understand? were the final words of novelist James Joyce: a bathetic last statement for such a master of communication

beetle-browed (adj.) = (of a persons eyebrows) shaggy and projecting from the Old English beetle, and brow, which meant eyebrow (not forehead as it does today)
e.g. Old men who do not trim their eyebrows become beetle-browed

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bifurcate

behemoth (noun) = a huge thing, especially an enormous organisation from the Hebrew, behemah: beast
e.g. Jonathan Ross was one of the highest-paid employees of the behemoth that is the BBC

bellicose (adj.)
= eager to fight from the Latin bellicus: pertaining to war e.g. Genghis Khans bellicose nature led to conquests that created one of the largest empires in history

benighted (adj.) = ignorant due to a lack of education from the 16thcentury English benight: cover in darkness
e.g. The credit crunch began when onerous mortgages issued to financially benighted families in America went unpaid

bifurcate (verb) = to split up into two branches from the Latin bifurcus: two-forked, from bi-: two, and furca: fork
e.g. By day Dr Jekyll was a model citizen but at night he turned into the monstrous Mr Hyde: the man led a bifurcated life

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bilious

bilious (adj.)
= full of spite for etymology, see box below e.g. Rock Hudsons agent arranged for the star to marry his secretary so that the press would not direct bilious comments towards Rock about his homosexuality bilious derives from the Latin bilis, meaning bile, which is a bitter fluid emitted by the liver to aid digestion; the ancient Greeks believed that bile had a negative influence on someones mood (hence our use of the word bilious today to signify a bad-tempered person). Note that the word bilious has the following extra meanings: (of a person) feeling sick e.g. I felt bilious after eating a dodgy egg (of a colour) so vivid as to be sickly e.g. Tony Blair was once photographed on holiday in a pair of bilious swimming shorts

bilk (verb)
= to take money (from someone) using deceitful methods bilk is a variant of balk, a mid 17th-century English word meaning to spoil ones opponents score in the card game of cribbage e.g. The young Errol Flynn was sacked from his job as a clerk when he bilked money from petty cash to bet on a horse

bipartisan (adj.)
= involving the agreement of two political parties usually at loggerheads from the Latin bi-: two, and partire: to part e.g. The creation of animal-human hybrid embryos for scientific research received bipartisan support from the then opposing leaders David Cameron and Gordon Brown

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blitzkrieg

blandishment (noun)
= a pleasing utterance to persuade someone to do something from the Latin blandus: soft, smooth, from blandiri: to flatter e.g. Fidel Castro persuaded Graham Greene to campaign on his behalf against the US government by directing blandishments towards the writer

blitzkrieg (noun)
= a short but devastatingly effective military campaign for etymology, see box below e.g. Mike Tyson would often go several rounds without troubling an opponent before unleashing a blitzkrieg of punches that would finish them off in seconds blitzkrieg means in German a lightning war. After a poor performance in World War I, Germanys military leaders refined their tactics, resulting in the blitzkrieg concept that was used to such effect in World War II. The blitzkrieg consisted of a co-ordinated onslaught by planes, tanks and infantry, which simultaneously converged on one weak point of enemy lines with the aim of breaking through. The goal was to instil terror in the enemy; for this reason the planes were fitted with propellers known to make extra noise. There is no record of the term blitzkrieg in German military handbooks; in fact the term was coined by a journalist from The Times in 1939 to describe Germanys invasion of Poland. Today we continue to use the phrase to refer to any short but effective attack by one person on another.

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boulevardier

boulevardier (noun) = a socialite who is well-off and fashionable from the French boulevardier: a person who frequents boulevards (which are wide city streets lined with trees, commonly found in more gentrified areas)
e.g. With a long list of celebrity friends, hotel heiress Paris Hilton is a noted boulevardier

bowdlerise (verb)
= to cut out material considered unsuitable (from a work), especially with the result that the work becomes less powerful for etymology, see box below e.g. The censors bowdlerised the film The Texas Chainsaw Massacre before clearing it for release bowdlerise derives from the name of Dr Thomas Bowdler (17541825), who in 1818 published a severely edited version of Shakespeare. As he lived in a prudish age, Bowdler knew that there would be a market for a sanitised version of Shakespeares work a version suitable for women and children. Bowdler called his work The Family Shakespeare and it was a big success. Today, we continue to refer to any work of art that has been pared down by a censor as being bowdlerised.

braggadocio (noun)
= boasting and swaggering for etymology, see box opposite e.g. In his last film, The Misfits, Clark Gable insisted on doing his own stunts, including being dragged by a horse; this braggadocio led to a fatal heart attack

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burlesque

braggadocio derives from the name of Braggadocchio, a character in a poem called The Faerie Queene that was published in 1590 by Edmund Spenser to celebrate Queen Elizabeth I. The character Braggadocchio was famous for his boasting and vain nature and we still use the word braggadocio today to refer to any behaviour of this type.

bulwark (noun) = something or someone that acts as a barricade from the Middle High German Bollwerk, from Bohle: plank, and Werk: work; a bulwark literally means a defensive wall
e.g. Cherie Blair found her husbands soothing comments a bulwark against harsh articles by journalists

bumptious (adj.)
= offensively self-assertive from the 19th century, derived from bump; a humorous coinage on the pattern of fractious e.g. Chat show hosts cannot afford to be too bumptious, as they must allow their guests to dominate the conversation

burlesque (noun)
= humour resulting from a comically exaggerated portrayal; OR a variety show involving undressing to music from the Italian burlesco, from burla: mockery e.g. Some comedians make a living out of the burlesque by imitating the voices of politicians

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Byronic

Byronic (adj.)
= (of a man) dark and enigmatic in an attractive way for etymology, see box below e.g. In the film Four Weddings and a Funeral, Hugh Grant plays a Byronic lothario Byronic derives from the name of Lord Byron (1788 1824), an English poet famously described by Lady Caroline Lamb as mad, bad and dangerous to know because of his womanising and risk-loving nature. It is appropriate then that Byron is today best known for his poem Don Juan, which describes the exploits of a serial philanderer; when we use the word Byronic today, we evoke Lord Byrons dangerous air that so enthralled women.

Byzantine (adj.) = (of an administration) highly complex and sometimes devious for etymology, see box below
e.g. Most people find the UK governments tax system to be Byzantine The Byzantine Empire was the name for the Roman Empire between the 4th and 15th centuries AD. The Byzantine Empire was vast and sprawling and hence required a complex system of government, with thousands of different types of bureaucrats, all wearing different hats and outfits to denote their rank; it is no surprise that, in such a competitive environment, the most successful politicians were marked by their deviousness. Today, when we refer to an administration as Byzantine, we evoke this sense of unfathomable complexity as well as the deviousness of its creators.

26

cabal (noun)

= a secret political group from the French cabal: society e.g. On the many occasions that his leadership was under threat, Gordon Brown moved quickly to disband the cabal responsible

cadence (noun) = a drop in the intensity of the voice at the end of a sentence from the Latin cadere: to fall; the collection of notes comprising the close of a musical phrase
e.g. You can listen to Dame Judi Dench for hours because her voice is full of soothing cadences

cadre (noun)
= a small group of people trained for a specific role from the Latin quadrus: a square e.g. The SAS is an elite cadre of army troops

callisthenics (noun)
= gymnastic exercises which have as their aims fitness and grace from the Greek kallos: beauty, and sthenos: strength e.g. The biggest-selling fitness video of all time, Jane Fondas Workout, shows the actress performing her callisthenics regime

callow (adj.)
= (of a young person) naive from the Latin calvus: bald e.g. The 11-year-old Audrey Hepburn carried messages for the Dutch Resistance hidden in her shoes: she looked so callow that the Nazis never suspected her

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cant

cant (noun) = language specific to one group of people and looked down on by others; OR a hypocritical sermon from the Latin cantare: to sing
e.g. At the Oscars, the woman who wins Best Actress usually embarks on the effusive cant that is customary at such events

28

carious

carapace (noun)
= a protective shell from the French carapace: a tortoise shell; a carapace is literally the hard upper shell of a turtle e.g. People who are bullied have to develop a carapace in order to survive

careen (verb)
= to move fast but in an uncontrolled way in one direction from the Latin carina: a keel (which is a kind of ship) e.g. James Dean died when a car careened into his own on State Route 46 in California

carious (adj.)
= (of teeth and bone) rotted away from the Latin caries: decay e.g. When talking, Oscar Wilde used to put one hand over his mouth to disguise his carious teeth from his interlocutor

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carnivalesque

carnivalesque (adj.) = involving a fun and uproarious mix for etymology, see box below
e.g. After England won the 2003 Rugby World Cup, a carnivalesque atmosphere reigned in London The word carnivalesque is the adjective from the noun carnival, which is a period of celebration that takes place in Roman Catholic countries in the weeks before Lent (i.e. in January and February). For Catholics, Lent is a time of austerity when luxuries such as meat are renounced hence the etymology of the word carnival that derives from the Latin carne vale, meaning farewell to meat, as the carnival is the last chance to celebrate and indulge oneself before Lents rigours. Processions and masked dancers characterise a carnival and when we use the word carnivalesque, we refer to this spirit of celebration.

Cassandra (noun)
= someone who correctly predicts disaster but whom no one listens to for etymology, see box below e.g. no one would listen to the few economists who in 2007 warned the world was about to enter a recession; but these Cassandras sadly proved only too accurate in their predictions Cassandra was in Greek mythology the daughter of the Trojan king Priam. Apollo took a shine to the beautiful Cassandra and gave her the power of prophecy. When it became clear that Cassandra did not return Apollos love,

30

cavalcade

Apollo became angry and turned his gift to her into a curse by causing her prophecies, though still true, to be ignored by everyone. Today, we continue to describe as a Cassandra anyone who correctly predicts a catastrophe such as the recent credit crunch but is not listened to.

caustic (adj.) = sarcastic in a particularly angry way from the Greek kaustos: combustible; caustic literally means able to corrode organic matter by chemical action
e.g. Judy Garland, star of The Wizard of Oz, gave her own mother the caustic title the real-life Wicked Witch of the West

cavalcade (noun)
= a formal line of people or objects moving together for etymology, see box below e.g. At Elvis Presleys funeral, the cavalcade included 16 white Cadillacs and one white hound dog A cavalcade literally refers to a procession of people on horseback who gather to commemorate an historical event; the riders often travel huge distances in the process. The etymology of the word cavalcade reflects this equine connection, deriving as it does from the Italian cavalcare, meaning to ride. For example, hundreds of riders gather in Chihuahua in Mexico every year and embark on a journey across the country, which lasts several weeks and culminates in their entering the US; this cavalcade is to re-enact a Mexican generals brief invasion of the US in 1916.

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caveat emptor

caveat emptor (phrase) = the principle that it is the buyer alone who is responsible for ensuring that something purchased is of good quality from the Latin caveat emptor: let the buyer beware
e.g. When a customer drives off with an old car that has been made to look like a new one, the car salesman thinks to himself: caveat emptor

cerulean (adj.)
= (of a colour) blue like a cloudless sky from the Latin caeruleus: sky blue e.g. It is enjoyable to go for a stroll when the sun is bright and the sky cerulean

ceteris paribus (adv.) = assuming other conditions remain unchanged from the Latin ceteris paribus: with other things being the same
e.g. Rising unemployment will, ceteris paribus, lead to a weaker economy

chicanery (noun)
= deception from the French chicancer: to quibble e.g. Investors did not become aware of Bernard Madoffs chicanery until it was too late

chimera (noun) = a thing that is forever desired but not achievable for etymology, see box opposite
e.g. Due to our responsibilities to others, we must all accept that absolute personal liberty is a chimera

32

cipher

chimera derives from the Greek word khimaira, which was in Greek mythology a monster that had a lions head, a goats body, and a serpents tail. Such an animal does not of course exist in reality and today chimera retains this sense of something that is an impossible dream that will never become a reality.

chrysalis (noun)
= a stage involving preparation from the Greek khrusos: gold (because of the golden colour of the pupae of some species); a chrysalis literally means the discarded hard outer case of a quiescent insect pupa of a butterfly e.g. The young Al Pacino spent a year with two aunts whose deafness forced him to gesticulate; this proved a good chrysalis for his extravagant acting style

cinaste (noun)
= a lover of films from the French cin (from cinma), on the pattern of enthousiaste: enthusiast e.g. Before writing scripts, Quentin Tarantino worked in a DVD rental store, which was the perfect job for a cinaste like him

cipher (noun) = a person who is insignificant from the Old French cifre, based on the Arabic sifr: zero
e.g. As a constitutional monarch, the Queen does not interfere with the running of government but she does work hard for the country and is no mere cipher

33

circumlocutory

circumlocutory (adj.) = using many words when there is no need from the Latin circumlocutio, from circum-: around, and locutio: speech
e.g. A standard conversation with Fidel Castro is reported to last hours because the Cuban leader is so circumlocutory

cirrus cloud (phrase)

= a cloud with threads around it from the Latin cirrus: a curl e.g. Einstein had white hair that surrounded his head like a cirrus cloud

clarion call (phrase)

= a call for action from the Latin clarus: clear; a clarion call literally refers to a blast from a clarion, which is a shrill war trumpet e.g. Barack Obamas election campaign speeches included a clarion call for change

cleave (verb)
= to become extremely emotionally involved with (someone) from the Old English clifian: to stick e.g. To fall in love at first sight is to cleave instantly to another person Note that cleave has a secondary meaning (which is the direct opposite of the one above): to split something asunder, using force from the Old English cleofan: to split e.g. In winter people use axes to cleave wood for the fire

34

concatenation

climacteric (noun) = a period when events of huge significance occur from the Greek klimakter: a critical period
e.g. The time surrounding the invasion of Iraq was the climacteric of Tony Blairs Prime Ministership

coda (noun)
= an ending from the Latin cauda: tail e.g. Elvis Presley received more than 19,000 uppers and downers from his doctor during the two years before he died: this was a sad coda to the stars life

compre (noun) = the main presenter of a show, responsible for introducing others from the French compre: a godfather
e.g. When his mothers voice gave out, the five-year-old Charlie Chaplin finished her song after being ushered on by the compre

concatenation (noun)
= a series of things that are linked as if in a chain from the Latin con-: together, and catena: chain; a concatenation literally means the action of linking things together in a chain e.g. Andy Warhol sometimes produced paintings by having his dog urinate on the canvas; the critics lauded the resulting concatenations of yellow

35

concomitant

concomitant (noun) = a phenomenon that goes hand in hand with something else from the Latin concomitari, from con-: together with, and comitari: to accompany (from the Latin comes: companion)
e.g. Diseases such as psoriasis are often concomitants to stress

conflation (noun) = the act of melding two or more ideas into one from the Latin conflare: to fuse, from con-: together, and flare: to blow
e.g. When Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez were an item, journalists used to refer to the couple by the conflation of Bennifer

congeries (noun) = a messy collection from the Latin congeries: a heap, from congerere: to heap up
e.g. The competitors on the TV show Big Brother are from a congeries of backgrounds

congruous (adj.)
= harmonious from the Latin congruere: to agree e.g. It seems congruous that William Shakespeare died on the 23rd of April for that is also the day he was born

conquistador (noun) = a person who sets out in search of adventure for etymology, see box opposite

36

contrail

e.g. Societys double standards mean that promiscuous men are lauded as conquistadors whilst promiscuous women are viewed as sluts conquistador means conqueror in both Spanish and Portuguese. Following Christopher Columbuss discovery of the New World in 1492, Spanish conquistadors took control of most of America, placing it under Spanish rule. Today, the term conquistador is used to denote a conqueror of any kind.

consigliere (noun) = someone who advises from the Italian consigliere: adviser
e.g. Before Henry VIII turned on him and chopped off his head, Sir Thomas More was consigliere to the king

continuum (noun)
= a continuous sequence in which adjacent elements are very similar to each other, but the extremes are polar opposites from the Latin continuus: uninterrupted e.g. Alfred Kinsey believed that human sexuality forms a continuum, with complete heterosexuality at one end and complete homosexuality at the other

contrail (noun)
= the streak of white that a plane leaves behind it contrail is an abbreviation of the 1940s expression condensation trail e.g. The jet passed overhead, leaving a contrail in the sky

37

contumely

contumely (noun)
= insulting treatment from the Latin contumelia: an insult, from con- (an intensifying prefix), and tumere: to swell up e.g. A judge will not stand for contumely from a witness in court

cornucopia (noun)
= an overflowing supply of pleasant things from the Latin cornu copiae: horn of plenty; a cornucopia literally means a symbol of plenty consisting of a goats horn overflowing with flowers and fruit; for etymology, see box below e.g. Guests at weddings can expect to be served a cornucopia of food cornucopia means in Latin a horn of plenty (cornu copiae); from the 5th century BC, this was a symbol of food and abundance. The following Greek myth explains why it is that a goats horn has become associated with a surfeit of good things. When the god Zeus was young, he used to play with a goat, whose horn he broke off one day by accident; to make amends, the god returned the horn to the goat, but in an improved form, for it was imbued with magical powers that meant whoever possessed it got whatever they wished for. Hence the horn came to be depicted by the Greeks as bursting with fruits and flowers and other treats that people desired; today we continue to use the word cornucopia to refer to any bountiful display of food and goodies.

38

coterie

corollary (noun) = something that naturally follows from the Latin corollarium: money paid for a garland
e.g. People who have cataracts in their eyes literally see red: in fact the reddish tone of Monets paintings is a corollary of his suffering from the condition

coruscating (adj.) = (of light or of humour) sparkling from the Latin coruscare: to glitter
e.g. American wit H. L. Mencken once said, On one issue at least, men and women agree: they both distrust women. What coruscating humour!

costive (adj.)
= (of someones character) niggardly; (of speech or movement) slow from the Old French costiv: constipated (itself derived from the Latin constipatus: pressed together); costive literally means constipated e.g. Henry VIII became obese in his old age and later portraits of the monarch show him looking positively costive

coterie (noun)
= a small group of people with a common goal from the French cotier: an organisation of peasants holding land owned by a feudal lord e.g. Elvis Presley was accompanied everywhere by the Memphis Mafia: his coterie of bodyguards and helpers

39

coup de grce

coup de grce (noun)

= a fatal blow that finishes off a wounded animal from the French coup de grce: a stroke of grace e.g. For a discontented wife, the discovery that her husband has been unfaithful is usually the coup de grce for the marriage

covey (noun)
= a small crowd of people from the Old French cove: a brood; a covey literally means a small flock of birds e.g. As Tom Cruise arrived at the premiere of Mission Impossible, a covey of photographers snapped away

cowlick (noun)
= a clump of hair at the back of the head that refuses to be straightened but sticks up straight as if licked by a cow e.g. The hairdo of cartoon character Tintin consists of one giant cowlick

crapulent (adj.)
= nauseous due to overindulgence from the Latin crapula: inebriation e.g. The wide girth of the older Marlon Brando spoke of a man who had enjoyed many a crapulent evening

craven (adj.) = so timid as to be cowardly from the Old French cravante, past participle of cravanter: to crush
e.g. Charlie Chaplin failed to serve in World War I not because he was craven, but because the army rejected him for being too small

40

cupola

cri de cur (phrase) = a cry from the heart from the French cri de cur: cry from the heart
e.g. Princess Dianas TV interview with Martin Bashir when she discussed the constrictions of royal life was interpreted as a cri de cur by the public

cumulus (noun) = a large cloud composed of wispy clumps mixed together from the Latin cumulus: heap
e.g. On entering the cumulus, the pilot of the helicopter couldnt see a thing

cupola (noun) = a small dome that sits on top of a roof of a larger dome from the Latin cupula: small cask
e.g. Adorning the curved roof of the main dome of St Pauls Cathedral is a celebrated cupola

41

cursive

cursive (adj./noun) = (of script) written in joined up handwriting (adj.) / handwriting that is joined up (noun) from the Latin currere: to run
e.g. As a boy Hitchcock was obsessed with locomotives: the floor of his room was strewn with train timetables copied out in primitive cursive

42

de facto (phrase) = in fact (regardless of whether this is the proper state of affairs) from the Latin de facto: of fact
e.g. Colonel Gadaffi has been the de facto leader of Libya since a coup in 1969

defray (verb)
= to give money to cover (an expense) from the French defrayer, from de- (expressing removal), and frai: cost e.g. If you are unemployed, the government will pay you a jobseekers allowance to defray your outgoings

deleterious (adj.)
= destructive from the Greek deleterios: noxious e.g. Serial killer Fred West had violent rages, resulting from a motorbike accident that was deleterious to his brain

43

Delphic

Delphic (adj.) = (of a pronouncement) purposefully unclear for etymology, see box opposite
e.g. After being charged for kicking out at opposition fans, footballer Eric Cantona called a press conference to deliver the following Delphic pronouncement: when the seagulls follow the trawler, it is because they think sardines will be thrown into the sea

44

demimonde

Delphic has its derivation in the ancient Greek oracle at Delphi, whose priestess was said to have the power of prediction; however, her pronouncements were so ambiguous that it was very hard to work out what she meant. For example, the oracle once warned a warrior called Lysander to watch out for: a serpentcraftily creeping up behind you Lysander was presumably ever alert for snakes after that but in the end was killed by a man who was standing behind him at the time and who had a snake on his shield so the oracles warning, although truthful in a way, wasnt really helpful. Today we use the term Delphic to evoke any pronouncement that is similarly hard to understand.

demimonde (noun)
= a group of people on the periphery of society for etymology, see box below e.g. Unlicensed cab drivers form part of the demimonde of illegal workers in the UK demimonde is a French expression meaning half-world; in 19th-century France the term referred to those women who were shunned by society because they lived off their wealthy lovers to whom they were not married. Today, society is more tolerant of such situations and so the term demimonde no longer refers to women in this position, but continues to be used of people who are on the fringes of society, such as workers who are in the UK illegally.

45

demotic

demotic (adj.)
= relating to everyday language from the Greek demotikos: popular e.g. Dan Brown writes forcefully in demotic English and this in part explains the huge success of his book The Da Vinci Code

dnouement (noun) = the climax of several actions, when the outcome becomes clear from the French dnouer: to unknot
e.g. Superman always triumphs over Lex Luthor in the dnouement of the comic strips

depredation (noun) = an act of looting from the Latin depraedari: to plunder

e.g. After some would-be blackmailers attempted a depredation of Charlie Chaplins corpse, his family reburied his body under six feet of concrete

deracinate (verb)
= to take something by the roots and tear it out; to alienate someone from their natural environment from the French deraciner, from de- (expressing removal), and racine: root e.g. Model Claudia Schiffer, who was born in Germany but now lives in England, is always photographed smiling: she never looks deracinated

desultory (adj.) = jumping from one thing to another from the Latin desultor: vaulter, from the verb desilire: to jump down

46

dialectic

e.g. The inebriated diner can have difficulty following a desultory dinner party conversation

deus ex machina (noun)

= an event that comes out of the blue and changes the outcome of a story for etymology, see box below e.g. In the Mel Gibson film Apocalypto, the hero is saved from human sacrifice by the deus ex machina of a solar eclipse deus ex machina derives from the Greek term theos ek mekhane (meaning god from the machinery) and referred to those actors who, because they represented gods, were suspended above the stage in Greek theatres. Eventually these actors would be lowered down and intervene in the events on the stage, thus bringing about the plays ending. Today, we continue to use the term deus ex machina to refer to any device that appears from nowhere to end a film, play or novel.

dialectic (noun)
= the contradiction between two opposing forces viewed as the determining factor in their continuing interaction from the Greek dialektike: debate e.g. The tension between the human tendency to sin and the desire for salvation is the dialectic that fascinated novelist Graham Greene

47

diaspora

diaspora (noun) = the scattering of any people outside their homeland; OR the people who have been thus scattered from the Greek dia-: across, and speirein: to scatter (hence diaspeirein: to disperse)
e.g. The 21-year-old Arnold Schwarzenegger came to the US in the 1960s: he was part of a diaspora from Europe at that time

dichotomy (noun) = a contrast between two things that are polar opposites from the Greek dikhotomia, from dikho-: in two, and tomia: cutting (from temnein: to cut)
e.g. Bestselling authors like John Grisham are used to the dichotomy of being very popular with the public but sometimes unpopular with the critics

Dickensian (adj.) = bringing to mind the novels of Charles Dickens (especially in evoking the themes of poverty and exploitation) for etymology, see box below
e.g. In one Dickensian scene from Roald Dahls book Matilda, a cruel headmistress beats the girl Matilda Dickensian refers to the novels of Charles Dickens, which were works of social commentary, as the author was committed to exposing poverty in Victorian society. The publicity unleashed by Dickenss novel Oliver Twist (1838), for example, led to the eventual dismantlement of a slum called Jacobs Island that was the basis for the story.

48

dilatory

Today we continue to use the term Dickensian to refer to any work that draws attention to poverty and social inequality.

dictum (noun)
= a short statement that expresses a universal truth; OR a pronouncement from an official source from the Latin dictum: something said, neuter past participle of dicere: to say e.g. Actor Warren Beatty is discreet about his romances, citing the dictum: Obviously my sex life is not mine alone to talk about

didactic (adj.) = in the style of a patronising teacher from the Greek didaktikos, from didaskein: to teach
e.g. Readers prefer novels that have a subtle message rather than a didactic ending

diktat (noun) = an order imposed by a ruler despite objections from his people from the Latin dictatum: something dictated
e.g. Tyrants issue diktats on a whim

dilatory (adj.)
= slow to take action (often purposefully so) from the Latin dilatorius: delaying

e.g. Alfred Hitchcock was awarded a knighthood but died before the Queen could present it to him because he was so dilatory in arranging to receive it

49

Dionysian

Dionysian (adj.)
= relating to the realms of sexual and emotional gratification for etymology, see box below e.g. Hugh Hefner, owner of Playboy magazine, is known for his parties that the media depict as Dionysian Dionysian derives from the name of Dionysus, who in Greek mythology was the god of wine and ecstasy: hence the word Dionysian today refers to displays of intoxication and sensual indulgence. Note that Dionysus had a brother, Apollo, who was the exact opposite; when we describe someone as Apollonian, we mean that they embody Apollos calm and disciplined nature. (Bacchus was the name given to Dionysus by the Romans, see bacchanalian.)

dirge (noun) = a lament for the dead from the Latin dirige! (imperative): direct!
e.g. At Michael Jacksons funeral, the mourners were moved to tears by the dirge sung by Stevie Wonder

disburse (verb) = (of money) to pay out from the Old French desbourser, from des- (expressing removal), and bourse: purse
e.g. The government collects taxes then disburses this money, directing it to public services such as the NHS

disport oneself (verb) = to enjoy oneself without inhibitions from the Old French desporter, from des-: away, and porter: to carry

50

dissimulate

e.g. In advertisements for holidays, models are often pictured disporting themselves on sunlit beaches

disquisition (noun)
= a long speech on a topic from the Latin disquisitio: investigation, based on quaerere: to seek e.g. Martin Luther King was renowned for his public disquisitions on civil rights

dissemble (verb) = to hide ones true motives from the Latin dissimulare: to disguise
e.g. When someone asks How are you?, people who have the flu often dissemble and say Fine, thanks rather than discuss their ailment

dissimulate (verb)
= to hide ones true thoughts from the Latin dissimulare: to conceal e.g. Faced with a large hotel bill, Errol Flynn feigned appendicitis: he had no compunction about dissimulating

51

dissipate

dissipate (verb) = to disappear (via dispersal); OR to cause to disappear from the Latin dissipare: to scatter
e.g. Once hed stopped boxing, Mike Tyson found an alternative way to dissipate his energy: by working out in the gym

52

Doric

distend (verb) = to swell due to a force from inside from the Latin distendere: to stretch out, from dis-: apart, and tendere: to stretch
e.g. When pregnant with twins, actress Angelina Jolie had a noticeably distended belly

diuretic (noun) = a drug that causes one to pass water more frequently from the Greek dia: through, and ouron: urine (hence diourein: to urinate)
e.g. Alcohol and coffee are the most commonly used diuretics

doctrinaire (adj.) = stubbornly insisting on applying a doctrine from the Latin doctrina: teaching, from docere: to teach
e.g. Detractors of the Catholic Church say it is doctrinaire in sexual matters

Doric (adj.) = relating to a classical order of architecture, characterised by a thick grooved column, topped by a rounded moulding and then a square from the Greek Dorios: of Doris; which refers to the people of Doris who entered central Greece from the north in c.1100 BC, and later colonised southern Italy
e.g. In the grounds of English country estates, you often find streams with Doric temples nearby

53

doublethink

doublethink (noun)
= the ability to simultaneously believe in two ideas that contradict each other, while wilfully ignoring this contradiction for etymology, see box below e.g. Critics say the Chinese governments statement that Chinas Internet is open and managed in accordance with the law is an example of doublethink doublethink is a concept invented by George Orwell in his novel Nineteen Eighty-Four. (See Orwellian for more information about this author.) Nineteen Eighty-Four describes a totalitarian government which exercises control over its subjects via propaganda. Yet the risk remains for the ruling regime that the disgust felt by its own officials at this use of propaganda might lead to the collapse of the system. This is the reason the ruling regime uses reality control to ensure everyone even its own officials remains wilfully ignorant of contradictions within the regimes use of propaganda. One of the reality control devices that officials are encouraged to use is doublethink, which, Orwell tells us, is the ability to hold two contradictory beliefs in ones mind simultaneously while believing both of them to be correct. An example in the book is when civil servants rewrite government history and are then able to believe wholeheartedly in this new version of history that they themselves have just created. Today, we use the word doublethink to refer to any instance of someone wilfully ignoring contradictions in a belief system.

54

dyad

dovish (adj.) = (of a person) advocating peace for etymology, see box below
e.g. Ghandi did so much to promote peace that he is still considered the most dovish politician of all time dovish is an adjective deriving from dove, which is traditionally seen as a bird of peace due to its white feathers and cooing voice; hence, for example, the Christian faiths depiction of the Holy Spirit as a dove. Today, when we call someone dovish, we mean that person advocates peaceful policies in foreign affairs. (For the word to describe someone who is the opposite of dovish, see hawkish see p.90.)

ductile (adj.)
= able to be guided from the Latin ductilis, from duct-: led (from the verb ducere: to lead) e.g. Bing Crosby used to pin back his cauliflower ears with gum: his ears were sufficiently ductile to allow this

dyad (noun)
= two individuals that are viewed as a pair from the Greek duas: two e.g. Psychologists spend much time discussing the parent-child dyad

55

dyspeptic

dyspeptic (adj.) = having indigestion; OR having the irritability that results from indigestion from the Greek duspeptos: difficult to digest
e.g. After a ten-course meal, most people look dyspeptic

dystopia (noun) = an imagined place that is nightmarish from the Greek dys-: bad, and topos: place
e.g. In his documentary film An Inconvenient Truth, Al Gore warns us that we face dystopia unless we arrest global warming

56

edict (noun)

= an order from someone in office from the Latin edicere, from e-: out, and dicere: to say, tell e.g. Drink to me, drink to my health you know I cant drink any more was the last edict uttered by Pablo Picasso to his friends before he died

effluent (noun) = waste in liquid form that is emitted into a river from the Latin effluere: to flow out
e.g. Effluent from factories contaminates rivers

effulgent (adj.)
= (of a light) shining strongly; OR (of a persons expression) emanating happiness from the Latin effulgere: to shine brightly, from ex-: out, and fulgere: to shine e.g. Mother Theresas kindness found expression in her effulgent face

egalitarian (adj.)
= relating to the premise that all people are equal from the French gal: equal e.g. Social activists press for an egalitarian society

57

egregious

egregious (adj.)
= so bad as to stand out from the Latin e-: out, and grex: flock; egregious literally means standing out from the flock because the thing being described is so bad e.g. In September 1955, James Dean died from egregious injuries sustained in a car crash: his head was almost severed from his body

58

elegiac

eldorado (noun) = an imaginary place full of gold sought in South America by 16th-century explorers; OR a lifelong goal for etymology, see box below
e.g. In the 19th century, many Europeans left to settle in the US, which they viewed as eldorado eldorado which means the golden one (El Dorado) in Spanish refers to a mythical city of gold that the 16th-century Spanish conquistadors (see p. 36) were told existed in the newly discovered America. Spurred on by assurances from captive Indians that El Dorado overflowed with gold and precious gemstones, groups of Spaniards went out to find this place but in vain, with many of them dying from diseases and attacks by the natives. Today, we use the word eldorado to signify a place where wealth can be acquired quickly (doubtless the founders of the worlds biggest websites would describe the Internet as an eldorado). Eldorado can also be used to refer to a lifelong ambition (such as attaining happiness) and, in this way, it is similar to the word Shangri-La (see p. 184).

elegiac (adj.)
= (of a work of art) like a lament from the Greek elegos: a lament e.g. The film Schindlers List, which covers the atrocities committed by the Nazis, has an elegiac tone

59

elliptical

elliptical (adj.)
= (of speech) lacking key words (but the sense can be worked out from the context) from the Greek elleiptikos: defective, from elleipein: to leave out e.g. In the film ET, it is easy to understand phrases such as ET go home even though they are elliptical

elucidate (verb)
= to explain (something) clearly from the Latin elucidare: to make clear, from e-: out, and lucidus: light e.g. In his book A Brief History of Time (1988), Stephen Hawking uses simple language to elucidate the subject of black holes

emaciated (adj.)
= to be unusually lean from the Latin emaciare, from e(expressing a change of state), and macies: leanness e.g. Due to a meagre diet most homeless people look emaciated

embonpoint (noun) = plumpness of person from the French en bon point: in good condition; embonpoint is a euphemism for fatness
e.g. Towards the end of his life Marlon Brando grew depressed and his embonpoint increased dramatically

emetic (noun)
= a substance that brings about vomiting from the Greek emein: to vomit e.g. The emperor Nero tried to keep his weight down by using emetics

60

enervate

minence grise (noun) = a person who wields considerable power even though they have no official role for etymology, see box below
e.g. When Tony Blair was in power, the media depicted his unelected adviser Alistair Campbell as the minence grise of the Labour Party. minence grise is a French expression literally meaning grey eminence. The reason we use this term to describe a person who exerts a powerful but behind-the-scenes influence is because the first example of the controlling types to which this word refers was the grey-cloaked Pre Joseph (15771638), who was the private secretary who controlled Cardinal Richelieu (who himself controlled King Louis XIII, the nominal ruler of France).

endemic (adj.)
= characteristic of people belonging to one particular area from the Greek endemos: native, based on demos: people e.g. Roger Federer epitomises the cool precision endemic to the Swiss

enervate (verb)
= to weaken (someone) from the Latin enervare: to weaken (by extraction of the sinews) e.g. People involved in even minor car crashes feel enervated for weeks afterwards

61

enmity

enmity (noun)
= hostility towards someone or something from the Latin inimicus: enemy e.g. When somebody accused him of being a vandal because he was signing copies of his own novels in a bookshop, Stephen King felt no enmity; he knew it was a simple misunderstanding

ennui (noun)
= the kind of dissatisfaction that arises when nothing exciting has happened for a while from the French ennui: boredom e.g. Teenagers are moody because the chemical changes in their bodies ensure they feel ennui more than the rest of us

ephemeron (noun)
= something that is short-lived from the Greek ephemeros: lasting only a day e.g. Charlie Chaplin is still well-known today: his fame was no ephemeron

epithet (noun)
= a phrase that describes someone from the Greek epitheton, neuter of epithetos: attributed e.g. In his bodybuilding days, Arnold Schwarzeneggers powerful physique meant that he was known by the epithet of The Austrian Oak

eponymous (adj.) = (of a person) giving their name to something from the Greek epi-: upon, and onyma, variant of onoma: name
e.g. In the TV series Columbo, Peter Falk played the eponymous hero detective

62

ersatz

ersatz (adj.) = used as a poor substitute (for something else) from the German, ersatz: replacement
e.g. After his marriage to Marilyn Monroe ended, baseball star Joe DiMaggio pursued lookalikes of his wife; but he found no joy with these ersatz Marilyns

63

ethereal

ethereal (adj.) = so delicate as to seem otherworldly from the Greek aither: the upper air
e.g. With her thin frame and light hair, Michelle Pfeiffer emits an ethereal impression

etiolated (adj.)
= looking sickly for etymology, see box below e.g. The Brazilian beauty who calls herself Giselle has curves, differentiating her from the average etiolated supermodel etiolated was first used to refer to a plant that has become sickly and drawn-looking due to a lack of exposure to light. The word etiolated then evolved to describe humans in a similarly enfeebled state.

euphonic (adj.)
= sounding good from the Greek eu-: well, and phone: sound e.g. Elton John is rich because he has produced a series of highly euphonic melodies over the years and these have sold well

evanescent (adj.) = vanishing fast from the Latin evanescere: to disappear

e.g. The four members of the pop group ABBA got married and then divorced; but sadly these two unions proved to be evanescent

64

exemplar

eviscerate (verb) = to take away the core of something from the Latin eviscere: to disembowel, from e-: out, and viscera: internal organs
e.g. Director Stanley Kubrick was upset when his film A Clockwork Orange was eviscerated by the censors

excoriate (verb) = to criticise strongly from the Latin excoriare: to skin, from ex-: out, and corium: skin; excoriate literally means to remove part of the surface of the skin
e.g. Peter Sutcliffe, the Yorkshire Ripper, is excoriated for his horrific murders of women

exculpate (verb)
= to prove (that someone is) not guilty from the Latin ex-: out, and culpare: to blame e.g. After a high-profile criminal trial, O. J. Simpson was exculpated of the murder of his wife and her male companion

execrable (adj.)
= damnable from the Latin exsecrari: to curse (the inverse of sacrare: to dedicate) e.g. President Mugabe has allowed inflation to escalate; as a consequence many Zimbabweans live in execrable poverty

exemplar (noun)
= an outstanding example from the Latin exemplum: a sample, imitation e.g. In the UK, the Queen is a leading exemplar of selfless duty

65

exigent

exigent (adj.) = demanding from the Latin exigere: to demand

e.g. After performing, Pavarotti could barely speak because the physical demands of singing were so exigent

expatiate (verb) = (of speech) to elaborate from the Latin exspatiari: to move beyond ones usual bounds, from ex-: out, spatiari: to walk
e.g. On the TV show Richard and Judy, Judy frequently looked at the camera while Richard expatiated

expedient (adj.) = (of an action) convenient, although possibly morally wrong from the Latin expedire: to extricate, originally by freeing ones feet from being tied up (from ex-: out, and pes, ped-: foot)
e.g. Critics of David Cameron say he pursues whichever policy is most politically expedient

expiate (verb)
= to make up for (a sin) from the Latin expiat-: appeased by sacrifice, from the verb expiare, from ex-: out, and piare, from pius: pious e.g. Catholics believe that, with prayer and compensatory acts, their sins can be expiated

expostulate (verb)
= to express strong objections from the Latin expostulare: to demand

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extirpate

e.g. When Clark Gable failed his early film auditions because the studios considered his ears too floppy, he would expostulate at length

expurgate (verb)
= to remove matter deemed improper (from a work) from the Latin expurgare: to thoroughly cleanse, from ex-: out, and purgare: to cleanse e.g. Serial womaniser Casanova kept one fingernail especially long so that he could use it to expurgate the wax in his ears

extemporise (verb) = (of music or a speech) to perform spontaneously from the Latin ex tempore: (arising) out of the time
e.g. Louis Armstrong, like every good jazz musician, was capable of extemporising at will

extirpate (verb)
= to rip out by the roots and destroy from the Latin exstirpare, from ex-: out, and stirps: a stem e.g. Before his conversion, St Paul was a Roman official devoted to extirpating Christianity

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factious (adj.)

= relating to a state of conflict within an organisation from the Latin facere: to do e.g. After losing the general election the Labour Party became factious; Gordon Brown then quickly resigned

factotum (noun) = an employee who performs many tasks from the Latin facere: to do, and totum: the whole thing
e.g. In his book A Royal Duty, Paul Burrell wrote about his experiences as factotum to Princess Diana

fait accompli (phrase) = a thing that has been settled before those affected hear about it from the French fait accompli: accomplished fact
e.g. When one spouse decides to divorce the other, the decision is usually presented as a fait accompli

fallacy (noun) = an incorrect belief from the Latin fallacia: deceit

e.g. There is no evidence that a monster lurks in Loch Ness its supposed existence is a fallacy

fatuous (adj.)
= silly from the Latin fatuus: foolish e.g. Adults may find childrens TV programmes fatuous

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faux-naf

faux-naf (adj.)
= (of a work of art or a person) naive in an affected way from the French faux: false, and naf: naive e.g. In Agatha Christies novels, detective Miss Marple lures murderers into a false sense of security with her faux-naf manner

febrile (adj.) = excited in a nervy way from the Latin febris: fever; febrile literally means having the symptoms of a fever
e.g. In 2008, Lehman Brothers went bust; this made stock markets febrile and share prices fluctuated violently

feckless (adj.) = irresponsible and not considering others from the northern English dialect feck (from effeck, variant of effect)
e.g. A husband who walks out on his pregnant wife is feckless

fecund (adj.) = capable of producing many offspring from the Latin fecundus: fruitful
e.g. An hourglass figure is attractive to a man because it shows that a woman is fecund

felicity (noun) = a pleasing manner of expression; OR the state of being happy from the Latin felicitas: happiness
e.g. Barack Obama is famous for speaking with a felicity that no other politician can match

70

fissile

fetid (adj.) = smelling very unsavoury from the Latin fetere: to stink
e.g. When investigators opened the door to serial killer Ted Bundys home, the fetid odour of decay assaulted them

fetishise (verb)
= to develop an irrational devotion to (something) deriving from the Portuguese word feitio: a charm e.g. The public fetishised the marriage between Princess Diana and Prince Charles because her beauty and his royalty made it a fairytale romance

finagle (verb)
= to obtain (something) by roguish means from the Old French fornier: to deny e.g. The media have suggested that Bernard Madoff bought his large houses with money he had finagled from others

fissile (adj.)
= able to be split apart with ease from the Latin fiss-: split (from the verb findere: to split, cleave) e.g. Its hoped that any asteroid approaching the Earth disintegrates before impact: but woe betide humanity if the asteroid is not fissile

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fissure

fissure (noun) = a state of discord from the Latin fissura: a cleft, from findere: to split, cleave; a fissure literally means: a long narrow opening made by cracking
e.g. The writer Dostoevsky gambled away so much money that his wife had to pawn her wedding ring, causing fissures in the marriage

flneur (noun) = someone who lounges around from the French flner: to lounge
e.g. Audrey Hepburn eventually abandoned films in favour of working for UNICEF because she had grown bored of being a flneur

flaxen (adj.) = (esp. of hair) of the light yellow colour of dressed flax (which is a type of fibre) from the Old English fleax: cloth made with linen
e.g. Grace Kelly was renowned for her flaxen locks

flotilla (noun) = a group moving together for etymology, see box below
e.g. An appearance on Oprah Winfreys book club ensures an author sells millions more books because of the resulting flotilla of interested journalists A flotilla literally means a small fleet of ships in Spanish (flotilla being the diminutive of flota, which is the Spanish word for a fleet).

72

folie de grandeur

Within a navy, flotilla refers to a group of small warships of the same type, such as submarines or minesweepers. Today, flotilla is used most commonly to evoke the image of a small group of people moving around together.

flummery (noun) = hollow compliments for etymology, see box below

e.g. The Queens speech is popular because people sense the Queen is speaking sincerely: it is far more than flummery coming out of her mouth flummery refers to a pudding consisting of stewed fruit thickened with cornflour. This pudding, gained popularity in the 17th century when it was shaped by a mould and served to applause. However, its taste was bland and unimpressive. So it is that today we continue to use the word flummery to refer to any applause that is meaningless or any praise that is hollow.

folderol (noun) = silly fussing from a nonsense refrain of fol-de-rol in songs from the 19th century
e.g. Barack Obamas daughters looked amused by their fathers presidential inauguration ceremony and the attendant folderol

folie de grandeur (noun)

= delusions of grandeur from the French folie: madness, from de: of, and grandeur: grandeur e.g. To judge by the number of statues of himself he had built, Saddam Hussein suffered from folie de grandeur

73

foment

foment (verb) = to stir up (an unpleasant sentiment) from the Latin fomentum: lotion, from fovere: to heat
e.g. Billionaire recluse Howard Hughes forbade his staff from talking to him lest they expel germs in his direction; this ban fomented resentment towards him

fontanelle (noun)
= a gap between the bones of the skull in an infant, where the bone has not yet grown over from the Old French fontenelle, the diminutive of fontaine: spring; this soft spot of a babys head was meant to resemble the dent in the earth where a spring rises e.g. You have to make sure when patting a young babys head not to press down on the fontanelle because it is a very delicate area

force majeure (phrase)

= to declare that an event is beyond ones control from the French force majeure: greater force e.g. As it was raining incessantly, the organisers of the cricket match called force majeure and cancelled the game

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frond

fountainhead (noun) = the source of something literally referring to a streams source

e.g. The Beatles remain a fountainhead of inspiration for many bands

friable (adj.)
= easily reduced to powder by the act of crumbling from the Latin friare: to crumble e.g. You must be careful when arranging dried flowers because they are friable

frond (noun)
= a mass formed by strands of hair from the Latin frons, frondis: a leaf; a frond literally means the leaf of a palm, fern or similar plant e.g. Marilyn Monroe is famous for her blonde hair which tumbled from her head in fronds

75

fulminate against

fulminate against (verb)

= to express violent protest about something for etymology, see box opposite e.g. when a wife fulminates against her husband, he will often fight back

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fulminate against

fulminate derives from the Latin word for lightning (fulmen, fulminis) and means to protest violently; this is because, in Greek mythology, when the god Zeus became angry, he would hurl a thunderbolt at the person who had irked him. The verb fulminate has the following extra meanings: (of lightning) to flash (in a literal sense rather than in the metaphorical sense above) e.g. When thunder began to fulminate around the house, the children ran into their parents room (of a disease) to flare up e.g. The doctor operated on the patient at once to cut out the fulminating appendix

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gallimaufry (noun) = a messy jumble from the archaic French galimafre: ragout
e.g. Most high streets are composed of a gallimaufry of shops and restaurants

garrulous (adj.)
= too talkative, especially on matters that are unimportant from the Latin garrire: to chatter e.g. Einsteins parents at first thought he was retarded because he said nothing until the age of five; but Einstein grew into a garrulous adult

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gerrymander

gerrymander (verb)
= to redefine an electoral constituency so as to favour one party for etymology, see box below e.g. In the UK, politically neutral organisations define the boundaries of electoral constituencies so as to eliminate the risk of gerrymandering The verb gerrymander originated in the early 19th century, arising from the combination of the name of one Governor Elbridge Gerry of Massachusetts with the word salamander. Seeing that his political party was about to lose an election, Governor Gerry signed a new bill into law that redrew the electoral boundaries to favour his party. This new area happened to include one district that was shaped like a salamander, a creature that looks like a newt. A journalist noted this resemblance and soon there appeared in The Boston Weekly Messenger a drawing of a salamander but with claws and wings added to enhance the impression of evil at work that was given the title The Gerry-mander (to evoke the name of the meddlesome Governor Gerry). Today we continue to use the word gerrymander to describe any attempt by a political party to draw up new voting districts to swing the vote its way.

ghoulish (adj.) = referring to a person obsessed with death and tragedy from the Arabic gul: a desert demon believed to rob graves and devour corpses
e.g. The sudden death of someone as well known as Diana Princess of Wales is of interest to everyone, not just to the ghoulish

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glacial

gimcrack (adj.)
= badly made but attractive in a deceptive way from the Middle English gibecrake: a kind of ornament e.g. When on holiday people are often tempted to buy gimcrack gifts such as engraved seashells which they regret purchasing when they get home

gimlet-eyed (adj.)
= having eyes with a penetrating stare from the English word, gimlet: a tool for boring holes; gimlet-eyed literally means having eyes like a gimlet e.g. One reason for Daniel Craigs being chosen to play James Bond was his gimlet-eyed gaze

glacial (adj.)
= very slow (like the movement of a glacier, which is a mass of slow-moving ice formed from compacted snow on mountains) from the Latin glacialis: icy e.g. Funeral hearses move at a glacial speed compared to normal traffic glacial has the following extra meaning: very cold (which is the other feature of a glacier) e.g. The model Claudia Schiffer is renowned for her glacial blue eyes

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glib

glib (adj.) = talking fluently but without sincerity from the Dutch, glibberig: slippery
e.g. Jeeves creator P. G. Wodehouse used to live exclusively in ground floor flats so that he could avoid small talk with glib elevator operators

gloaming (noun)
= the time between daylight and darkness from the Old English glomung, from glom: twilight; for etymology, see box below e.g. The number of road accidents increases during the gloaming because many drivers havent yet turned their lights on gloaming is the early onset of twilight (which is the time immediately after sunset when the light is faint; dusk is the later, darker stage of twilight). Note that the adjective to describe twilight is crepuscular (from the Latin crepusculum: twilight).

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gnomic

gnomic (adj.) = (of an utterance) enigmatic and pithy from the Greek gnomai: sayings, maxims
e.g. My wallpaper and I are fighting a duel to the death. One or other of us has to go, was Oscar Wildes gnomic deathbed utterance

83

Grand Guignol

Grand Guignol (phrase)

= drama that entertains but is horrific for etymology, see box below e.g. The most famous example of Grand Guignol in recent times is the film Sweeney Todd starring Johnny Depp The English term Grand Guignol originates from the name of the French theatre Le Thtre du GrandGuignol (The Theatre of the Big Puppet), which was formed in Paris in 1897. This theatre was a place of gore, staging horror shows; the success of each performance was gauged by the number of people who fainted. After the all too real horrors of World War II, demand for artificial horror subsided and the theatre closed. However, we still use the word today to refer to any play or film which uses gory special effects to shock.

grass roots (phrase)

= ordinary people rather than those at the centre of major political activity for etymology, see box opposite e.g. When Oliver Cromwell abolished Christmas in the 17th century and turned it into an ordinary working day, he should have predicted that the grass roots of his party would object to this

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grass roots

The term grass roots was first used by a certain Senator Beveridge of Indiana, who said in 1912 of the Progressive Party that had just been formed: This party has come from the grass roots. It has grown from the soil of peoples hard necessities. Today, we continue to use the phrase grass roots to refer to any political movement that has arisen as a result of discontent amongst ordinary voters rather than as a result of politicians machinations.

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hagiography (noun) = a biography that idealises the person described, as if they were a saint from the Greek hagios: holy, and graphe: writing; hagiography literally means the writing of the lives of the saints
e.g. The book with the title of The Rise of Boris Johnson suggests a hagiography of the politican but in fact offers a balanced view of its subject

halcyon (adj.)
= denoting a happy and peaceful time in the past for etymology, see box below e.g. Most people look back on their childhood as consisting of halcyon days In Greek mythology, the halcyon (halkyon in Greek) was a type of kingfisher that built its nest by the sea. To explain how any bird could bring up its young by a noisy and raging sea, the Greeks attributed to this kingfisher the power to render the wind and the waves calm. So it is that today, when we refer to halcyon days, we evoke a period of calm.

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hamartia

hamartia (noun)
= a flaw that brings about the destruction of a hero for etymology, see box below e.g. Marilyn Monroes hamartia was a fondness for men in power: many say this lead to her death The term hamartia was first used by the ancient Greeks to describe an error in judgement. Nowadays, hamartia is used to mean something slightly different: a characters tragic flaw that ultimately destroys him. A good example occurs in one of the most famous novels of the 20th century: The Great Gatsby (1925). Jay Gatsbys hamartia is his unreciprocated love for a married lady called Daisy; when Daisy runs over and kills a woman by accident, Gatsby claims it is he who was responsible and, as a result, is murdered by the victims husband.

harbinger (noun) = something that heralds the approach of another for etymology, see box below
e.g. As a child, Oprah Winfrey played games interviewing the crows in her garden: this was the harbinger of her success as a chat show host The word harbinger derives from the French word herbergier, which means someone who provides lodging (itself originating from herberge, meaning lodging). Later the word came to mean a man who went ahead to find lodgings for an army hence a forerunner, and this sense persists today.

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harpy

harpy (noun) = a woman known for her grasping nature for etymology, see box below
e.g. If an attractive young woman marries a rich old man, society is quick to label the woman a harpy

A harpy was in Greek mythology a flying creature with a womans head but a monsters body. Harpies would descend from the sky and snatch food from the hands of humans on the ground: It is for this reason that the literal meaning of harpy (harpazein. to snatch in Greek) is someone who snatches. Today we continue to refer to any grasping woman as a harpy.

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hawkish

hawkish (adj.)
= advocating war or aggression hawkish derives from hawk, a warlike bird; the direct opposite of dovish (see p. 55) e.g. Towards the end of his life, Elvis Presley amassed an arsenal of weapons including 32 handguns because chronic drug abuse had made him hawkish

heft (noun)
= the amount of power that one wields (when used figuratively); OR weight (when used literally) heft derives from heft, the obsolete past participle of the verb heave e.g. George Bushs detractors depicted him as lacking the intellectual heft for the Presidency

hegemony (noun)
= leadership from the Greek hegemon: leader e.g. With three successive league championships between 2007 and 2009, Manchester Uniteds hegemony within English football is clear

heterogeneous (adj.)
= made up of diverse units from the Greek heteros: other, and genos: a kind; for etymology, see box below e.g. Aside from a love of tennis, it is hard to find commonality among the crowds at the Wimbledon tennis championships: they form a heterogeneous group The direct opposite of heterogeneous is homogeneous, meaning made up of units that are exactly the same as each other.

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hidebound

For example, penguins are pretty much indistinguishable to humans: in other words, as far as we are concerned, these birds form a homogeneous mass.

hew to (verb)
= to stick to deriving from the 19th-century phrase to hew to the line, meaning to cut evenly with a saw; this reconciles the German root, hauen: to cut with the seemingly contradictory English expression to hew to, meaning to stick to e.g. Steven Spielbergs films Jaws, for example all hew to his action-packed vision of story-telling

hidebound (adj.)
= unwilling to adapt due to ones upbringing for etymology, see box below e.g. In Romeo and Juliet, both sets of parents cannot accept the union of their progeny because they are hidebound by historical feuds with one another hidebound was first used in the 16th century to describe cattle that had been undernourished, which led to their skin clinging closely to their back and ribs (and in this sense, their innnards were bound together by their hides alone). hidebound then evolved in meaning to refer to undernourished human beings, before assuming todays usage which is undernourished in outlook and thus unwilling to change.

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highfalutin

highfalutin (adj.) = (of language) grand-sounding highfalutin derives from the words high and fluting: together, these words mean to speak in a melodious way reminiscent of the sound of a flute
e.g. Novels are divided into those that are commercial, such as The Da Vinci Code and those that are considered highfalutin, such as Prousts works

hinterland (noun) = a realm beyond the things that are known (about someone or something) from the German, hinter: behind, and land: land; hinterland literally refers to the uncharted areas beyond a rivers banks
e.g. In the two bestsellers he wrote before he became President, Barack Obama discusses his religious beliefs and other areas of his hinterland

hortatory (adj.) = vigorously encouraging from the Latin hortari: to exhort

e.g. While conducting, Tchaikovsky held onto his chin with one hand: he had a phobia that his head would roll off otherwise due to his hortatory hand movements

hubris (noun)
= excessive pride for etymology, see box opposite e.g. Bernard Madoff showed hubris in believing he could deceive so many investors forever; nemesis came when his fraud was discovered and he was imprisoned for life

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husband

hubris was the term given by the Greeks to describe the behaviour of anyone whose excessive pride led him or her to challenge the gods. Excessive pride is traditionally punished by the equal and opposite force of retributive justice; the Greeks called this power nemesis (see p. 131) the contemporary expression pride comes before a fall also describes this relationship. So, such a display of hubris by Bernard Madoff who thought he could fool all of the people all of the time was always going to be punished by nemesis.

husband (verb)
= (of resources) to use sparingly from the Old Norse hus: a house e.g. Oprah Winfrey was born to a single teenage mother who had to husband the few resources she had

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Hydra

Hydra
= a problem that is hard to conquer because it will not go away for etymology, see box below e.g. Trying to stop the spread of AIDS in Africa is like trying to kill the Hydra: there may be short-lived successes but, sadly, the problem seems perennial The Lernaean Hydra was in Greek mythology a sea monster with many heads who guarded an underwater entrance to the Underworld. If one of its heads was chopped off, two would grow back in its place; but there was hope for anyone seeking to vanquish the Hydra in combat as only one of its heads was immortal. As one of his 12 labours, Hercules had to defeat the Hydra. He did this by chopping off each head, then by having his nephew cauterise each stump to prevent regrowth. Hercules then pushed a huge rock on top of the immortal head. Today, we continue to refer to a problem that seems impossible to overcome as a Hydra.

hyperbole (noun)
= deliberate exaggeration for effect from the Greek huperbole: excess, from huper: above, and ballein: to throw e.g. When people exclaim over my dead body!, they are not talking about literally dying for a cause but are using hyperbole to make a point

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ide fixe (noun) = an idea that has become an obsession from the French ide fixe: fixed idea
e.g. Imelda Marcos accumulated as many pairs of shoes as possible: amassing footwear was an ide fixe for her

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ideologue

ideologue (noun)
= a dogmatic follower of an ideology from the Greek idea: form, and logos: word e.g. Irans status as a fundamentalist Islamic republic was cemented by the ideologue Ayatollah Khomeini (1900 1989)

idiosyncratic (adj.) = (of a characteristic) peculiar to an individual from the Greek idios: private, and sunkratos: mixed together
e.g. Jimmy Connorss double-handed backhand was a key part of his idiosyncratic style on the tennis court

imbroglio (noun)
= a very messy and embarassing situation from the Italian, imbrogliare: to confuse e.g. When his wifes younger sister died, Charles Dickens took the ring off the dead womans finger and wore it until he died: this caused quite an imbroglio

immanent (adj.) = existing in from the Latin in-: in, and manere: to remain
e.g. While we are all aware that death is immanent in life, we still find it hard to accept the thought of our own mortality

impassible (adj.) = incapable of feeling hardship from the Latin in: not, and pass-: suffered (from the verb, pati)
e.g. Indian fakirs who walk barefoot across hot coals give the impression of being impassible

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imprimatur

impecunious (adj.)
= poor from the Latin im-: not, and pecunia: money; impecunious literally means having no money e.g. Audrey Hepburns grave is a small mound marked by a simple cross to look at it, you might assume the actress was impecunious

impervious (adj.)
= not affected by from the Latin im-: no, and pervius: having a passage through; impervious literally means not allowing fluid to pass through e.g. From the age of eight, Mark Twain smoked on average 30 cigars a day until he died: he was impervious to doctors advice to quit

imprimatur (noun)
= a persons guarantee that something is of good quality for etymology, see box below e.g. Kim Jong-ils youngest son, Kim Jong-un, is expected to assume control of North Korea on his fathers death because he enjoys his fathers imprimatur imprimatur means in Latin, let it be printed. Imprimatur at first described an official declaration by the Roman Catholic Church that a book contained no errors in matters of Catholic doctrine and so could be read by the faithful. The word imprimatur today has a wider meaning, referring to a guarantee by anyone that something is up to scratch.

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incandescent

incandescent (adj.) = burning with anger; OR of blindingly good quality from the Latin incandescere: to glow; incandescent literally means emitting light as a result of being heated
e.g. Isaac Newton was so absent-minded he once used his fiances finger to push down the tobacco in his pipe: this made her incandescent

incendiary (adj.)
= tending to stir up trouble from the Latin incendere: to set fire to; incendiary literally means causing fires e.g. Jeremy Paxman has made incendiary comments about the deteriorating quality of Marks & Spencers Y-fronts

inchoate (adj.)
= just started and thus not in a final state from the Latin incohare: to begin e.g. Monica Lewinksy must wonder what might have been had Bill Clinton not called off their affair when it was still inchoate

incongruous (adj.) = not in harmony with the other elements of something from the Latin incongruus, from in-: not, and congruus: agreeing
e.g. When Charlie Chaplin was 54, he married an 18-year-old girl; this age difference made the couple look incongruous

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in extremis

indentured (adj.) = (of a labourer) bound by a formal agreement from the Latin in-: into, and dens, dent-: a tooth; an indenture originally referred to a document that was indented; then to a sealed agreement binding an apprentice to his master
e.g. Some women form such close bonds with their mothers that they seem indentured to them

indigent (adj.) = impoverished from the Latin indigere: to need

e.g. As a noted philanthropist, billionaire stock market trader George Soros donates money to the indigent

ineffable (adj.) = (of a sentiment) too great to be uttered in words from the Latin ineffabilis: from in-: not, and effabilis, from effari: to utter
e.g. When they attend church, religious people speak of experiencing ineffable joy

ineluctable (adj.)
= inescapable from the Latin in-: not, and eluctari: to struggle out e.g. After Lehman Brothers collapsed, a worldwide financial crisis became ineluctable

in extremis (phrase)
= in a very troublesome situation from the Latin in extremis: in the outermost parts e.g. When the sailors were 50 miles from shore, a storm suddenly arose and they found themselves in extremis

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infelicity

infelicity (noun)
= an unpleasing manner of expression; OR unhappiness from the Latin infelix: unhappy e.g. The speech of young children who are still learning how to talk is littered with infelicities

infraction (noun)
= a breaking of a rule from the Latin infractio: a breaking, from infringere, from in-: into, and frangere: to break e.g. If any player other than the goalkeeper uses his hands on a football pitch, he is guilty of an infraction of the rules

inquisitorial (adj.) = so prying as to be insulting from the Latin inquirere: to inquire; inquisitorial literally means (of a trial) in which the judge has as role of inquirer
e.g. Many people associate the concept of psychotherapy with lying on a couch whilst an inquisitorial individual asks about your childhood

insignia (noun)
= a mark that characterises something from the Latin insignis: distinguished as if by a mark e.g. Instead of buying a ring, the film producer Matthew Vaughn presented Claudia Schiffer with a tortoise as an insignia of their engagement

insouciance (noun)
= an attitude devoid of worry from the French insouciant: not caring, from in-: not, and souciant: worrying

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invective

e.g. Princess Graces fatal car crash was on a road she knew well from filming To Catch a Thief: no, it was not insouciance that killed the actress but a stroke

insurrection (noun)
= the act of rising up against an authority from the Latin insurrectio, from insurgere: to rise up e.g. Actor Toby Stephens has joked he will never play James Bond because casting a Bond with reddish hair would cause insurrection

internecine (adj.)
= relating to strife within a group of people from the Latin inter-: among, and necare: to kill e.g. The novelist Marcel Proust enjoyed placing starving rats in the same cage; when they tore each other to pieces, he would become sexually excited by this internecine display

interregnum (noun)
= the period falling between reigns by two different rulers from the Latin inter-: between, and regnum: reign e.g. The gap between the Queens death and the coronation of her successor will form an interregnum

invective (noun) = abusive language from the Latin invectivus: abusive, from invectus, past participle of invehere: to attack with words
e.g. Tired of his wifes invective, War and Peace author Leo Tolstoy left her a note stating his wish to spend his last days alone and in silence. He died soon after

101

inveigh against

inveigh against (verb)

= to verbally attack (something) from the Latin invehi: to attack with words e.g. Knowing that the public blames capitalists for the credit crunch, politicians frequently inveigh against bankers

invidious (adj.)
= (of a comparison) discriminating between people in an unfair fashion from the Latin invidia: envy; invidious literally means arousing envy in others e.g. A mother will rarely say which of her sons is her favourite because she knows no happiness can come from such an invidious comment

inviolable (adj.)
= never to be destroyed from the Latin inviolabilis: invulnerable, from in-: not, and violare: to do violence to e.g. The Catholic Church does not allow divorces to marry again, viewing marriage vows as inviolable

irascible (adj.) = (of a person) growing angry easily from the Latin irasci: to grow angry
e.g. Composer Brahms used to shoot cats with a bow and arrow: he hated them so much that the mere sight of a feline made him irascible

102

jejune (adj.)

= too simple; OR dull from the Latin jejunus: fasting; this sense of being physically undernourished (as a result of fasting) evolved to mean being intellectually undernourished e.g. Whereas the views of most teenagers are jejune, the narrator of The Catcher in the Rye delivers mature insights that expose the hypocrisies of adults

jeremiad (noun) = a long moan for etymology, see box below

e.g. Lord Byron was so fat he used to play cricket wearing a total of seven waistcoats in a bid to lose weight; when this failed, he embarked on a jeremiad jeremiad derives from the name of Jeremiah, who features in the Bible. Jeremiah was notorious for moaning mainly about the destruction of Jerusalem (as described in The Lamentations of Jeremiah in the Old Testament). Today, when we use the word jeremiad, we conjure up the image of one long complaint.

103

journeyman

journeyman (noun)
= a worker or sportsman who is reliable but not the best for etymology, see box below

e.g. Roger Federer is famous but few people know the names of the lower-ranked journeymen of the tennis world
In Middle English, a journey used to mean a days work and a journeyman therefore referred to a worker who was paid for each day he worked but whom the employer did not consider good enough to give a full-time contract to. When we use the word journeyman today, we evoke this perjorative sense of someone who is an also-ran.

104

juju

juju (noun) = a lucky charm from the French joujou: toy

e.g. James Joyce was a superstitious man who used to carry around rabbits ears and other jujus to bring himself luck

105

juvenilia

juvenilia (noun) = works produced by an artist in his youth from the Latin juvenis: a young person
e.g. Imagine the excitement if somebody discovered the unread juvenilia of Shakespeare

106

Kafkaesque (adj.)

= (of a situation) marked by menace and complexity for etymology, see box overleaf e.g. Britons who are put on trial abroad often find the process Kafkaesque compared to the relatively straightforward British legal system

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ken

Kafkaesque refers to those unpleasant situations and ideas that are suggestive of the books of Czech novelist Franz Kafka (18831924). Kafkas most famous novel, The Trial, tells the story of a man arrested and prosecuted by an enigmatic authority; but he never finds out what he has done wrong. The term Kafkaesque is today applied to any situation where an individual is accused of a crime but where little if any evidence is offered to substantiate the accusation.

ken (noun) = the range of what one knows from the German kennen: to know
e.g. Ivan the Terrible (15301584) used to sew victims into bearskins, then hunt them down with hounds; such cruelty is beyond most peoples ken

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lackadaisical (adj.)

= lacking in keenness from the archaic interjection lack-a-day of a listless person which was used to convey disapproval; a phrase e.g. John Wayne made acting look natural because he appeared lackadaisical on screen

laconic (adj.)
= uttering few words for etymology, see box below e.g. Boxer Mike Tyson never gave much away in postfight interviews: he is a laconic man laconic originates from a place in Greece called Laconia (to which the Greeks gave the adjective Lakonikos). The inhabitants of Laconia (which was also known as Sparta) were notorious for not saying much; hence, when we call someone laconic today, we evoke this sense of terseness.

lacuna (noun) = a gap that has not been filled from the Latin lacuna: a pond
e.g. After she read of a friends death, Florence Nightingale was so affected by the resulting lacuna in her life that she cancelled her daily newspaper lest she read of any other such deaths

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lambent

lambent (adj.)
= (of light) flickering softly; (of humour) brilliant but with a light touch from the Latin lambent-: licking, from lambere: to lick e.g. I told you I was ill were the words chosen by Spike Milligan for his epitaph: it was typical of him to treat his own death with such a lambent wit

lampoon (verb) = to hold up to public ridicule from the French lampoon: originally meaning a drinking song, later a lampoon, deriving from lampons: let us drink, a refrain of 17thcentury songs
e.g. For years, the magazine Private Eye has lampooned celebrities

lapidary (adj.) = (of language) so elegant that it is worth engraving on stone from the Latin lapis, lapidis: a stone
e.g. Ernest Hemingways dislike of adjectives means his sentences are concise and lapidary

lard with (verb)

= to enliven (sentences) with a variety of expressions from the Greek larinos: fat; lard with literally means to smear a foodstuff with lard to prevent it from drying out during storage e.g. Ex-French President Mitterrand was fond of larding his speeches with quotations from Balzac and other French writers of old

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lese-majesty

leaven (verb) = to change (something) for the better from the Latin levare: to lift
e.g. The director Quentin Tarantino uses humorous dialogue to leaven the violence in his films

legerdemain (noun) = sleight of hand from the French leger de main: light of hand; legerdemain literally means skilful use of ones hand when performing conjuring tricks
e.g. For years Oscar Wilde exercised considerable legerdemain in concealing his homosexuality from the public; but eventually he was outed and jailed

leonine (adj.) = like a lion from the Latin leo, leonis: a lion
e.g. Bjorn Borg has maintained his long yellow hair into his middle age and with it his leonine look

lese-majesty (noun) = an attack on authority from the Latin laesa majestas: injured sovereignty; lese-majesty literally means the insulting of a ruler
e.g. The French revolution (17891799), and the use of the guillotine that accompanied it, was the ultimate act of lese-majesty

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leviathan

leviathan (noun) = something very large, especially a large sea creature for etymology, see box below
e.g. Billionaires often buy themselves large yachts and then hold parties on these leviathans leviathan is used in the Bible to refer to various monsters, such as the whale and the crocodile (in Job) and to the ultimate monster, the Devil (in Isaiah). Today, it continues to evoke any dangerous aquatic creature often a whale but not always or any large organisation or object (not necessarily a sea creature.)

libertine (noun) = a person, especially a man, who disregards all moral codes, particularly in sexual matters from the Latin libertinus: freedman, from liber: free
e.g. In the film Dangerous Liaisons, John Malkovich plays the ultimate libertine: an aristocrat who sexually corrupts the innocent

licentious (adj.) = unbridled in sexual matters from the Latin licentia: freedom
e.g. James Bond beds several women in each film, reflecting his licentious approach to relationships

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liminal

Lilliputian (adj.) = very small in size; OR trivial for etymology, see box below
e.g. Paris may be the capital city of France, but it seems Lilliputian when compared to the sprawling metropolis that is London The Lilliputians were people around six inches tall who inhabited the fictional island of Lilliput in Jonathan Swifts novel Gullivers Travels (1726). In the novel, Gulliver is washed up on the island of Lilliput, and implored by the tiny Lilliputians to fight the people on a neighbouring island. The island of Lilliput was used by Swift to parody England at the time. For example, Swift talks about a conflict in Lilliput between those people who prefer to open an egg from its big end and those people who opt for the small end; this is a reference to the ongoing arguments in England between the Catholics (the Big-Endians) and the Protestants (the Little-Endians). Today, we use the word Lilliputian to denote something that is physically tiny or a matter that is very trivial.

liminal (adj.)
= in a transitional state from the Latin limen, liminis: a threshold; liminal literally means standing on both sides of a threshold e.g. As he waited for the defeated President Bush to see out his final days in office, President-elect Barack Obama found himself in a liminal state

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limpid

limpid (adj.) = (of liquid or of writing) crystal clear from the Latin limpidus: clear
e.g. Brigitte Bardot was an iconic sex symbol of the 1960s, renowned for her limpid blue eyes

lingua franca (phrase)

= a language that is taken on as a common language between speakers whose mother tongues are different from the Italian, lingua franca: Frankish tongue e.g. English people on holiday in France use franglais to communicate with the locals: basic exchanges can be effected using this lingua franca

litotes (noun) = ironic understatement in which a sentiment is expressed by negating its contrary proposition from the Greek litotes, from litos: plain, meagre
e.g. I deduced from my English teachers use of the litotes: I am not unfamiliar with the works of Dickens, that he was an expert on the novelist

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lore

lodestar (noun) = a person or thing that serves as a guiding force from the Middle English lodesterre, from lode: way, and steere: star; lodestar literally means a star that is used to guide the course of a ship
e.g. Barack Obama cites Martin Luther King so often that it is clear King is a lodestar for him

logorrheic (adj.)
= uncontrollably talkative from the Greek logos: word, and rhien: to flow e.g. Freud said of the Irish: This is one race of people whom psychoanalysis is of no use whatsoever. Presumably because the Irish are so logorrheic that it is hard to know which bits coming out of their mouths are important.

lore (noun)
= a body of knowledge on a topic, that has typically been passed from person to person via the oral tradition from the Old English lar: instruction, of Germanic origin, related to the German Lehre: learning e.g. When writing the Bond novel Devil May Care, Sebastian Faulks consulted Ian Flemings family on matters of Bond lore

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Luddite

Luddite (noun) = a person who is against new technology for etymology, see box opposite
e.g. Some people over the age of 70 are Luddites who do not know how to surf the Internet

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ludic

Luddite derives from the name of Ned Lud, a member of a 19th-century group of English cotton mill workers who destroyed machinery that was threatening to take over their jobs. Today, when we call someone a Luddite, we are referring to someone who opposes new technology of any kind.

ludic (adj.)
= playful from the Latin ludere: to play e.g. Playwright Arthur Miller praised his ex-wife Marilyn Monroe for her sense of fun, and noted that most adults lacked this ludic quality

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Machiavellian (adj.) = wily and unscrupulous in furthering ones own career for etymology, see box below
e.g. The public regards politicians as Machiavellian types Machiavellian originates from the name of Machiavelli, a Renaissance Italian statesman. Machiavellis book The Prince (1532) advises rulers that unethical methods are necessary if power is to be seized and effectively wielded. Today, we continue to describe someone as Machiavellian if they stab rivals in the back, or mistreat people in other ways in the pursuit of power.

magisterial (adj.)
= authoritative from the Latin magister: master e.g. Steven Spielbergs self-confidence means he exudes a magisterial air on set

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malapropism

malapropism (noun) = mistakenly using one word in the place of another (often with an unintentionally comic effect) for etymology, see box opposite
e.g. I decided to tell my friends about my flamenco dancing lessons but it came out wrong and I ended up saying: I can dance a flamingo now; they laughed at my malapropism

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mandarin

malaproprism derives from the name of the character Mrs Malaprop in Richard Sheridans play The Rivals (1775). Mrs Malaprop has a habit of getting words confused, which is a source of humour in the play. Her name was chosen because of the link to the French phrase mal propos, which means ill-suited and describes perfectly the jumbled order of her words. Today, when we say that someone has committed a malapropism, we mean they are guilty of a similar linguistic slip-up.

malfeasance (noun)
= malpractice, especially by a public official from the Old French mal: evil, and faisance: activity e.g. The MPs expenses scandal revealed that politicians had been using taxpayers money to pay a variety of items for personal use: this malfeasance caused a public outcry

malinger (verb)
= to pretend to be ill to avoid work from the Old French mal: wrongly, and haingre: weak e.g. Every year the government loses millions of pounds owing to workers pretending to be sick; as taxpayers, we are all victims of this malingering

mandarin (noun) = a powerful government worker ultimately deriving from the Sanskrit mantri: a counsellor; a mandarin literally refers to a bureaucrat in imperial China (AD 9001800)
e.g. In the UK, the head of MI6 is one of the most powerful mandarins

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Manichaean

Manichaean (adj.) = relating to a view that divides the world very starkly into good and evil for etymology, see box below
e.g. George Bush spoke about certain countries forming an axis of evil: this implies he sees the world in Manichaean terms, with the USA being good and these other mentioned countries being evil Manichaean derives from Manichaeism, a 3rd-century religion that was one of the most popular in the world at the time. This religion was based on the teachings of the Iranian prophet Mani who was privy to divine truths from a spirit who visited him. Manichaeism is distinguished by its viewing the world as a clear-cut struggle between good (or spirituality) and evil (or materialism); today, when we call someone Manichaean, we mean they see the world as being divided very clearly between good and evil.

manqu (adj.)
= referring to someone who missed out on a particular role from the French manquer: to miss e.g. US senator Ted Kennedy never achieved his political potential because allegations of drinking and womanising dogged him throughout his life: he was the President manqu

marionette (noun)
= a puppet controlled from above by strings attached to it from the French marionette: little Mary, the diminutive form of Marion, which is itself the diminutive of Marie e.g. The SS was a major Nazi organisation composed of one million of Hitlers marionettes

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maunder on

marmoreal (adj.) = like marble from the Latin marmor: marble

e.g. To those who found actress Grace Kelly marmoreal, Alfred Hitchcock said of his leading lady that she had fire under the ice

martinet (noun)
= a strict taskmaster for etymology, see box below e.g. Fat farms are populated by obese people who are whipped into shape by martinets martinet derives from the name of the 17th-century Frenchman Jean Martinet, a highly-ordered man who trained soldiers. Tired of having to deal with fickle mercenaries, Martinet devised a rigorous programme to turn members of the public into effective military servicemen. It is a cruel irony that this paragon of discipline was killed by friendly fire: a fatal form of ill-discipline. Today, the word martinet refers to any disciplinarian.

maunder on (verb)
= to talk in a meandering fashion; OR to move or act as if time is of no concern from the Old English maund: to beg, deriving from the French mendier: to beg e.g. In his satirical sketches of political figures, Rory Bremner contorts his face to better depict his victims as he maunders on in their tone of voice

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maw

maw (noun)
= the throat of a ravenous animal from the German Magen: stomach e.g. The Hound of the Baskervilles is a story about a giant dog suspected of killing people using its fearsome maw

mawkish (adj.)
= sentimental in a nausea-inducing way from the Old English mawke: maggot; mawkish originally meant to be disgusted, as if by putrid meat e.g. The final scene of a rom com typically involves a girl running into the arms of a boy or some other equally mawkish scene

mellifluous (adj.) = (of a voice) honey-coated from the Latin mellifluus, from mel: honey, and fluere: to flow
e.g. The advent of sound meant Clark Gables career took off overnight because there was suddenly huge demand for his mellifluous voice

menagerie (noun) = a diverse mixture of people or animals for etymology, see box opposite
e.g. Each year the cast of Celebrity Big Brother is made up of a variety of people in the public eye, such as TV stars and glamour models: a veritable menagerie of individuals

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menagerie

A menagerie was a 16th-century French term used to describe a collection of exotic animals kept in captivity; the French word mnagerie is derived from the word mnage, meaning a household. A menagerie was often retained by a royal court, not so much as to study the animal world but rather to signify the opulence of the menageries owner (as exotic animals were very expensive to purchase). Today, menagerie refers to any diverse collection of things or people.

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mercurial

mercurial (adj.) = very moody for etymology, see box below

e.g. Idi Amin (19252003), the despotic ruler of Uganda for many years, was a mercurial man who had people executed on a whim mercurial derives from the Latin word mercurialis, which meant relating to the god Mercury. The god Mercury would fly quickly from one place to another and back again it is this erraticism (albeit of a mental, rather than a physical, kind) that we evoke when we call someone mercurial today.

meretricious (adj.)
= alluring but vulgar from the Latin meretrix, meretricis: a prostitute; meretricious literally means like a prostitute e.g. A woman who has obviously had breast augmentation surgery holds a meretricious appeal for some men

metonym (noun)
= a word used instead of another word with which it is closely linked from the Greek metonomasia: change of name e.g. Newspapers are produced using a printing press; hence the term the press has become a metonym to describe all newspapers collectively

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monoglot

miasma (noun) = an atmosphere that has been polluted from the Greek miama: a stain (especially due to a murder)
e.g. During the Second World War, Jews in Germany lived their lives in a miasma of fear and suspicion

microcosm (noun)
= a situation that reflects on a smaller scale the qualities of a larger situation from the Greek micros: little, and kosmos: world e.g. Some saw Englands defeat of Germany in the 1966 Football World Cup as a microcosm of Englands defeat of Germany in World War II

mimesis (noun)
= the rendering of the real world in art from the Greek mimeisthai: to imitate e.g. Shakespeares play Henry V is a mimesis of Britains victory over the French at Agincourt

misnomer (noun) = a name that is wrong from the Old French mesnommer: to misname, from mes-: wrongly, and nommer: to name
e.g. A horseshoe crab looks more like a stingray than a crab: so the term horseshoe crab is a misnomer

monoglot (adj.)
= speaking one language only from the Greek monos: single, and glotta: tongue e.g. As English is spoken the world over, most English people get away with being monoglot

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monolithic

monolithic (adj.)
= (of an organisation or a building) very large and without quirks from the Greek monos: single, and lithos: stone; monolithic literally means formed of a single large block of stone e.g. The Chinese Communist Party plays down the importance of any one individual, reflecting its monolithic nature

moratorium (noun) = a temporary ban of an activity from the Latin moratorius: delaying
e.g. With the worlds supply of fish on the wane, governments agreed a moratorium on cod fishing

mordant (adj.) = (of humour) biting from the French mordre: to bite
e.g. The comments directed by Simon Cowell towards aspirant singers on his TV show The X Factor are full of mordant humour

multifarious (adj.)
= having many parts from the Latin multifarious: manifold, combined with the Greek farius: showing e.g. Catholicism and Anglicanism are two of the multifarious branches of the Christian faith

munificent (adj.) = particularly generous from the Latin munificus: bountiful

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myopic

e.g. Robert Redford used his salary from Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid to set up the Sundance Film Festival for independent films: a munificent gesture

myopic (adj.)
= having no foresight from the Greek muops: nearsighted, from muein: to close the eyes, and ops: eye; myopic literally means shortsighted e.g. Mike Tyson disconcerted Evander Holyfield by taking a bite out of his ear during their boxing fight; later, though, Tyson was disqualified, proving this was a myopic tactic

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nativism (noun)

= the policy of favouring the interests of native-born inhabitants above those of immigrants deriving from the English word, native e.g. There is a campaign on Facebook called People United Against Nativism whose slogan is: nativism is so 19th century

nebulous / amorphous (adj.)

= (of a shape) unclear nebulous derives from the Latin nebula: a cloud (nebulous literally means in the form of a cloud); amorphous derives from the Greek amorphous: shapeless, from a-: without, and morphe: form e.g. Jamie Oliver has never been filmed cooking in the nude, so the reasons for his being called The Naked Chef are nebulous / amorphous

nemesis (noun) = the punishment for excessive pride (see also hubris) from the Greek nemesis: retribution
e.g. Bernard Madoff showed hubris in believing he could deceive so many investors forever; nemesis came when his fraud was discovered he was imprisoned for life

neologism (noun) = a newly invented word or expression from the Greek neos: new, and logos: word
e.g. The advent of the Internet led to neologisms such as to surf the net which are now commonly used

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netherworld

netherworld (noun) = the part of society involved in crime from the Old English nether: lower, and world; netherworld literally means: the underworld of the dead
e.g. Newspapers often report murders and other crimes; it seems that every type of netherworld is of interest to journalists

nexus (noun) = a connection binding together two or more things from the Latin nex-: bound, from nectere: to bind
e.g. Barack Obama has declared his intention to break the nexus between Big Oil and politics

nimbus (noun)
= a large rain cloud from the Latin nimbus: cloud e.g. I rushed home to grab an umbrella after I saw the nimbuses overhead

noblesse oblige (phrase)

= the responsibility of privileged people to show generosity to those less privileged for etymology, see box below e.g. Angelina Jolie does much charity work for landmine victims: she is a celebrity who exercises noblesse oblige In his novel Le Lys dans la valle (which translates as The Lily of the Valley), the 19th century French novelist Balzac summarises his advice to a rich young man by the two words: noblesse oblige!

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nostrum

This phrase which literally means nobility creates obligations is cited today as a reminder that, with great wealth comes great responsibility: the rich have a duty to help the poor. Today, we use the phrase noblesse oblige to remind someone who has enjoyed success that they should help others who have fared less well.

nomenclature (noun)
= the act of choosing names for things; OR the collection of names thus chosen from the Latin nomenclatura, from nomen: name, and clatura: calling (from calare: to call) e.g. To describe female acting professionals, the term actors is now preferred to the original nomenclature of actresses

normative (adj.)
= establishing a rule of behaviour from the Latin norma: a rule e.g. Marriage has a normative effect on society because it ensures communities are composed of tight-knit groups made up of parents and offspring

nostrum (noun)
= a favourite but usually hopeless scheme for effecting social improvement from the Latin nostrum: our own make a term used in ancient times by quacks claiming special virtue for their own make of wares; a nostrum literally means an ineffective medicine prepared by an unqualified person e.g. To stem rising numbers of single parent families and encourage more family units, John Major announced his nostrum: the Back to Basics campaign

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numinous

numinous (adj.)
= relating to the spiritual and the mysterious from the Latin numen, numis: divine power e.g. In the secular 21st century, art and literature have for many replaced religion as a means of accessing the numinous

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obfuscate (verb) = to bewilder from the Latin obfuscare: to darken; obfuscate literally means to make obscure
e.g. Literary novels sometimes fail to sell well because the average reader finds the complicated structure of such novels frequently obfuscates the story (if indeed there is one)

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oblique

oblique (adj.) = not direct in dealing with a point from the Latin obliquus: slanted; oblique literally means neither parallel nor at a right angle to a specified line
e.g. Jeremy Paxman once asked Michael Howard exactly the same question 12 times in a row because he was finding the politicians responses so oblique

obscurantist (adj.)
= describes someone who casts a veil over the facts from the Latin obscurare: to make dark e.g. After a long period of being obscurantist on their interrogation methods, the CIA finally admitted it had used water-boarding on terrorist suspects

obtuse (adj.)
= annoyingly slow to grasp (something) from the Latin obtusus, past participle of obtundere: to beat against e.g. Doctors must not allow themselves to be overly affected by human suffering: perhaps this is why they can appear obtuse to some patients

oleaginous (adj.) / unctuous (adj.) = obsequious oleaginous derives from oleaginus: of the olive tree, from oleum: oil (oleaginous literally means oily); unctuous derives from the Latin unguere: to anoint
e.g. Tony Blairs friends describe him as charming, while his enemies call him oleaginous / unctuous

olfactory (adj.)
= relating to the sense of smell from the Latin olfacere: to smell

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orotund

e.g. To smell a bunch of flowers is an olfactory treat

opaque (adj.)
= hard to make out from the Latin opacus: darkened e.g. Isaac Newton used to deliver lecture after lecture to empty rooms: his pupils had all stopped turning up because they found his talks so opaque

opprobrium (noun) = bitter criticism from the Latin opprobrium: reproach, from ob-: against, and probum: disgraceful act
e.g. Homophobia attracts opprobrium in the West

ordure (noun)
= something horrid from the Latin horridus: horrid; ordure literally means excrement e.g. Agatha Christie hated her fictional creation Hercule Poirot, calling him an egocentric creep and referring to him as though he were ordure

ornery (adj.)
= ill-tempered ornery is a 19th-century dialectal variant of ordinary e.g. Despite having a painful back which necessitated frequent operations, John F. Kennedy never appeared ornery in public

orotund (adj.)
= (of a voice) full; OR (of writing) pompous from the Latin ore rotundo: with rounded mouth e.g. Actor Laurence Oliviers voice used to fill any theatre: it was one of the most orotund in the business

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Orwellian

Orwellian (adj.)
= (of an authority) contrary to the welfare of a free society as described by the novelist George Orwell for etymology, see box below e.g. Belgian citizens are required to carry a national ID card at all times an imposition which some describe as Orwellian Orwellian means reminiscent of the works of George Orwell (19031950), particularly his novel Nineteen Eighty-Four. In Nineteen Eighty-Four, a civil servant called Winston Smith has the job of falsifying records to make it appear the government is always right. The term Orwellian is today used to describe any attempt by government to control individuals by similarly-doctored propaganda or by any other means, such as surveillance.

outr (adj.)
= beyond the pale from the French outr: exceeded, from the past participle of outrer: to exceed e.g. Outr comments by Jonathan Ross led to his suspension without pay by the BBC for 12 weeks in 2008

oxymoron (noun)
= a phrase involving contradictory terms placed side by side to produce an amusing effect from the Greek oxumoros: pointedly foolish, from oxus: sharp, and moros: foolish e.g. Robin Hood stole from the rich but gave to the poor: you could call him an honest rogue if you like that oxymoron

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palimpsest (noun)

= something that displays its past (as well as its present) for etymology, see box below e.g. The police shone infrared lights inside Fred Wests home, revealing palimpsests of bloodstains that the serial killer had sought to wash away palimpsest literally refers to an ancient Roman manuscript on which the original writing had been rubbed away to make room for later writing (as was the Roman custom); hence the Greek etymology, palin: again, and psestos: scraped so palimpsest literally means scraped (clean and used) again. However the original writing was not lost forever: with the passing of time, the faint outlines of the earlier writing would reappear with sufficient clarity for scholars to read it. Today, we use palimpsest to describe an object that displays its past (as well as its present) for example, our brain is the ultimate palimpsest, retaining so much information about our past while also accounting for our present behaviour.

palliative (noun) = relieving a problem without curing it from the Latin palliatus: cloaked
e.g. It is said that Queen Victoria used marijuana to relieve menstrual pain: the drug was her palliative of choice

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panache

panache (noun) = a flamboyant conviction in ones own sense of style from the French panache, itself deriving from the Italian pennachio: a plume of feathers
e.g. The quality that makes Roger Federer so easy to watch as a tennis player is not his fitness or serve but his overall panache

Panglossian (adj.)
= a person who is optimistic whatever happens for etymology, see box below e.g. The press depicted Gordon Brown as Panglossian in taking so long to acknowledge the UK was in the grip of a credit crunch Pangloss is a character in the novel Candide by French writer Voltaire (16941778). He is a tutor charged with educating the young Candide, who lives in beautiful surrounds; Pangloss is an optimistic teacher whose mantra is as follows: all is for the best in the best possible of worlds. Candide eventually leaves his pampered existence and witnesses such suffering in the world that he abandons Panglosss rosy worldview in favour of his own pragmatic philosophy, which is: all you can do is tend your own garden. Today, we continue to describe anyone who is excessively optimistic as Panglossian.

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paradigm

panoply (noun)
= an admirable collection of things from the Latin panoplia: full armour, from the Greek panoplia: all, and hopla: arms e.g. Actress Marlene Dietrich once wore a gown containing feathers from 300 swans: a panoply of plumage

pantheon (noun) = a group of illustrious people for etymology, see box below
e.g. Alfred Hitchcock never received an Oscar despite his undisputed place amongst the pantheon of film directors pantheon literally meant in ancient Greece a temple of all gods, deriving from the Greek words pan: all, and theos: god. Indeed the most famous such structure retains the word in its name: the Pantheon of Rome (built in 27 BC). Since the 16th century the word pantheon has come to mean an exalted set of people.

paradigm (noun)
= a model from the Greek paradeigma: a model e.g. Audrey Hepburn was the paradigm of success at a young age, winning an Oscar for her very first film, Roman Holiday

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paragon

paragon (noun) = a person or thing viewed as a benchmark for others for etymology, see box below
e.g. Cristiano Ronaldo is one of the worlds most expensive players because he is a paragon of footballing excellence paragon derives from the Italian word paragone, meaning a touchstone to test gold. The touchstone in question was black quartz (a semiprecious mineral), which was used for testing the quality of gold alloys by rubbing them on it and then comparing the streak left behind by the gold alloy with a streak left by pure gold (which leaves a clear yellow line behind). Gradually paragon assumed its current figurative usage, referring today to a model of excellence by which other people or things must be judged. (See also touchstone, which has a near-identical meaning.)

parenthetical (adj.)
= within (or as if within) a parenthesis, which is an explanatory phrase enclosed by curved brackets from the Greek parentithenai: to put in beside e.g. Conversations with Fidel Castro are reported to last for hours; presumably this is because the Cuban leader indulges in parenthetical asides when he talks

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parochial

par excellence (phrase) = superior to others of the same kind from the French par excellence: by excellence
e.g. American financier Warren Buffett has won a reputation for being an investor par excellence

parlay (something) into (something more valuable)

(verb) = to convert (something) into (something more valuable) from the Latin par: equal e.g. The young Sir James Goldsmith joined his brother in a pharmaceutical venture; from this he amassed a tidy sum which he went on to parlay into billions

parlous (adj.) = fraught with danger parlous is a Middle English contraction of perilous
e.g. Gangster Al Capones health was always in a parlous state due to his refusal to receive injections

parochial (adj.) = having a narrow world-view from the Greek paroikos: a neighbour
e.g. The British regard Americans as having a parochial world-view because less than one third of Americans have passports

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paroxysm

paroxysm (noun)
= a sudden expression of an emotion; OR a sudden bout of a disease from the Greek paroxusmos: a severe fit of a disease, deriving from para- (intensifying prefix) and oxunein: to sharpen

e.g. After his wife died in a plane crash, actor Clark Gable turned to drink in a paroxysm of grief

parse (verb)
= to examine (something) closely, especially by breaking it up into parts from the Latin pars: part e.g. Scientists can easily parse the behaviour of chimpanzees into the conventional categories of human comportment

parsimonious (adj.) = frugal from the Latin parsimonia: frugality

e.g. Most of the worlds religions advise the faithful to lead a parsimonious life

paternalist (adj.)
= relating to the practice by rulers of limiting the freedom of those being ruled (purportedly for the good of the latter) from the Latin pater: father e.g. After Saddam Husseins removal, the US waited for such a long time before allowing democratic elections in Iraq that accusations of paternalist behaviour abounded

pathetic fallacy (phrase)

= the attribution in artistic works of human feelings to non-human things for etymology, see box opposite

144

patina

e.g. Novelists are fond of using pathetic fallacy; an example can be found in the use of the expression the sky is weeping instead of the more conventional it is raining pathetic fallacy is composed of the Greek word pathos, meaning the quality that arouses pity, and the Latin word fallere: to deceive. As a pathetic fallacy refers to depicting non-human things in a human light (which is a popular activity of artists), it is no surprise that it was an art critic, John Ruskin, who coined the term, noting in his book Modern Painters (1856) that the pathetic fallacy had as its aim to signify any description of inanimate natural objects that ascribes to them human capabilities An everyday example of a pathetic fallacy is when someone looks up and says of the rain falling from above: the sky is weeping.

pathological (adj.) = caused by a disease from the Greek pathos: suffering, disease, and logos: word
e.g. Sportsmen who reach world number one are usually pathologically competitive

patina (noun)
= a surface that has changed due to age from the Latin patina: a shallow dish (which is an example of a piece of crockery prone to incrustations caused by the passing of time) e.g. The face of a 90 year old is etched with a patina of fine lines and wrinkles

145

patrician

patrician (adj.)
= belonging to an illustrious and wealthy family from the Latin patricius: having a noble father e.g. Danielle Steel has no need for the riches from her 580m book sales for she was born into a patrician family

Pavlovian (adj.)
= relating to a response that, over time, can be elicited by one stimulus alone (when at first two stimuli were needed) for etymology, see box below e.g. When I see my wife putting on her apron, I start salivating before she has even touched any food due to a Pavlovian response to that apron of hers Pavlovian is an expression deriving from the work of Ivan Pavlov (18491936), a Russian scientist who won the Nobel Prize. Pavlov noted that dogs salivate when food is presented to them; far more significantly, he also noticed that if you ring a bell seconds before presenting the food eventually the bell alone will be enough to produce the salivation (even if no food is ever presented). Thus Pavlov concluded that some responses by an animal are based on that animals previous experiences (and are not just based on an animals reflexes). Today, we use the word Pavlovian to describe any response within us that we can only explain owing to a past experience coming to the fore (rather than owing to our reaction to a present stimulus outside of ourselves).

146

peremptory

pellucid (adj.)
= (of a concept) easily grasped from the Latin perlucere: to shine through, from per-: through, and lucere: to shine e.g. Ernest Hemingway wrote such simple sentences that his novels are considered amongst the most pellucid in the English language

penitential (adj.) = repentant from the Latin paenitentia: repentance

e.g. Victims of fraudster Bernard Madoff were angry that he didnt appear more penitential in court

penurious (adj.)
= very poor from the Latin penuria: need e.g. There are many charities set up in order to help penurious families

perdition (noun) = hell (in Christian teaching) from the Latin perditio: ruin; perdition literally means utter ruin
e.g. Many people who start off by abusing soft drugs like marijuana end up in the perdition of heroin addiction

peremptory (adj.)
= (of a persons manner) insisting on total subservience from the Latin peremptorius: decisive, from perimere: to take away (from per-: completely, and emere: to procure) e.g. Elvis Presley once insisted on flying 500 miles in his jet to collect a peanut butter sandwich; his staff complied, afraid to refuse his peremptory request

147

perfunctory

perfunctory (adj.) = (of an action) done carelessly, as a matter of routine from the Latin perfunctorius: careless
e.g. Breakfast at Tiffanys author Truman Capote hated writing so postponed it by sharpening pencils for hours: he found this perfunctory action soothing

148

perspicacious

peripatetic (adj.) = travelling around from place to place from the Greek peripatetikos: walking about, from the verb peripatein: to walk about
e.g. Richard Branson is a peripatetic man who seems as likely to be in a hot air balloon halfway across the Atlantic as he is to be in London

peroration (noun)
= the final part of a speech (that is intended to inspire enthusiasm in the audience) from the Latin perorare: to speak at length, from per-: through, and orare: to speak e.g. David Camerons speeches often culminate in a stirring peroration

perspicacious (adj.) = having a clear insight into things from the Latin perspicare: to see clearly, from per-: through, and specere: to look
e.g. Leonardo da Vinci was a perspicacious individual who was not just a painter but also the designer of several flying machines

149

phalanx

phalanx (noun)
= a group of similar-looking people or things for etymology, see box below e.g. When Arthur Conan Doyle killed off Sherlock Holmes in his short story The Final Problem, a phalanx of griefstricken fans wearing black armbands protested outside his home phalanx is an ancient Greek word used to describe a group of soldiers who formed a defensive unit by packing themselves tightly together, overlapping their shields and extending their spears. Today, we continue to use this word to describe any group of people who look the same and stay close together such as photographers awaiting a celebrity at a film premiere, or bodyguards surrounding a president. The plural of this word is phalanxes. Note though that there is an alternative plural, which is phalanges and this has a different meaning, which is bones of the finger or toe: e.g. If a footballer fractures his phalanges, he is out of action for weeks

phantasmagorical (adj.)
= relating to a sequence of surreal images as if from a dream from the French fantasme: phantasm e.g. Lothario Errol Flynn observed that women would watch his films, create a phantasmagorical image of him, and then try a direct confrontation with him

150

pharisaic

pharisaic (adj.) = self-righteous and punctilious for etymology, see box below
e.g. Politicians who denounce adultery while themselves having affairs are pharisaic The word pharisaic derives from the Pharisees, an ancient Jewish sect notorious for their strictness and sense of superiority. In the New Testament, the Pharisees are presented as rule-followers, in contrast to Jesus who is concerned only with expressing Gods love. For example, the Pharisees ostracise sinners, whereas Jesus actively seeks them out. Today, we use the word pharisaic to refer to anyone who displays self-righteousness in their obsession with following the rules.

151

phlegmatic

phlegmatic (adj.)
= (of a person) having a disposition that cannot be perturbed for etymology, see box below e.g. The Dalai Lama has a permanent smile which gives him a phlegmatic air Nowadays, phlegm is used to mean mucus discharged from the mouth. However, the ancient Greeks used the word differently: for them, phlegm was one of four body fluids that account for our mood (the Greek word was phlegma, meaning an inflammation, reflecting the fact that phlegm was also supposed to be the cause of many diseases). Phlegm was believed to be associated with a calm, near apathetic temperament. This sense persists in the meaning of the word phlegmatic today, which we use to describe someone who does not get rattled easily.

physiognomy (noun) = a persons facial features, especially when regarded as reflecting that persons character from the Greek phusiognomonia: judging of a mans nature (by his features), based on physio-: nature, and gnomon: a judge
e.g. Research shows aggressive people tend to have particularly wide faces (due to high testosterone levels): this is proof of the value of physiognonomy

picaresque (adj.)
= relating to an episodic style of fiction dealing with the adventures of a dishonest but likeable hero from the Spanish, picaro: rogue

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poleaxed

e.g. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain can be described as a picaresque novel because it covers the life of a roguish hero of lowly social status who lives by his wits; The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga is a modernday example

plangent (adj.)
= (of a sound) like a lament from the Latin plangere: to lament e.g. One billion people worldwide watched Michael Jacksons funeral, at which Stevie Wonder sung in plangent tones

pluralistic (adj.) = relating to a system in which two or more groups live side by side from the Latin plus, plur-: more
e.g. Muslims live alongside Christians in Britain proof that we live in a pluralistic society

plutocrat (noun)
= a person whose power is due to their wealth from the Greek ploutos: wealth, and kratos: rule e.g. The Prime Minister of Italy, Silvio Berlusconi, is also a billionaire who controls several TV channels: hence his being labelled a plutocrat by journalists

poleaxed (verb) = to have received a huge shock deriving from the word poleaxe: a short-handled axe with a spike at the back; poleaxed literally means as if struck by a poleaxe
e.g. As a child, horror writer Stephen King witnessed a friend being run over by a train: the experience left him poleaxed

153

polemic

polemic (noun)
= a strong verbal assault on someone or something from the Greek polemos: war e.g. After he was convicted of the rape of Desiree Washington, Miss Black Rhode Island, the press launched a polemic against Mike Tyson

Pollyanna (noun) = a person who is overly optimistic for etymology, see box below
e.g. Judy Garland got divorced from no less than four husbands but still decided to marry a fifth time: this undented optimism proves she was a Pollyanna Pollyanna originates from the name of the main character in Eleanor H. Porters bestselling novel, Pollyanna, which was published in 1913. In the novel, Pollyanna, an orphan, goes to live with her austere aunt in a New England town in America. Pollyanna is an optimistic type who enjoys playing a game her father taught her, which involves trying to spot a good side to everything. Eventually her optimism proves infectious, transforming the town into a happy place. Today, we continue to describe anyone with such a relentlessly optimistic attitude as being a Pollyanna.

polyglot (adj.)
= knowing many languages from the Greek polu-: many, and glotta: tongue

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porcine

e.g. Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury, talks with ease to the leaders of other world faiths because he is polyglot

polymath (noun)
= a person who has much knowledge from the Greek polumathes: having learned much, from polu-: much (the stem of manthanein: to learn) e.g. Leonardo da Vinci was not only a consumate painter, but he was also an inventor who designed military machines such as rapid-firing cannons: he was a true polymath

polyphonic (adj.) = producing many sounds at the same time from the Greek poluphonos, from polu-: many, and phone: voice
e.g. At the age of two, Mozart paid a visit to a farm and, from amidst the polyphonic backdrop, identified a pigs grunt as being in G-sharp

popinjay (noun)
= a vain person from the Old French papegai: a parrot e.g. With his foppish outfits and tousled hair, Oscar Wilde was a clear example of a popinjay

porcine (adj.)
= like a pig from the Latin porcinus: a pig e.g. Dr Robert Atkins invented a low carbohydrate diet to rid himself of his own porcine appearance

155

portentous

portentous (adj.) = relating to a warning that something bad is set to occur from the Latin portentum: an omen; portentous literally means constituting a portent or omen
e.g. The chief executive addressed his staff in a portentous tone, not realising that most of them were uninterested in his message and in fact daydreaming

portico (noun) = a porch consisting of a roof supported by columns spaced out at regular intervals from the Latin porticus: porch
e.g. The Royal Opera House in London has a faade consisting of a giant portico

portmanteau word (phrase) = a word that has been created by blending the sounds and meanings from two or more words from the French porter: to carry, and manteau: coat; portmanteau literally means a large suitcase that opens into two hinged halves
e.g. Brunch is a portmanteau word coined from combining the words breakfast and lunch

potentate (noun) = a ruler, especially one who takes no account of other peoples desires from the Latin potens: powerful
e.g. The cringe-inducing character played by Ricky Gervais in the TV series The Office is a potentate who is blind to his own flaws

156

prehensile

prehensile (adj.) = (of a human or animal) capable of grasping from the Latin prehendere: to grasp
e.g. Many bank directors responsible for the credit crunch continue to hang on to their seats with what George Orwell called prehensile bottoms

157

prelapsarian

prelapsarian (adj.)
= in a pure and unspoiled state for etymology, see box below e.g. Bankers often fondly remember their bonuses during prelapsarian years leading up to the Lehman Brothers collapse prelapsarian derives from the Latin word lapsus and literally means before (pre-) the Fall (lapsus), referring to the passage in Genesis about the fall of humankind into a state of sin owing to Adam and Eve disobeying God by eating the apple in the Garden of Eden. Today, we use the word prelapsarian to evoke that period of our lives when a state of unspoiled innocence prevailed.

presage (verb)
= (of an event) to be an indication that another event will happen from the Latin praesagire: to forebode, from prae-: before, and sagire: to perceive keenly e.g. Frank Brunos bizarre behaviour presaged his being diagnosed with bipolar disorder

prestidigitation (noun)
= magic tricks involving sleight of hand from the French preste: nimble, and the Latin digitus: finger e.g. In his TV shows, Derren Brown demonstrates acts of prestidigitation

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primordial

preternatural (adj.)
= beyond what is natural from the Latin praeter: beyond, and natura: nature e.g. Simon Cowell, inventor of The X Factor, has a preternatural ability to provide the public with what it wants

priapic (adj.)
= relating to male sexual activity for etymology, see box below e.g. On their marriage night, War and Peace author Leo Tolstoy forced his wife to read extracts from his diaries detailing his prior priapic experiences priapic derives from the name of Priapos, who was the Greek god of male genitalia and fertility. The Greek myth surrounding Priapos is a particularly salacious one and goes as follows: His mother, Aphrodite, when pregnant with Priapos, won a beauty competition. The goddess who lost out to Aphrodite was so annoyed that she proceeded to curse Aphrodites son, Priapos who was still in the womb to be born with a foul mind. As a result, when Priapos emerged into the world, he had an erection that would never subside. Today, we continue to refer to oversexed males as being priapic.

primordial (adj.) = (of a quality) so fundamental as to have existed from the start of time from the Latin primordialis: first of all, from primus: first, and ordiri: to begin
e.g. Any good ruler understands that his subjects require food and lodging, for these are mankinds primordial needs

159

Procrustean

Procrustean (adj.)
= enforcing uniformity and stamping out individual quirks from the Greek prokroustes: stretcher; for etymology, see box below e.g. Some people do believe in God but do not belong to a particular religion because they find the associated rules and regulations Procrustean Procrustean derives from the name of Procrustes, a torturer in Greek mythology. Procrustes would force his victims back to his house to try out his bed for size. If they were too long for the bed, he would chop their legs off; if they were too short, he would stretch their limbs. In the event that someone was the perfect fit for his bed, Procrustes had a differentlyproportioned bed that he kept in reserve and would produce the one that was the worse fit for his victim, thus guaranteeing some form of torture would ensue. Today, we call someone Procrustean if they try to fit people into excessively narrow limits with no regard for individuality.

profligate (adj.) = ruinously extravagant from the Latin profligare: to ruin

e.g. F. Scott Fitzgerald, author of The Great Gatsby, was so profligate that he would light his cigarettes with flaming five-dollar bills

proliferate (verb) = to increase quickly in number from the Latin proles: offspring, and ferre: to carry

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propitious

e.g. Pete Sampras won the US Open at the age of 19; from this point onwards, his list of Grand Slam wins proliferated rapidly

prolix (adj.)
= (of speech or writing) using too many words from the Latin prolixus: poured forth, from pro-: outward, and liquere: to be liquid e.g. Legal contracts are often prolix and so send most people to sleep

promulgate (verb) = (of an ideal) to make known far and wide from the Latin promulgare, from pro-: out, and mulgare: to cause to come forth; promulgate literally means to milk
e.g. The disciples found Jesuss sermons so compelling that they set out to promulgate his teachings

propagate (verb)
= to cause to spread from the Latin propagare: to multiply from layers or shoots, from propago: a young shoot; propagate literally means to reproduce by natural processes from the parent stock e.g. Actor Richard Gere propagates AIDS awareness around the world

propitious (adj.)
= indicating a fair chance of success from the Latin propitius: favourable e.g. Bjrn Borg would sport a beard when playing at Wimbledon because he believed that not shaving was propitious

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proselytise

proselytise (verb)
= to convert (someone) from one belief to another from the Greek proselutos: a stranger or convert e.g. Christian missionary work has as its main goal that of proselytising non-believers

protean (adj.) = able to transform easily for etymology, see box below
e.g. The pop singer Madonna is a protean performer who undergoes frequent image transformations protean originates from the name of Proteus, a sea god in Greek mythology who could prophesy the future. People came from far and wide to ask Proteus about their fates. However, they were frequently disappointed, for Proteuss quirk was that he disliked being asked direct questions so much that he would change shape in order to confuse these inquisitors. Today, we still describe someone as protean if they have the ability to change rapidly.

prurient (adj.) = having an unhealthy interest in sexual matters: or encouraging sexual matters from the Latin prurire: to itch, long
e.g. Errol Flynn had an active love life and he called his autobiography My Wicked, Wicked Ways, knowing this title would appeal to his prurient fan base

162

punctilious

puckish (adj.) = playful in a mischievous manner deriving from the Middle English puke: an evil spirit
e.g. Ian Fleming, the creator of James Bond, also wrote Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and other books for children to indulge his puckish side

pullulate (verb)
= to breed quickly; OR to be pulsing with life from the Latin pullulare: to sprout, from the diminutive of pullus: young animal; pullulate literally means to breed so quickly as to become common e.g. Immediately before a big match, ticket touts pullulate around football stadiums

punctilious (adj.) = showing huge attention to detail from the French pointaille: detail
e.g. Kingsley Amis would often write 500 words in punctilious fashion before drinking at lunchtime

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(purdah) go into purdah

(purdah) go into purdah (phrase) = to go into social seclusion for etymology, see box below
e.g. After allegations of his infidelity surfaced, Tiger Woods went into self-imposed purdah purdah originates from the Persian word parda, which means a curtain, reflecting the Hindu or Muslim practice of purdah which involved hiding women from the view of men. Purdah is achieved either by the separation of the sexes or by women covering themselves with a burqa, which is a long, loose garment that covers the body from head to toe. Today, we use the phrase go into purdah to describe any instance of social seclusion, an activity most often practised by privacy-seeking celebrities.

purgative (adj.)
= ridding someone of unpleasant feelings from the Latin purgare: to purify; purgative literally means having the effect of a strong laxative e.g. People who have received a shock often find alcohol purgative

purple prose (phrase)

= prose that is excessively ornate for etymology, see box opposite e.g. Barbara Cartland might have shifted 500m copies of her romantic novels, but critics didnt like her writing, describing it as purple prose

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pusillanimous

purple prose was a term used by the Romans to describe fancy writing. The phrase came about because, in Roman times, purple dye was very expensive to manufacture because it necessitated the crushing of tens of thousands of molluscs (types of shellfish). Consequently, it was only the Emperor and the very wealthy who could afford purple garments. However, certain social climbers developed the habit of sewing small bits of purple onto their robes to give themselves a touch of class. This activity was considered pretentious. In 65 BC, the poet Horace harnessed the negative connotations of the colour purple when he described pretentious writing as purple and this phrase is still used today.

purview (noun)
= the extent of the influence (of someone or of something) from the Old French purveu: foreseen e.g. Many decisions carried out by the government are determined by ministers and do not come within the purview of the Prime Minister at all

pusillanimous (adj.) = timid from the Latin pusillanimis, from pusillus: very small, and animus: mind
e.g. The character of James Bond is that of the alpha male: when you are hunting down terrorists, no pusillanimous streak can be indulged

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putrefy

putrefy (verb) = to rot, emitting an unpleasant smell from the Latin puter: rotten
e.g. If you discard prawns in a dustbin, there is soon an overpowering smell of putrefying crustacea

166

quango (noun) = an agency that receives finance from a government while acting independently of it quango is based originally on the 1970s US acronym of qua(si) n(on-) g(overnmental) o(rganisation)
e.g. The Press Complaints Commission (PCC) to which the government has given the power to regulate all British newspapers is a classic quango

quarry (noun)
= an object of pursuit from the Old French cure: quarry, a hunting term that referred to the refuse parts of a slain animal that were given to the hounds in its skin (cure being based on the French cuir, meaning skin) e.g. After meeting Victoria Adams at a charity football match, David Beckham made her his quarry and eventually married her

quiddity (noun) = the whatness or intrinsic nature of someone or something from the medieval Latin quidditas: whatness, from quid: what
e.g. Certain novelists are so skilful that the reader feels he understands the singular quiddity of the lead character of the book better than that of his real-life spouse

quiescent (adj.) = lying still from the Latin quiescere: to be still

e.g. Maltreated workers may stay quiescent for years but will eventually mount a strike

167

quixotic

quixotic (adj.) = very idealistic and unrealistic for etymology, see box opposite
e.g. It takes a quixotic individual like actor Clark Gable to believe in the institution of marriage sufficiently to attempt it six times

168

quixotic

quixotic derives from the name of Don Quixote, the hero of the famous 17th-century Spanish novel of the same name by the author Miguel de Cervantes. Don Quixote is a retired country gentleman who develops an obsession with tales of chivalry. Eventually he becomes delusional and, designating a neighbour as his squire and a farm girl as his ladylove, he embarks on a series of adventures. At the height of his madness he attacks some windmills, believing them to be giants. (Incidentally this episode is the genesis of our modern-day expression tilting at windmills, which means fighting an imaginary opponent). Eventually he undergoes a return to sanity but is left feeling melancholic and dies a broken man. When we call someone quixotic, we mean they are like Don Quixote: full of grand chivalrous schemes but not living in the real world.

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rabid (adj.)

= raving for etymology, see box below e.g. Militant atheists depict fundamental Christians as being rabid rabid derives from the Latin rabere, which means to rave, and literally describes an animal made raving mad by rabies. We use the word figuratively to refer to a human who is foaming at the mouth as they insist that their beliefs are correct; hence rabid is often used to describe religious extremists.

raillery (noun) = teasing of a light-hearted nature from the French raillery: to rail
e.g. People who are in a grumpy mood can respond badly to raillery

rapacious (adj.) = snatching from the Latin rapacis: snatching

e.g. Every year Arnold Schwarzenegger donates to charity his $175,000 salary as governor of California: he seems the opposite of a rapacious Hollywood star

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realpolitik

realpolitik (noun) = a system of politics based on a practical rather than a moral approach from the German Realpolitik: practical politics; for etymology, see box below
e.g. Before he became Prime Minister, the press often accused David Cameron of tailoring his views to suit public opinion and of other instances of realpolitik realpolitik refers to the implementation of a form of politics that is pragmatic often at the expense of moral considerations. The first practitioner of realpolitik was Otto von Bismarck, Chancellor to Wilhelm I of the Kingdom of Prussia (a landmass covering parts of Germany and Russia); for example, keen to ensure the election of a Pope favourable to his own political aims, von Bismarck had no qualms about attempting to manipulate the Papal elections during the 1870s. Modern proponents include Richard Nixon who, for example, tolerated the human rights violations of China as this meant greater global stability. Today, when we describe someone as practising realpolitik, we mean they are pragmatic rather than principled individuals: in other words, they are Machiavellian (see p. 119).

rebarbative (adj.)
= unpleasant-looking and aggressive from the Old French se rebarber: to face each other beard to beard in an aggressive fashion e.g. When Marlon Brando became depressed in old age, his weight ballooned and his appearance became rebarbative

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redound to

recalcitrant (adj.) = refusing to cooperate with authority from the Latin recalcitrare: to kick out with the heels, based on calx: a heel
e.g. Most men end up married despite initially feeling recalcitrant towards the institution

recidivistic (adj.) = (of a convicted criminal) tending to relapse into crime from the Latin recidivus: falling back, from the verb recidere, from re-: back, and cadere: to fall
e.g. Although the outlaw Jesse James carried out numerous successful heists, he was never satisfied with his takings, which led to his recidivistic behaviour

recondite (adj.)
= not well known from the Latin reconditus: hidden e.g. Schotts Original Miscellany is full of information of a recondite nature

recusant (adj.)
= defying an authority from the Latin recusans: refusing e.g. Many teenagers object to eating meals at the dining table and are generally recusant

redound to (verb) = to contribute (to a persons reputation) from the Latin redundare: to overflow, from re-: again, and unda: a wave
e.g. Salvador Dali would shave his armpits until they bled in the hope hed appeal more to females; this act of masochism redounds to his reputation as a man who adored women

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refulgent

refulgent (adj.) = shining from the Latin refulgere: to shine out, from re(an intensifying prefix) and fulgere: to shine
e.g. As Lord Sugars chauffeur pulled up outside the building, the cars metalwork was refulgent in the sunlight

reliquary (noun) = a container for relics from the Old French relique: relic
e.g. Before admitting they would never fit her again, the fat woman tried on some outfits from her reliquary of thin clothes

rescind (verb)
= to revoke (an arrangement) from the Latin re- (an intensifying prefix), and scindere: to divide e.g. Obama has rescinded some laws created by Bush

residuum (noun)
= a thing that is left behind after a process from the Latin residuus: remaining e.g. Grace Kelly is dead but her residuum of films continues to exist

retrouss (adj.)
= (of the nose) turned up from the French re-: back, and trousser: to turn e.g. Rumours abounded that Michael Jackson had plastic surgery because the passing of the years saw his nose become increasingly retrouss

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riparian

rhapsodise about (phrase) = to talk about a topic with great passion from the Greek rhapsodos: a bard who recites poetry (literally meaning someone who stitches songs together), from rhaptein: to stitch, and oide: song
e.g. It is obvious from interviews that Prince Charles is in love with his wife Camilla because he often rhapsodises about her

ribald (adj.)
= referring to sex in a funny but rude way from the Old French riber: to indulge in licentious pleasures e.g. Frank Sinatra was popular with the ladies and, after a few drinks, would boast about his sexual exploits in a ribald way

rictus (noun)
= a gaping grin from the Latin rictus: a gaping of the jaws of an animal, from the past participle of the verb ringi: to gape e.g. In photos Bill Clinton always seems to have a cheery demeanour, which is largely due to a permanent rictus

riparian (adj.) = situated on a riverbank from the Latin ripa: bank

e.g. Many paintings from the impressionist era feature couples picnicking against a riparian backdrop

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rococo

rococo (adj.) = ornate in a tasteless way for etymology, see box below
e.g. The press likes to depict the large houses of Premier League footballers as tasteless blends of rococo features rococo describes many different forms of art, including music, architecture and woodwork. The rococo movement reached its peak in 18th-century Continental Europe and was characterised in furniture design by ornate spiral lines hence the words etymology from the French la rocaille, which means a garden made of rocks (another example of an elaborate manmade creation). Examples of rococo art include the Palace of Versailles and the music of Vivaldi. Today, we continue to describe any intricate artwork as rococo.

rou (adj.) = a sex-obsessed old man for etymology, see box opposite
e.g. After his trial for relations with a minor, Errol Flynn attached this notice to his door: Ladies: be prepared to produce your birth certificate. What a rou!

176

rou

The word rou has an interesting story behind it: in 18th century France, men who consorted with much younger women were punished by having their backs broken over a wheel (une roue). Today, we continue to describe dirty old men as rous.

177

rumbustious

rumbustious (adj.)
= out of control from the Icelandic, ram- (an intensifying prefix), and bunctious: bumptious (which means selfassertive to an irritating degree) e.g. Frank Sinatra was a hell-raiser who was famed for his rumbustious comportment

Ruritanian (noun) = an inhabitant of Ruritania, a fictional country used by politicians and lawyers to illustrate a hypothetical case especially if a real country would object to be used in the example being considered for etymology, see box below
e.g. If France and Germany sign a security pact, this means these two countries will defend each other in case of attack by, say, the Ruritanians Ruritania was the name given by novelist Anthony Pope to a fictitious European country in his novel The Prisoner of Zenda (1894). Within literature, the word Ruritania has since been used to conjure up a fictitious country in Europe abounding with fairytale notions of chivalry and romance (as per Popes novel). For example, Evelyn Waugh describes one character in his novel Vile Bodies as a sad ex-King of Ruritania. Today, the fictional country of Ruritania is most often used in a more practical context: namely by politicians and lawyers to illustrate a hypothetical case especially if a real country would object to being used in the example being considered.

178

salient (adj.)

= prominent from the Latin salient-: leaping (from the verb salire); salient literally means pointing outward e.g. Thomas Jefferson was responsible for the invention of the coat hanger but he is remembered for being the US President because this is the salient fact of his life

sangfroid (noun) = composure under pressure from the French sang-froid: cold blood
e.g. Rugby star Jonny Wilkinsons sangfroid explains his ability to penalty kick under pressure

sanguinary (adj.)
= involving the spilling of much blood from the Latin sanguis, sanguinis: blood e.g. Vlad the Impaler (14311476) would murder his victims in particularly sanguinary ways as he liked to drink their blood after killing them

sanguine (adj.) = optimistic from the Latin sanguis, sanguinis: blood; sanguine literally means bloody in colour
e.g. After divorcing his fifth wife, actor Clark Gable was sanguine about his chances of finding love again: sure enough, he soon found wife number six

179

sardonic

sardonic (adj.) = dourly cynical for etymology, see box below

e.g. Comedian Lewis Grizzard once sardonically commented: Instead of getting married again, Im going to find a woman I dont like and just give her a house sardonic derives from the ancient Greeks belief that eating a certain plant from the country of Sardo (which was the Greeks name for Sardinia) would cause facial contortions that resembled those of sardonic laughter; death usually followed. Today, we continue to use sardonic to mean grimly cynical; and gallows humour (i.e. humour arising from life-threatening situations) is one manifestation of a sardonic sense of humour.

saturnine (adj.) = (of a person) slow and dark (in colouring) and melancholic for etymology, see box below
e.g. Henry VIIIs weight gain in old age made him slow and depressed: he had become saturnine Saturnine derives from the medieval Latin Saturninus, which means of Saturn. In medieval times, Saturn was considered by astrologers to be the coldest and darkest of the planets because it was thought to be the furthest from the sun. When we describe someone as saturnine today, we summon up these negative qualities.

180

scintilla

scabrous (adj.) = indecent from the Latin scaber: rough; scabrous literally means covered with scabs
e.g. The media are fond of quoting John F. Kennedys scabrous comment: If I dont have a woman for three days, I get terrible headaches

scatological (adj.)
= concerning excrement from the Greek skor, skatos: excrement, and logos: word e.g. Although some adults find fart jokes amusing, most people outgrow their scatological sense of humour of their youth

schadenfreude (noun)
= the pleasure experienced when someone other than you has a mishap from the German Schaden: harm, and freude: joy e.g. When Emperor Neros wife pointed out he was late for dinner, he kicked her to death; on hearing this news, not even her fiercest enemies felt schadenfreude

scintilla (noun)
= no more than a spark of a feeling from the Latin scintilla: spark e.g. He may have started as the underdog in the Tory leadership race in 2005, but David Camerons faith in his speech-making ability gave him a scintilla of hope

181

sclerotic

sclerotic (adj.)
= rigid, unable to adapt from the Greek skleros: hard; sclerotic literally means becoming rigid e.g. The marriage between Marie Antoinette and Louis XVI wasnt consummated until its seventh year: theirs was a sclerotic relationship

scrofulous (adj.) = relating to a form of tuberculosis that produces glandular swellings; OR morally degenerate from the Latin scrofulae: a swelling of the glands (diminutive of scrofa: a sow, which was said to be subject to the disease)
e.g. The squalid environment of some jails abroad can make the inmates scrofulous

sedition (noun)
= conduct inciting people to overthrow an authority from the Latin seditio, from sed-: apart, and itio: going (from the verb ire: to go) e.g. Hitler used force to quell sedition

sedulous (adj.) = showing diligence from the Latin sedulus: zealous

e.g. Mother Teresa worked sedulously to alleviate the suffering of the poor

segue (verb)
= to make a smooth transition from one thing to another from the Italian segue: follows

182

sententious

e.g. After retiring from acting, Paul Newman segued successfully into the business world, creating a profitable empire from making cooking sauces

seismic (adj.) = of earth-shattering proportions from the Greek seismos: earthquake

e.g. The events of September the 11th, 2001 had a seismic impact on world peace for years afterwards

seminal (adj.)
= strongly influencing future developments from the Latin seminalis, from semen: seed; seminal literally means relating to semen e.g. After being rejected for a job at the Foreign Office, Ian Fleming decided to create his alter ego, James Bond: so this snub was the seminal moment in the spys creation

semiotics (noun) = the study of signs and symbols from the Greek semeioun: to interpret as a sign
e.g. In the novel The Da Vinci Code, a professor of semiotics at Harvard uses his knowledge to solve a series of puzzles and unearth a conspiracy

sententious (adj.)
= given to expressing pompous opinions from the Latin sententia: opinion e.g. When they preach to their congregation, priests must avoiding sounding sententious

183

seraglio

seraglio (noun)
= the harem in a Muslim palace from the Persian saray: palace e.g. It would be no surprise to learn that Saddam Husseins palace contained a seraglio

serendipitous (adj.) = relating to the occurrence of events by chance and with a positive outcome for etymology, see box below
e.g. For his 12th birthday, Elvis Presley wanted a bike but his mother could only afford a guitar: this proved to be a serendipitous gift for someone as musically talented as The King serendipitous derives from the title of The Three Princes of Serendip, the English version of a fairy tale published in Venice in 1557 and to which author Horace Walpole referred in a letter he wrote in 1754. In the story, the three princes had a habit of stumbling across good things, or, as Walpole put it: were always making discoveries, by accidents and sagacity, of things they were not in quest of. Today, we use the word serendipitous to describe any chance event with a similarly joyful outcome.

Shangri-La (noun) = an earthly paradise that is a retreat from the confusion of civilisation for etymology, see box opposite
e.g. Oprah Winfrey lives on a huge Californian estate called The Promised Land, which overlooks the ocean: this is her own Shangri-La

184

shibboleth

Shangri-La is a fictional place described in the 1933 novel Lost Horizon by James Hilton. In the novel, Shangri-La is a paradise in Tibet enclosed by mountains; its inhabitants have a peculiarly long lifespan and barely display signs of ageing. Shangri-La is now used to denote any joyful land that is isolated from the outside world; it can also be used to denote a lifelong quest for example, for a man who is obsessed with becoming prime minister, this goal is his Shangri-La.

shibboleth (noun) = a phrase or concept identified with a particular group for etymology, see box below
e.g. By using the shibboleth of a just war to describe his invasion of Iraq, Tony Blair is attempting to frame his actions within a wider religious and historical context
shibboleth originates from a particularly bloody account in the Old Testament. In this passage (Judges 12:6), the Gileadites are pursuing the fleeing Ephraimites, whom the Gileadites have just defeated in battle. To identify a man as an Ephraimite, the Gileadites would ask him to say the word shibboleth (which means an ear of corn in Hebrew); the Ephraimites could not pronounce this word correctly because they lacked a sh sound in their dialect. Ephraimites would therefore fail the pronunciation test and then be slaughtered. Today, shibboleth is used to describe any phrase particular to a narrow group of people (such as credit derivatives, a phrase only bankers would claim to understand) or an experience common to one group (such as circumcision in the Jewish faith).

185

sibilant

sibilant (adj.)
= sounding like a hiss from the Latin sibilare: to hiss e.g. The phrase she sells seashells by the seashore is particularly sibilant

186

slough off

simian (adj.) = like a monkey from the Latin simia: an ape

e.g. When Charles Darwin published his book On the Origin of Species in 1859, newspapers responded by printing cartoons of Darwin in a simian guise

simpatico (adj.) = (of a person) likeable from the Italian simpatico: sympathetic
e.g. Michael Parkinson was an effective chat show host because he put guests at ease with his simpatico manner

simper (verb)
= to smile in a flirty fashion from the German zimpfer: delicate e.g. Julia Roberts became an international sex symbol due to her role in the film Pretty Woman (1990) in which she simpered continually at the camera

simulacrum (noun) = a representation of someone or something (usually a poor representation) from the Latin simulacrum: a representation
e.g. The 2008 film of Brideshead Revisited was panned by critics as an inferior simulacrum of the book

slough off (verb) = to peel off (an old skin) deriving from the Low German slu(we): peel
e.g. As a result of his army service in Afghanistan, Prince Harry succeeded in sloughing off his playboy image

187

smorgasbord

smorgasbord (noun) = a wide range of something from the Swedish smrgs: slice of bread and butter, and bord: table; a smorgasbord literally refers to a buffet offering a variety of foods
e.g. Baptism and confession are regarded by atheists as parts of a smorgasbord of religious superstitions

sobriquet (noun)
= a nickname from the Old French sobriquet: a tap under the chin, from sous: under, and briquet: throat e.g. Owing to his command of language, novelist Henry James received the sobriquet the Master

sodality (noun) = a fraternity of people from the Latin sodalis: comrade

e.g. The villains in Dan Browns novel The Da Vinci Code are members of Opus Dei, a real-life Roman Catholic sodality

soign (adj.) = maintaining a polished experience from the French soign: taken care of
e.g. In his heyday, actor Roger Moore was renowned for his soign good looks

solecism (noun)
= (in speech) a grammatical error from the Greek soloikos: speaking incorrectly e.g. Some people think it is a solecism to split the infinitive, such as in the phrase to really work hard

188

sop

solipsistic (adj.)
= obsessed with ones own feelings from the Latin solus: alone, and ipse: self e.g. Truman Capote so admired an article about himself that he wallpapered his flat with 500 copies of the magazine in question: how solipsistic of him

sop (noun)
= something given to pacify (such as a bribe) for etymology, see box below e.g. Bankers, at government-supported banks, complain that plans to cut their bonuses are a sop to angry taxpayers, say critics A sop meant bread dipped in liquid in Middle English. The current sense of sop as being something designed to pacify someone came from the epic poem The Aeneid written by Virgil (7019 BC). At one point in The Aeneid, the hero Aeneas decides to enter the underworld to see his dead father. Aeneas consults the guardian to the underworld, a prophetess called the Sibyl. Knowing that the underworld is patrolled by a monstrous dog the Sibyl prepares a sop soaked in honey and drugs to stupefy this animal; the plan works and the sop renders the dog comatose. Hence, today, a sop continues to mean something given to pacify and often describes a small thing done as a concession to appease someone whose main demands are not being met.

189

sophistry

sophistry (noun)
= the use of unsound arguments, especially with the intention of outwitting someone from the Greek sophistes: a sophist (a person who reasons with witty but unsound arguments) e.g. When clients asked fraudster Bernard Madoff about his investment strategies, Madoff would use complicated language and sophistry to confuse them

sororal (adj.) = of or like a sister from the Latin soror: sister

e.g. Tennis stars Venus and Serena Williams enjoy a healthy sororal rivalry

specious (adj.)
= seeming plausible, but actually incorrect from the Latin speciosus: fair e.g. When Daniel Craig appeared as the new James Bond in Casino Royale, reports that Pierce Brosnan would continue in the role were proved specious

splenetic (adj.)
= bad-tempered for etymology, see box opposite e.g. Inspector Morses perpetual whisky-induced hangover perhaps explained why he was so splenetic

190

spoonerism

splenetic derives from the Latin word splen, which means spleen. This is because the ancient Greeks believed that the spleen which is an organ involved in the creation and removal of blood cells produced black bile which could darken someones mood. Today, we continue to describe someone as splenetic if that person is in a strop.

spoonerism (noun)
= an error in speech when the initial sounds of two or more words are transposed, often to comic effect for etymology, see below e.g. The teacher meant to say you have missed the history lectures but it came out as you have hissed the mystery lectures; the class erupted in laughter at his spoonerism spoonerism is a term that takes its name from an English clergyman and scholar called William Archibald Spooner (1844 and 1930). Reverend Spooner was notorious for confusing the letters at the start of adjacent words. For example, he is alleged to have said in church: The Lord is my shoving leopard. Today, we use the word spoonerism to describe any instance of someone confusing the letters at the start of adjacent words.

191

stentorian

stentorian (adj.) = (of a persons voice) loud and strong for etymology, see box below
e.g. Arnold Schwarzenegger was chosen to star in action films because of his muscular physique and stentorian voice stentorian derives from the name of a man called Stentor, who in Greek mythology was the herald for the Greek forces during the Trojan War. In his work The Odyssey, Greek poet Homer notes that the loudness of Stentors voice was equal to that of fifty men combined; however, Stentors voice was not louder than a gods and he shouted himself to death during an unsuccessful attempt to defeat the god Hermes in a shouting contest. Today, the adjective stentorian is used to describe someone with a booming voice.

stucco (noun) = fine plaster used for coating walls or moulding into decorative features from the Old German stukki: a fragment
e.g. Hello magazine often features photos of footballers houses that have been made ornate by the use of stucco

Sturm und Drang (phrase)

= unpleasant emotional turbulence for etymology, see box opposite e.g. During their teenage years most people are prone to Sturm und Drang

192

sulphurous

Sturm und Drang is a German expression meaning Storm and Stress. The Sturm und Drang movement originated in Germany at the end of the 18th century and involved the venting of spleen and anguish; this was as a reaction against the rigidity of the rationalism imposed by the Enlightenment movement. The most famous piece of literature of the time was Goethes Die Leiden des jungen Werthers (The Suffering of Young Werther), a novel which describes a man so lovelorn that he kills himself. Today, when we describe someone as suffering from Sturm und Drang, we mean they are in a state of unpleasant emotional turmoil.

suborn (verb)
= to bribe or otherwise persuade (someone) to commit a crime from the Latin subornare: to incite secretly, from sub-: secretly, and ornare: to equip e.g. To achieve their ends, politicians in Africa are often accused of suborning public institutions such as the media

sulphurous (adj.) = erupting with anger for etymology, see below

e.g. In his heyday, John McEnroes sulphurous comments to referees made for great newspaper stories sulphurous literally means containing sulphur; sulphur is a chemical with which gunpowder and other explosives are formed. So, when we describe someone as sulphurous, it means that person is about to explode with anger.

193

superannuated

superannuated (adj.) = too old to be of use from the Latin super: over, and annus: year
e.g. Though she is now in her 80s, the Queen continues to perform many duties with great efficiency: no one would say she is superannuated

supercilious (adj.)
= behaving as though one thinks one is above other people from the Latin superciliosus: haughty, from supercilium: eyebrow e.g. Supercilious people have a manner that causes offence to others

supplicant (noun) / suppliant (adj.) = (of a person) making a humble plea to a leader from the Latin supplicare: to implore
e.g. Spike Milligan once called Prince Charles a little grovelling bastard on live TV as a joke: but it is clear from this that the comedian was no supplicant

suppurate (verb) = to form pus from the Latin sub-: below, and pus, puris: pus
e.g. Some women who have breast augmentation operations experience suppurating wounds for days afterwards

susurrate (verb) = to murmur softly from the Latin susurrare: to murmur

194

Svengali

e.g. To judge by his manly appearance, you would expect footballer David Beckham to have a loud voice; yet in interviews he usually susurrates

Svengali (noun)
= a person who controls another for etymology, see box below e.g. Simon Fuller has managed the Spice Girls and other celebrities, which resulted in the press giving him the title of management Svengali Svengali originates from the name of a character in the 1894 novel Trilby by George du Maurier. In the book, Svengali is a character who uses hypnosis to control the singing voice of a weaker character called Trilby. Today, when we call someone a Svengali, we mean they are similarly controlling of someone else usually in a sinister way.

195

sybarite

sybarite (noun)
= a person who is overly fond of luxury for etymology, see box below e.g. Charlie Chaplin used to frequent a brothel called The House of All Nations, which was a popular haunt of wealthy sybarites sybarite literally means an inhabitant of Sybarus; Sybarus was a city in Italy that existed in the 6th century BC. Owing to the fertility of the surrounding soil, the inhabitants of Sybarus were among the wealthiest people in the world and were renowned for pampering themselves: the city was sufficiently well off to install the first streetlighting system in history. Today, a sybarite is someone who has a fondness for sensory indulgence.

sylph (noun)
= a thin female from the Modern Latin sylphes: a spirit inhabiting the air; a sylph literally means an imaginary spirit of the air e.g. Despite being over 50 years old, Madonna retains the appearance of a sylph as a result of her exercise regime

symposium (noun)
= a meeting to discuss one topic in particular from the Latin symposium from the Greek symposion: an occasion for drinking together, from sun-: together, and potes: drinker e.g. Samuel Beckett, author of Waiting for Godot, could go for hours without saying a word: he was not someone to seek out at a symposium

196

synaesthesia

synaesthesia (noun) = the evocation of one sense by the stimulation of another sense from the Greek sun: together, and aesthesis: sensation
e.g. Whenever I smell smoke from my uncles pipe, I immediately think of my dead aunt playing the piano; this synaesthesia leaves me giddy

197

synapse

synapse (noun) = a connection between two nerve cells; to displace the beats in music so that strong beats become weak and weak beats become loud from the Greek sun: together, and hapsis: joining
e.g. When a thought comes into our head, electricity travels across the synapses in our brain

syncopate (verb) = to shorten a word by dropping sounds in the words middle from the Latin syncopare: to swoon
e.g. People who think they are amusing when they syncopate words (such as by pronouncing the south London suburb of Clapham as Clahm) are in fact annoying

synecdoche (noun)
= a figure of speech in which a part is used to allude to the whole, or the whole is used to allude to a part from the Greek synekdokhe: a receiving together, from syn-: with, ek: out, and dekhesthai: to receive (related to dokein: to seem good) e.g. A thief notorious for his ability to pick pockets is often called Fingers, this term being a synecdoche for his body as a whole

198

tabula rasa (phrase)

= the mind before it has been imprinted with the effects of experience from the Latin tabula: tablet, and rasa: erased e.g. The brain of a baby is a tabula rasa on to which the babys parents etch their values

tangential (adj.)
= digressing from a prior course from the Latin tangere: to touch; tangential literally means touching at a point without intersecting e.g. Cameron and Osborne arranged a dinner to discuss the economy but ended up discussing tangential matters

Tartuffe (noun)
= a hypocritical pretender to any kind of superiority for etymology, see box below e.g. J. Edgar Hoover, the first director of the FBI, called Playboy readers moral degenerates; but he was a Tartuffe because he regularly watched pornographic films Tartuffe is the lead character in the play Tartuffe, written by the French playwright Molire in 1664. In the play, Tartuffe persuades the other characters that he is pious and devout, whilst he is actually lustful and grasping. This rank hypocrisy is eventually revealed to all in the closing scenes. Today, we call someone a Tartuffe if that person is a hypocrite of the highest order.

199

tautology

tautology (noun)
= expressing the same concept twice using different words (considered to be a fault of style) from the Greek tauto: same, and -logos: word e.g. The phrase frozen ice is a tautology: all ice is frozen so there is no need for the adjective frozen

tawdry (adj.)
= sordid and unpleasant for etymology, see box below e.g. Many a glamour model has been paid a small fortune by the media to give a tawdry account of an affair with a married footballer tawdry is a contraction of the name of Saint Audrey, an Anglo-Saxon saint. In the 17th century, devotees of Saint Audrey staged an annual fair where lace clothes would be sold. However, Puritans consider lace to look seedy and so it was that Saint Audrey and the word tawdry that is a contraction of her name became associated with tackiness. Today, we use tawdry to describe something that is sordid and cheap.

teleological (adj.)
= relating to the explanation of living things by the purpose they serve rather than by their origins from the Greek telos-: end, and -logos: word e.g. Religious people believe that our lives are subject to a teleological framework

200

tenet

tendentious (adj.) = marked by a strong point of view, implicitly expressed from the Medieval Latin tendentia: a cause, from the Latin tendere: to stretch
e.g. The BBC is required to produce programmes that have no political or other agenda, so there is no tendentious editing at the Beeb

tenebrous (adj.) = shadowy from the Latin tenebrae: darkness

e.g. In his youth, Sean Connery worked as a coffinpolisher in a tenebrous building occupied by a funeral director

tenet (noun)
= a principle from the Latin tenet, which means he holds, from the verb tenere: to hold e.g. That Muhammad received a series of revelations from God is one of the main tenets of Islam

201

termagant

termagant (noun) = a scolding woman for etymology, see box below

e.g. Katherine Hepburn would insist on sniffing the hair of her co-stars to make sure it was clean: such intrusive behaviour is typical of a termagant termagant was the name of a character in medieval morality plays. Termagant was a fictitious male Muslim deity with a violent nature who appeared in medieval morality plays. As Termagant wore long gowns, English audiences mistakenly believed the character was female. Today, when we call a woman a termagant, it means she has a scolding nature.

theocrat (noun) = a leader who rules in the name of God from the Greek theos: god, kratos: rule
e.g. Until Japans defeat in World War II when Emperor Hirohito was forced to deny that the Emperor of Japan was divine Japan was ruled by theocrats

tinnitus (noun)
= a ringing sound in the ears (often caused by a specific condition such as a head injury) from the Latin tinnire: to ring, tinkle e.g. After leaving a loud pop concert, people often have tinnitus in both ears

202

totalitarian

tithe (noun) = ten per cent of someones income that is contributed to the Church from the Middle English tithe, from the Anglo-Saxon tien: ten
e.g. Hundreds of years ago, most Christians paid the tithe; now very few do

topography (noun)
= the way the physical features of an area are arranged from the Greek topographia, from topos: place, and graphe: writing e.g. The SAS troops needed to become familiar with every nook and cranny of Pakistan so they spent months studying the countrys topography

totalitarian (noun) = a person advocating a dictatorship that requires total submission to the state from the Latin totus: whole, entire
e.g. World leaders hope the openness displayed by China at events such as the Olympics is a sign that the government is relaxing its totalitarian stance

203

totemic (of)

totemic (of) (adj.) = markedly symbolic (of) for etymology, see box opposite
e.g. For most people the Queen is the totemic member of the Royal Family

204

touchstone

totemic finds its root in the French word aoutem, which means an object considered by Indians to be the emblem of a clan. Totems were usually an animal or an object from nature; as well as being representative of a clan, totems were believed to protect the clansmen. Today, when we describe a person or thing being as totemic, we mean that it is distinctly symbolic of something.

touchstone (noun) = a benchmark by which something is judged for etymology, see box below
e.g. Roger Federer holds more Grand Slam titles than any other player in the history of tennis; his achievement is the touchstone for all future players A touchstone refers to a piece of dark jasper which was used to test the purity of a gold alloy by observing the colour of the mark the alloys made on it. The streak left behind was compared to the clear yellow streak left by pure gold. Today, we call something a touchstone when it provides a standard by which to judge other things. (See also paragon, which has a near-identical meaning.)

205

transmogrify

transmogrify (verb)
= to transform, especially in a way that is not expected deriving from the verb transmigrate: (of the soul) to pass into another body after death e.g. When he invented Facebook, Marc Zuckerberg was transmogrified from Harvard postgraduate to the youngest self-made billionaire on the planet

trenchant (adj.) = (of language or a person) incisive and cutting from the Old French trenchant: cutting, from the verb trenchier, itself based on the Latin, truncare: to maim
e.g. When people talk about failed romantic relationships, their tone of voice often becomes trenchant

triumvirate / troika (noun)

= a group of three people working alongside each other triumvirate derives from the Latin trium virum, the genitive plural of tres viri: three men; troika derives from the Russian troe: set of three e.g. A triumvirate / troika of film moguls Spielberg, Geffen and Katzenberg set up the studio DreamWorks

trope (noun)
= a common theme; OR the use of words in a non-literal way, such as a metaphor from the Greek tropos: turn, way e.g. Much of the tension in the horror film The Shining derives from the trope of the psychic child who has the ability to foresee imminent evil

206

tussock

truculent (adj.) = quick to fight from the Latin trux, trucis: fierce
e.g. Actor Errol Flynn blew the money he had saved for an engagement ring at the bookies; his truculent fiance broke up with him as a result

turpitude (noun)
= corruption from the Latin turpis: disgraceful e.g. The US government still bars from entering the country those people considered to be in a state of moral turpitude

tussock (noun) = a small patch of grass that is longer than the grass surrounding it tussock derives from a 16th-century alternation of tusk, which meant a tuft
e.g. If you have mowed your lawn properly no tussocks will remain

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ululate (verb) = to utter howling sounds from the Latin ululare: to howl, shriek
e.g. During the funeral scenes in the Godfather films, old women in black ululate around the coffin

utilitarian (adj.) = useful, rather than beautiful from the Latin utilis: useful
e.g. Although most fridges are not beautiful, they are utilitarian

utopia (noun) = an imagined place in which everything is in perfect harmony for etymology, see box below
e.g. Kristin Scott Thomass father was a Royal Navy pilot; when he died in a flying accident, this shattered the utopia of her childhood utopia has a rather depressing etymology for it derives from the Greek words ou (meaning not) and topos (meaning a place): in other words, a utopia or a sense of happiness is a place that does not exist. The word utopia was popularised by Sir Thomas More (who was beheaded by Henry VIII). In Of the Best State of a Republic and of the New Island Utopia (1516), More depicts the island of Utopia as a landmass where harmony reigns thanks to its perfect social and political structure. Today, we continue to refer to any perfect place as being a utopia. (For the opposite of a utopia i.e. a place where discord reigns see dystopia.)

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uxorious

uxorious (adj.)
= (of a husband) displaying an indulgent fondness for ones wife from the Latin uxor: wife e.g. On the TV show Richard and Judy, Richards constant attention to his wife Judy gave the impression of an uxorious man

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vagabond (noun)

= a person without a home who wanders around from the Latin vagari: to wander e.g. After his widowed mother was certified insane, Charlie Chaplin left school to join a dance troupe and become, in effect, a vagabond

vagaries (pl. noun) = unforeseen changes in a situation from the Latin vagari: to wander
e.g. Winston Churchill often felt the urge to throw himself off railway platforms because he was prone to the vagaries of manic depression

vainglorious (adj.) = characterised by vanity and boasting from the Old French vaine gloire: vain glory
e.g. Some religious people regard atheists as being vainglorious for denying the existence of God

valedictory (adj.)
= serving as a farewell from the Latin vale: goodbye, and dicere: to say e.g. In his final months in office, Tony Blair appeared on several TV chat shows in a kind of valedictory tour

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vampish

vampish (adj.) = relating to a woman who uses sexual attraction to manipulate men vampish derives from an early 20th-century abbreviation of vampire
e.g. The nature of the relationship between John F. Kennedy and Marilyn Monroe was clear from the vampish way in which she sang: Happy Birthday, Mr President

vapid (adj.)
= dull, unstimulating from the Latin vapidus: flat e.g. The piped music played in aeroplanes awaiting take-off invariably is vapid

vaudeville (noun) = a stage play on a frivolous theme with songs along the way for etymology, see box below
e.g. Musicals such as Mary Poppins owe a lot to the tradition of vaudeville, a theatrical genre of variety entertainment popular in the US until the 1930s vaudeville derives from the French word vaudeville, which in the 15th century meant a popular song. (The word vaudevilles formation in France can be traced to the most famous writer of such songs who lived in the valley of Vire, or, in French, the Vau de Vire). It was variety theatre owners in the US who adopted the expression vaudeville at the end of the 19th century in the hope that the Frenchness of the term might lend the halls an air of sophistication and thus differentiate them in the publics mind from the earlier variety halls which were marked by rowdiness.

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verbiage

Today vaudeville refers to any entertainment made up of a series of short musical sketches and with a lighthearted theme.

(much) vaunted (phrase) = much praised from the Old French vanter: to praise, based on the Latin vanitare: to talk frivolously (from the Latin vanare: to utter empty words, from vanus: empty)
e.g. When Charlie Chaplin came third in a Charlie Chaplin lookalike contest, he had to admit that the winner, a much vaunted lookalike, did indeed bear an uncanny resemblance to him

venal (adj.)
= being open to bribery from the Latin venum: thing for sale e.g. One month before the invasion of Iraq, Saddam Hussein made an offer to stand down peacefully in return for $1bn; he remained venal to the last

venial (adj.)
= (of a fault) trivial from the Latin venia: forgiveness e.g. Russian monarch Ivan the Terrible, who used to roast humans alive, regarded his other pastimes such as throwing dogs off towers as no more than venial sins

verbiage (noun) = writing that uses an excessive amount of words from the French verbe: word
e.g. Walt Disney often spoke about the need for cleanliness; proving his words were no mere verbiage, he would wash his own hands up to 30 times an hour

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verdant

verdant (adj.) = (of countryside) green with grass or other organic matter from the Old French verdoyant: becoming green, based on the Latin, viridare: to grow green
e.g. A team of gardeners ensure the lawns of Buckingham Palace remain verdant at all times

vernacular (adj.)
= the everyday language spoken by the people in one region from the Latin vernaculus: native, from verna: homeborn slave e.g. Anti-Muslim attitudes are commonplace; this is reflected by the fact that the word Islamophobia has entered the English vernacular

vicarious (adj.) = feelings experienced in one persons mind via someone elses descriptions or display of their own feelings for etymology, see box opposite
e.g. When Fred Astaires dancing prevented him from watching his beloved soap operas, he would phone his housemaid to experience the plot twists vicariously

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vicarious

vicarious originates from the word vicar: both words are derived from the Latin vicarius, meaning substitute. In the Catholic Church, a vicar is the representative of a bishop; similarly, when a friend tells us a story about his recent car crash, our friend becomes our representative during the moments that the vehicle crumpled, and we experience the crash vicariously.

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vicissitude

vicissitude (noun)
= a unpleasant change in a situation from the Latin vicissim: by turns e.g. When his wife died in a plane crash, Clark Gable kept her bedroom exactly as it was the day she caught the plane because he was so upset at this vicissitude

vilify (verb)
= to talk about (someone) in a denigrating manner from the Latin vilis: of low value e.g. When Roger Clinton, half-brother of Bill, pleaded guilty to cocaine distribution, the press vilified him

visceral (adj.)
= perceived as if in the internal organs (the viscera) from the Latin viscera: the internal organs e.g. To fall in love at first sight is to experience an immediate visceral response to someone

vista (noun) = a distant view especially one seen through an opening from the Italian visto: seen, past participle of vedere: to see (from the Latin videre: to see); a vista literally means: a pleasing view seen through a long, narrow opening
e.g. Dying of cancer in Switzerland, Audrey Hepburn had her bed positioned so she could see the mountains outside her window; she loved this vista

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vulpine

vitiate (verb) = to harm the quality of from the Latin vitiare: to impair
e.g. Told he was too sane for a psychiatric hospital, Spike Milligan stabbed Peter Sellers; in this way he vitiated his record of sanity and was admitted

vituperate (verb)
= to speak very disparagingly about someone from the Latin vituperare: to disparage e.g. When the 54-year-old Charlie Chaplin married the 18-year-old Oona ONeill, the press vituperated him

voluptuary (noun)
= a person devoted to self-indulgence from the Latin voluptas: pleasure e.g. As a voluptuary, Oscar Wilde loved sensual indulgence, especially an activity he called feasting with panthers, which meant going with rent boys

vulpine (adj.) = like a fox from the Latin vulpes: a fox

e.g. Alsatians are the most vulpine of dogs

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wainscot (noun) = an area of wooden panelling running along the bottom of some walls from the medieval Flemish waghenscote: superior quality oak wood
e.g. Rooms in Victorian houses often have wainscot on the lower part of the walls of rooms

wanderlust (noun) = a yearning to travel from the German wandern: to wander, and lust: lust
e.g. Graham Greene wrote novels set on several continents, all of which he had travelled across to sate his wanderlust

wanton (adj.)
= (especially of a woman) sexually indecent; OR (of an action) deliberate and out of the blue from the Middle English wan-: wanting, lacking, and togen: to discipline: together these words imply a notion of badly disciplined/ badly brought up e.g. When he was just 18, William Shakespeare married a woman who was already clearly pregnant, leading to gossip accusing her of wanton behaviour

waspish (adj.)
= very irritable from the word wasp, an insect renowned for its irritability e.g. When working as a librarian, the poet Philip Larkin would ask people in a waspish tone: Why on earth are you borrowing drivel like that?

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wend

wend (verb) = to travel slowly towards a particular goal from the German wenden: to turn
e.g. When exploring a new city, tourists are in no rush usually preferring to wend their way around

wheedle (verb)
= to convince someone using flattery from the German wedeln: to wag the tail like a fawning dog, hence to fawn, flatter e.g. In honey-trap operations, female police officers use their wiles to wheedle information out of male murder suspects

widows peak (noun) = a V-shaped growth of hair in the centre of the forehead left behind as the hairline recedes for etymology, see box below
e.g. With age, men often develop a widows peak widows peak derives from the old wives tale that a V-shaped hair pattern on a mans forehead means he will die soon, leaving his wife a widow.

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winnow (down)

winnow (down) (verb) = to reduce the number (in a collection of things) until only the best ones remain from the Old English windwian: to ventilate, from wind: wind; the literal meaning of winnow is to blow a current of air through (grain) in order to remove the chaff
e.g. Every year 128 tennis players compete in the mens singles at Wimbledon; by the day of the finals their number has been winnowed down to just two contestants

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Sources
Cawthorne, Nigel. Sex Lives of Hollywood Idols. London: Prion Books, 2004. Dillon-Malone, Aubrey. Funny Peculiar: A Directory of the Daft and Dotty. London: Prion Books, 2001. Parish, James Robert. The Hollywood Book of Death. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2001. Schnakenberg, Robert. Secret Lives of Great Authors. Philadelphia: Quirk Books, 2008. Soanes, Catherine and Angus Stevenson. Oxford Dictionary of English. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005 Online Etymology Dictionary: www.etymonline.com

Acknowledgements
My debt is to the following: my friend and agent Sheila Ableman who maintained a notebook of interesting words in her teenage years; Lisa Carden and Ellen Grace at A&C Black for their perspicacity; Sandra Howgate and the sense of the surreal in her drawings; my four brothers and six sisters and their gallows humour which sustains me; Kelly and her smile; Dom and his knowing when to work hard and when not to; Alex who blazed the trail; Louisa who likes to take apart clichs; Feras who gave me the word liminal; David for swivelling his chair once in a while to activate the movement-sensitive light switch; Colin for his love of words and the quote he gave me; Charlie and his insistence on etymology; Piers for valuing writing; Michael for devoting three evenings to check over the script; Nigel for his help on all matters Classical; Rosemary for her inspiring idiosyncracy; Amanda and her understanding; and Harry whose exuberance produced the title. Any reader can contact me here with criticisms, new words or anything else: [email protected]