Wondrous Words Wednesday
Wondrous Words Wednesday is a weekly meme where we share new (to us) words that we’ve encountered in our reading. If you want to play along, grab the button, and join the fun! (Don’t forget to leave a link in the comments if you’re participating.) All of my words this week came from my handy Word-a-Day calendar. I sure hope Santa brings me the 2011 edition!
1. orchidaceous– “Barbara swept into the room wearing an orchidaceous creation by a renowned fashion designer.”
Orchidaceous has a few meanings, but in this case, it means showy or ostentatious.
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2. semelparous – “Each year the semelparous salmon return to the stream where they hatched to spawn.”
Semelparous is an adjective that means reproducing or breeding only once in a lifetime.
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3. thrasonical– “Given his thrasonical nature, Harold can be expected to remind us day after day that he was the only student to get an A on the test.”
Thrasonical is an adjective that means of, relating to, resembling, or characteristic of Thraso: bragging or boastful. Thraso was a blustering soldier in the play Eunuchus by Roman dramatist Terence. Even though my spell check doesn’t recognize it, thrasonical has been in use for over 440 years.
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Have you come across any new words lately?
More wonderful words….love it.
Have a great day.
I cannot think I can even pronounce them
let alone remember them beyond a minute from now.
I wonder how you remember them?
I don’t think I’ve ever seen any of those words although I would have thought the first one had something to do with orchids!
Those are great words! Orchidaceous seems pretty obvious, given how showy orchids are, but they are also delicate, colorful, and lots of other things it could be describing.
My words are here.
I love words like orchidaceous…where you can see the connections between the usage and the etymology.
Here are mine for this week: http://wordlily.com/2010/10/27/words-from-my-reading-54/
Lol, I love learning new words
I have never come across these particular three words in my reading, but now when I do, I will be prepared!! Thanks for sharing these definitions!
The only one I could guess at was orchidaceous, which is such a fun word!
Those are three great words! And I’ve never heard any of them before. My hubby used to teach Latin – I’ll have to see if he knows what “thrasonical” means.
Hey…we have salmon like that by us! These are some great words this week Kathy. My words are here: http://jo-jolovestoread.blogspot.com/2010/10/wondrous-words-wednesday-oct-27.html
I really thought orchidaceous is a word symbolize something near to orchid!
What can I say? Huge words that I didn’t know and probably won’t ever be able to use! LOL!
All new to me this week – but then I suspect not many people at all know those
Your word-a-day calendar seems to come up with some great words. I like thrasconical. I’ve known a few thrasonical people.
Whoops – I forgot to invite you to come and look at my new word-for-the-week. Yes, only one.
See my post at Joyfully Retired.
I think I’ll toss orchidaceous in my vocabulary!
There’s nothing like reading to show me how vast the English language is and how many words I don’t know. I think if a word like thrasonical has been around for over 400 years we should make an effort to bring it back into everyday language.
You can see my words here:
http://marthalama.wordpress.com/
Kathy, these are great words! I especially like orchidaceous. I think if I used it though, people would just look at me and think I was making up a word.
Wow, these are some major words! Orchidaceous sounds exactly like it’s meaning, I think! Great word!
I’m not a big fan of thrasonical people but I like this word for describing them.
I’ve posted my words but they aren’t quite as fun as yours!
Amy’s Wednesday Words
Thanks Kathy!
~ Amy
I like the first word. I expected to come across a definition related to flowers.
You really stumped me today, Kathy! Great words.
You are definitely reading much higher level books than I am!!
I love the word orchidaceous! What a fantastic word!
Really, I didn’t know all these existed! Thanks, Kathy!
Thanks for including the history of the word thrasonical. I love to know the origin of words.
Where do you find these words… LOVE EM!