20 Weird English Words
- Published September 22, 2007 - 132 Comments
English is a wonderful language with some of the strangest pronunciation rules and words that come from many other languages. This is a list of 20 weird English words.
1. Erinaceous
Like a hedgehog
2. Lamprophony
Loudness and clarity of voice
3. Depone
To testify under oath
4. Finnimbrun
A trinket or knick-knack
5. floccinaucinihilipilification
Estimation that something is valueless. Proper pronunciation based on Latin roots: flockə-nowsə-nəkələ-pələ-fək-ation.
6. Inaniloquent
Pertaining to idle talk
7. Limerance
An attempt at a scientific study into the nature of romantic love.
8. Mesonoxian
Pertaining to midnight
9. Mungo
A dumpster diver – one who extracts valuable things from trash
10. Nihilarian
A person who deals with things lacking importance (pronounce the ‘h’ like a ‘k’).
11. Nudiustertian
The day before yesterday
12. Phenakism
Deception or trickery
13. Pronk
A weak or foolish person
14. Pulveratricious
Covered with dust
15. Rastaquouere
A social climber
16. Scopperloit
Rude or rough play
17. Selcouth
Unfamiliar, rare, strange, marvelous, wonderful. For example: The List Universe is such a selcouth website!
18. Tyrotoxism
To be poisoned by cheese
19. Widdiful
Someone who deserves to be hanged
20. Zabernism
The abuse of military power or authority. I wonder how long it will take for this one to show up in the comments.














September 22nd, 2007 at 5:59 am
You should try and give an etymology for the words to better understand them, like ‘nihilarian’ comes from the Latin word nihil meaning ‘nothing’.
September 22nd, 2007 at 6:07 am
2. Lamprophony
believe me the older you get the more important this one becomes…say what? could you please speak up?
4. Finnimbrun
one man’s finnimbrun is another man’s treasure
5. floccinaucinihilipilification
uh..see #4
value is in the eye of the collector
6. Inaniloquent
i do this quite well!
9. Mungo
i could swear there’s a connection w/ #4 and #5
10. Nihilarian
er..there must be a theme going
11. Nudiustertian
damn! was hoping for a nude walker
13. Pronk
hey! some of my best friends are pronks!
20. Zabernism
er…GWB? heh..
September 22nd, 2007 at 8:10 am
Cyn: 20 – It had to be said
I just wasn’t going to be the one to do it!
September 22nd, 2007 at 8:30 am
ah…so you will claim neutrality, eh? LOL
or is that chicken? LOL
September 22nd, 2007 at 10:20 am
Cyn: yeah okay – chicken is probably the case
September 22nd, 2007 at 10:32 am
now see..i’d given ya credit for diplomacy. *grins*
September 22nd, 2007 at 10:36 am
Yay words! I would love to use some of these but alas, nobody would have any idea what I was talking about.
September 22nd, 2007 at 10:56 am
These are great! My favorite word is defenestrate: To throw out of a window This was actually apparently used on Buffy The Vampire Slayer; one of my friends called me to ask me what it meant. I was so pleased to get an opportunity to, if not use it, at least define it!
My brother prefers abacinate: To blind by holding a red-hot metal plate before someone’s eyes. He came across this in his Black’s Legal Dictionary. It’s not so much the word itself that he finds interesting as the fact that apparently this action has been committed enough times to have a word for it.
September 22nd, 2007 at 11:28 am
Zyzygy is a good one.
An astrological term…event when 3 or more heavenly bodies (that is, planets, etc.), line up.
And apparently “Jung used this astrological term to describe deep psychological relationships.”
September 22nd, 2007 at 11:39 am
The primarily definition for pronk or pronking is to describe a bouncing behavior by antelope and deer. When pronking, an animal arches its back, drops its head, and repeatedly bounces vertically off all four feet at the same time. Hilarious to watch, looks like the animals are having a great time. I understand it comes from the Afrikaans/Dutch word pronk , meaning “to strut”.
September 22nd, 2007 at 12:33 pm
Mathilda: I’m guessing that defenestrate is related to the German word for window: Fenster.
September 22nd, 2007 at 1:34 pm
Libertine- *waves*
September 22nd, 2007 at 1:51 pm
Cyn: few are more diplomatic than I am
Kelsi: that is the whole point – how much smarter will you appear when you use these words?
Mathilda: I agree completely with your brother
che: zyzygy – that works makes me think of the movie Fame for some reason – maybe it is onomatapoeic – the sound of the tights whilst dancing.
Dana: Thanks for the interesting expansion on that term. I had no idea.
Libertine: methinks you are correct.
September 22nd, 2007 at 2:56 pm
If I had to choose only one of these to add to my vocabulary, it would have to be ‘poisoned by cheese’
Some people die heroically in battle. Others are felled by dread tyrotoxism.
September 22nd, 2007 at 4:44 pm
I made you think of the movie FAME ?
Dang, my apologies.
I will not do it again. *sheesh*.
September 22nd, 2007 at 4:51 pm
Libertine – or possibly the french word for window – “fenetre”
Actually, defenestration is a commom english word.
means being chucked out of a window.
in english.
September 23rd, 2007 at 8:09 pm
defenestration: the act of throwing someone out a window
September 24th, 2007 at 4:44 pm
Couldn’t agree with you more Yarr. How fabulous is that for a word. Defenestrate is one of my favourite words as well.
September 24th, 2007 at 8:22 pm
Reminds me of an old commercial…”Hey, you got your pronk in my mungo!” “You got your mungo in my pronk!”
September 24th, 2007 at 11:42 pm
hey che: it is syzygy
September 25th, 2007 at 12:30 am
re-reading those comments made me think of Fame again. I am feeling strange urges to watch it now! Maybe someone can think of a new English word for “the feeling of needing to watch Fame”.
September 25th, 2007 at 8:49 pm
“Being lame” is very fine for this.
September 25th, 2007 at 10:28 pm
Ethenabria: hahah that is not at all what I expected, but as you say, perfectly fine
September 27th, 2007 at 8:54 am
Mathilda–
Go to Prague and study its history. There were several defenestrations. I think that may be what made it great.
September 27th, 2007 at 8:37 pm
It is the wierd words that english interesting dont you think
September 28th, 2007 at 2:10 am
stan: yes – and the huge variety of different words for the same thing.
September 28th, 2007 at 7:01 pm
A friend of mine is a senior in college, majoring in electrical & Computer engineering. His room is full of old computer parts he pulled out of the dumpster behind one of the buildings at the school. Including a lot of old crap he’d never need (somehow I doubt he’ll ever need several boxes full of vacuum tubes unless a time machine is involved). From now on I’ll be referring to him as “mungo”.
September 30th, 2007 at 9:52 am
Quick note to Punjar: if among his vacuum tubes your friend possesses some 12AX7s or 6L6 GCs, and they’re intact and functional, there are musicians out there who’d plunk down mad cash for ‘em, as there are vintage instrument amps from the 50s to the early 80s requiring said components, the tone of which makes them prized equipment even to this day. (Old Marshalls and Ampegs and Fenders of yore, y’know.) So those tubes might be no mere finnimbruns — and your friend might be a mungo indeed!
October 9th, 2007 at 6:58 am
fgejrgnregmreagea
October 20th, 2007 at 10:29 am
the word defenestration comes from latin, “fenestra” meaning window.
October 20th, 2007 at 10:34 am
grgrg: aslkdj qwepoi asdpoi s.,ejn – I can’t believe someone else here speaks dsflkyu3. cpvobi.
Ari: indeed – and as any French speaker will know, Fenetre – which also derives from the same Latin root!
November 5th, 2007 at 10:21 am
Give me back my money you widdiful pronk! Hey, wasn’t “Mungo” one of the cats on the Heathcliff cartoon? Cats are definitely primo dumpster divers!
November 8th, 2007 at 5:06 pm
I’d be interested in the etymology of those odd words.
Nihilarian – how can the ‘h’ in it be pronounced ‘k’? It looks like the root of the word would be the same as for nihilism…
November 17th, 2007 at 8:15 am
Regarding inaniloquent, that is an adjective, not a verb. It means “pertaining to idle or empty talk”. I can’t find a verb form, but based on its Latin roots, it could be “inaniloquize”.
I’d like to know where you found “limerance” and “mesonoxian”. I couldn’t find them in any of my 2000-volume reference library.
Also, “limerance” appears to be a noun, not a verb. But I realize that looks don’t always fit. For instance, the word “imitation” looks like a noun, but is used as an adjective 99% of the time.
I also agree with someone earlier that the h in “nihilarian” is not pronounced as a k. The Latin root “nihil” doesn’t appear in any dictionary with a k sound in it.
I haven’t examined the second half of the list, but I would suggest that quoting your sources would make this list more credible.
November 17th, 2007 at 8:29 am
Bruce: pronouncing ‘h’ as ‘k’ occurs in only two words: Mihi and Nihil – it is in modern (Italianate or Ecclesiastical) Latin that this occurs – the only remaining form of Latin spoken regularly. It started to standardize around the 16th century. You can read more about that here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Latin_spelling_and_pronunciation
Thanks for the other corrections – they have been updated.
November 18th, 2007 at 11:06 am
After some searching, I found the word “limerence” in Wikipedia, a redirection of the search on “limerance”. Limerence means an involuntary cognitive and emotional state in which a person feels an intense romantic desire for another person. If you have a crush on someone, you are feeling limerence.
As to the k sound in the words mihi and nihil – I took Latin for four years in Ontario and never did we pronounce an h as a k. I have just checked my highschool Latin textbook, and the text suggests that h is always pronounced as in English. As well, no major English dictionary suggests that the h in the Latin root “nihil” should be pronounced as a k. That may be the pronunciation in a certain Latin dialect when speaking the actual Latin words, but the k sound has not migrated into the English Language. In fact, the h in such English words as annihilate and nihilism
is not even pronounced.
For those of you who may be having a difficult time finding mihi, (it isn’t a headword in my Cassell’s Latin Dictionary) mihi in Latin is the dative form of the pronoun “ego” meaning “I”. Mihi means “to me”.
Mihi is also a Maori word – I have no idea how Maori words are pronounced.
November 18th, 2007 at 11:32 am
Bruce Todd: Mihi is pronounced mi-hee in Maori. Mihi and Nihil in Latin are the ONLY words in Italiante Latin that are pronounced with the ‘k’ sound – otherwise it has the ‘h’ sound. As I said in a previous comment (that you should have read but haven’t) it is in Italianate Latin – the only version of Latin that is still spoken in the world and is not academic. Therefore, it is the CORRECT pronunciation – you are pronouncing it with an accent long dead.
I corrected my item on limerance.
November 18th, 2007 at 7:19 pm
Thank you for your replies.
Yes I did read your responses to me – very carefully, and I read the Wikipedia article you referred to. What I am saying is that the English word “nihilarian” does not use a k sound for the h, because nihilarian is not an Italianate Latin word, but rather an English word formed from the Latin root “nihil”.
I notice that you did not change limerance to limerence as per Wikipedia’s article.
Nudiustertian is not a noun, but an adjective meaning “pertaining to the day before yesterday”. It can be found in the Unabridged Oxford English Dictionary.
Tyrotoxism is not a verb, but a noun meaning “cheese-poisoning”. It too can be found in the Unabridged OED.
Cheers.
December 2nd, 2007 at 1:12 pm
this is so boring how can you stand it????????????
December 16th, 2007 at 7:35 pm
Penis?
December 30th, 2007 at 10:16 am
Re: 5. floccinaucinihilipilification. Where do you get the “k” sound in your pronunciation “flockə-nowsə-nəkələ-pələ-fək-ation”? Shouldn’t it be “flockə-nowsə-næhilə-pili-fə-kashən”?
Sadly, this makes me wonder whether your actual definitions are correct.
December 30th, 2007 at 10:19 am
Carl: this is explained in some of the comments above – in certain types of Latin, ‘h’ is pronounced as a ‘k’ in the words “nihil” and “mihi”. The word you are referring to contains “nihil”. Either pronunciation is fine.
January 3rd, 2008 at 12:02 pm
i always liked the phrase “weird science”. both words break the “i before e, except after c” rule.
plus it made for an entertaining 80’s movie and TV show.
January 3rd, 2008 at 1:13 pm
Carl – jfrater’s explanation is correct, and it relates to ecclesiastical Latin. Whilst Virginia Tech showed up on these lists recently within a more profoundly unfortunate context, let me quote their Music Faculty in relation to this matter :
“H is pronounced K in the two words nihil (nee-keel) and mihi (mee-kee), and their compounds. In ancient books these words are often written nichil and michi. In all other cases H is mute.”
Here is the URL : http://www.music.vt.edu/performance/ensembles/eme/EMELatinPro.html
January 13th, 2008 at 8:56 pm
It’s really very useful for me.
January 15th, 2008 at 9:30 am
You should have put in Butyraceous! it means resembling butter in appearance, consistency, or chemical properties and is one of my favourite words.
January 22nd, 2008 at 5:23 pm
haha gr8 wrds.id comment but im suposed 2 b doing my homework
February 5th, 2008 at 3:13 am
What about interrobang‽ It’s a combination between an exclamation and question mark.
February 9th, 2008 at 11:29 am
hahahah i just put Zabernism in my history cause work lols nice
March 9th, 2008 at 6:46 pm
Callipygian:
Having well-shaped buttocks
March 10th, 2008 at 2:40 pm
I actually use Nihilarian and Mungo quite often, (Often times in the same sentence really…)
Here is a nice word:
Gegenscheine: A patch of very faint nebulous light sometimes seen in the night sky opposite the position of the sun. It is thought to be the image of the sun reflected from gas and dust outside the atmosphere.
March 11th, 2008 at 11:13 pm
what about lactomangulation – failure to open a milk carton
May 4th, 2008 at 7:30 pm
It’s spelled “limerence”.
May 20th, 2008 at 3:12 am
some of them are actually greek
May 26th, 2008 at 4:55 am
What the FUCK ?
May 28th, 2008 at 1:26 pm
The parts of speech would have been nice
May 28th, 2008 at 1:40 pm
i used to be a mungo
May 28th, 2008 at 2:35 pm
I’ve always liked nebbish…a weak-willed person
May 29th, 2008 at 9:01 am
Duplicitous- Two faced
May 29th, 2008 at 12:41 pm
BlackHandJack, that would be Gegenschein. Gegenscheine is the plural.
June 20th, 2008 at 10:02 pm
Bruce Todd – I’m from New Zealand.. I understand that Mihi means girlfriend or something similar. It is pronounced Mih-Hee.
June 28th, 2008 at 12:42 am
There used to be a politician in the Netherlands I think whose last name was Pronk.
June 28th, 2008 at 3:14 am
i really dont know how to pronounce the floccinaucinihilipilification
July 3rd, 2008 at 2:56 pm
check out this site . thousands of obscure english words.
July 3rd, 2008 at 2:59 pm
http://phrontistery.info
July 7th, 2008 at 10:42 am
One that I know and I find weird:
gobbledygook
The longest word I know:
antidisestablishmentarianism
July 7th, 2008 at 11:47 am
You think that’s long? Try pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis.
Yeah. It’s a word.
July 13th, 2008 at 5:25 am
Yeah it’s a word and a “disease of the lungs caused by inhalation of tiny particles of silica”.
As for “Mihi”, just my two-cents contribution, I think it also means “Our” or “Ours” in Hopi language.
Cheers
July 14th, 2008 at 1:10 pm
it’s syzygy, not zyzygy.
July 15th, 2008 at 9:27 pm
what about antidisestablishmentarianism? (god only knows if I spelled that word right.)
July 19th, 2008 at 5:16 pm
I think that “izzard” is the best. It means the letter z. so zebra could be spelled izzardebra. or maybe lizzard would be liizzardizzardard
August 1st, 2008 at 12:12 am
flibbertigibbet, it means “silly woman”
weirdest word i know of
August 1st, 2008 at 12:17 am
and for those who don’t believe me that it exists:
http://dictionary.reference.com/wordoftheday/archive/2004/02/25.html
August 1st, 2008 at 12:23 am
I’ve heard of that word
“flibbertigibbet”
I think it was in Little Women or some other book of a similar style.
August 19th, 2008 at 1:00 am
Have a look at AWAD website (A Word A Day).
August 20th, 2008 at 11:27 am
If you use any of these words, you should know “Obfuscate”, which can mean you’re intentionally making something complicated so nobody else can understand. I learned that from watching a rerun of “Dragnet”.
My son likes Zyzzva, which is some kind of bug, but can also mean the last word.
August 20th, 2008 at 12:22 pm
meniscus– The curved top of a column of liquid in a small tube.
August 21st, 2008 at 9:31 am
its fucking retared
August 21st, 2008 at 9:33 am
Don’t you mean RETARDED? Or maybe RETARTED?
August 22nd, 2008 at 2:06 pm
I love dropping RATIOCINATION into a conversation
August 22nd, 2008 at 2:09 pm
I prefer Mesonoxian. It can get you killed this close to the border.
August 24th, 2008 at 1:58 am
You should have put pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis its the longest word in the english dictionary and it is a disease you get when you inhale the fine volcanic ash or Silica i think it is called and you get a disease of the lungs.
August 25th, 2008 at 10:17 pm
Temp: “flibbertigibbet” appears in the song “How do you solve a problem like Maria?” at the beginning of “The Sound of Music”: “How do you find a word that means ‘Maria’? A flibbertigibbet, a will-o’-the-wisp, a clown.” I wonder if Hammerstein already knew the word, or whether he had to dive for a dictionary.
Do we need a separate word “transfenestration” meaning “throwing through a window” (ie glass and all), as opposed to “defenestration”, meaning throwing out a window?
I read somewhere else that “defenestration” meant un-installing Windows and using Linux instead.
August 25th, 2008 at 11:30 pm
As this subject seems to be subject to something of a revival, a few thoughts occur.
A pity a prize was not offered to the commenter who could combine all the words in a consecutive sense in as unforced way possible in the shortest possible form.
Not sure if the point has been made back there, but it would be interesting to know the first recorded use of each, and also whether any have identifiable *creators*.
Some element of at least five is used in the scientific naming of organisms.
How many could be found as included in quotations from more or less contemporary writings?
Have any appeared in Reader’s Digest ‘Improve your wordpower’?
August 26th, 2008 at 1:14 am
Astraya: Should I be ashamed to admit I’ve never seen The Sound of Music?
“Have any appeared in Reader’s Digest ‘Improve your wordpower’?”
Anon: that is the first section of Reader’s Digest I turn to when I find a copy in a waiting room
August 26th, 2008 at 3:14 am
Anon: There is a similar list here where a commenter took it on itself to write a paragraph including all the listed words.
I wonder why anyone would say eg “lamprophony” instead of “loudness and clarity of voice” eg “Luciano Pavarotti was renowned for his lamprophony”. Are they actually communicating anything apart from their own pretentiousness? (or wankery)
I have just submitted a word-based list to Jamie, in which I use a word that has no recorded references on the internet.
Tempyra: No, you shouldn’t be ashamed, but maybe you need to get out more. No, these days, with home-delivered dvds and downloads, you don’t even need to get out.
People here in Korea keep asking me if I eat/have eaten kangaroo. When I say no, they say “But I thought everyone in Australia eats kangaroo”. I then ask “Do you eat/have you eaten dog”. I get some interesting answers.
Re 17: selcouth, someone once commented that you can’t be couth, kempt or ept, only un- or in-. One of my sisters is named Ruth, which does actually mean “pity”, but it is never used as “ruthful”, but even “pitiful” has now changed meaning.
September 6th, 2008 at 7:42 am
““Luciano Pavarotti was renowned for his lamprophony”. Are they actually communicating anything apart from their own pretentiousness? (or wankery)”
Yes, they are, albeit to individuals who are educated, non-judgmental, and don’t have a chip on their shoulder regarding the use of rare or unusual words, or worry because such usage makes those who don’t know their meaning feel (rightly) inferior.
September 9th, 2008 at 9:11 pm
one of my favorites is
Cockalorum:
A self important little man
October 3rd, 2008 at 10:28 pm
floccinaucinihilipilification? It sounds like a terminal case of the FARTS!
October 9th, 2008 at 4:03 pm
this is all so very interesting to me how do you people know of such big words? please educate me!
October 11th, 2008 at 7:27 pm
I am nine and I know two really big words
1.Hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia
2.Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious
October 11th, 2008 at 7:35 pm
Plus I have a little hand made dictionary with that 1st word because I just learned it not even an hour ago.
October 22nd, 2008 at 6:22 am
for i, it’s pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis. as far as i know, that is a lung disease.:)
November 13th, 2008 at 11:37 am
language, like everything else, is a living, evolving thing and i for one am fascinated by it.
November 26th, 2008 at 11:16 am
Here’s a word that astronomers and folks who have read Dreadstar should know:
Syzygy. It is greek and refers to the occlusion of a star or planet by another star or planet that can be seen with out parallax…
December 13th, 2008 at 2:28 pm
ACETYLSERYLTYROSYLSERYLISOLEUCYLTHREONYLSERYLPROLYLSERYLGLUTAMINYLPHENYLALANYLVALYLPHENYLALANYLLEUCYLSERYLSERYLVALYLTRYPTOPHYLALANYLASPARTYLPROLYLISOLEUCYLGLUTAMYLLEUCYLLEUCYLASPARAGINYLVALYLCYSTEINYLTHREONYLSERYLSERYLLEUCYLGLYCYLASPARAGINYLGLUTAMINYLPHENYLALANYLGLUTAMINYLTHREONYLGLUTAMINYLGLUTAMINYLALANYLARGINYLTHREONYLTHREONYLGLUTAMINYLVALYLGLUTAMINYLGLUTAMINYLPHENYLALANYLSERYLGLUTAMINYLVALYLTRYPTOPHYLLYSYLPROLYLPHENYLALANYLPROLYLGLUTAMINYLSERYLTHREONYLVALYLARGINYLPHENYLALANYLPROLYLGLYCYLASPARTYLVALYLTYROSYLLYSYLVALYLTYROSYLARGINYLTYROSYLASPARAGINYLALANYLVALYLLEUCYLASPARTYLPROLYLLEUCYLISOLEUCYLTHREONYLALANYLLEUCYLLEUCYLGLYCYLTHREONYLPHENYLALANYLASPARTYLTHREONYLARGINYLASPARAGINYLARGINYLISOLEUCYLISOLEUCYLGLUTAMYLVALYLGLUTAMYLASPARAGINYLGLUTAMINYLGLUTAMINYLSERYLPROLYLTHREONYLTHREONYLALANYLGLUTAMYLTHREONYLLEUCYLASPARTYLALANYLTHREONYLARGINYLARGINYLVALYLASPARTYLASPARTYLALANYLTHREONYLVALYLALANYLISOLEUCYLARGINYLSERYLALANYLASPARAGINYLISOLEUCYLASPARAGINYLLEUCYLVALYLASPARAGINYLGLUTAMYLLEUCYLVALYLARGINYLGLYCYLTHREONYLGLYCYLLEUCYLTYROSYLASPARAGINYLGLUTAMINYLASPARAGINYLTHREONYLPHENYLALANYLGLUTAMYLSERYLMETHIONYLSERYLGLYCYLLEUCYLVALYLTRYPTOPHYLTHREONYLSERYLALANYLPROLYLALANYLSERINE = Tobacco Mosaic Virus, Dahlemense Strain.
This word has appeared in the American Chemical Society’s Chemical Abstracts and is thus considered by some to be the longest real word.
Longest word i know
December 13th, 2008 at 2:57 pm
Jay – How do you have the patience to type that out?
December 17th, 2008 at 9:09 am
WTH?! these words aren’t even in the dictionary. you’re not going to sound smart if the words are big and long, but aren’t in the dictionary. this was a waste of my time!
January 2nd, 2009 at 9:40 pm
I lol’ed at 18.
I like the word Rubenesque
-me
January 20th, 2009 at 7:25 pm
Jay, it took me almost 10 seconds to copy paste the word. LOL. I play word games and this sure has helped me out. Some of these words actually work in the puzzles!
January 27th, 2009 at 1:51 pm
Lamprophony
dont let that pro lam get to ya. he is a phony
February 11th, 2009 at 7:05 am
Ooh, I loved this list. I am taking Latin at school (as well as Ancient Greek, also important for these kind of things) and I actually recognized some Latin roots. I always get all excited when I have that
So, this list made me very happy!
Someone here mentioned (a long time ago) that she thought Pronk was a Dutch minister… He was, I remember him. Jan Pronk, minister of… well, no idea actually. I think I was too young xD
February 17th, 2009 at 3:35 pm
I really like the word omphaloskepsis meaning to contemplate one’s navel.
March 8th, 2009 at 5:25 am
well the navel is so interesting, full of fluff and dust and flying monkeys
March 14th, 2009 at 5:55 pm
One of my favourite words is “findrinny,” which I learned from a line of Yeats: “…And found, on the dove-grey edge of the sea, a pearl-pale, high-born lady, who rode on a horse with a bridle of findrinny…” It means “white bronze.” Merriam-webster doesn’t have it.
March 15th, 2009 at 5:44 am
i always thought nostalgia was a weird and unsuitable word for the feeling…………..it sounds like a type of cold
March 24th, 2009 at 1:50 pm
defenestrate- to throw something out of a window
March 24th, 2009 at 2:03 pm
I’ve heard of Zabernism…from what I remember it was after a village (known as Saberne by the german occupying force I think.)A german officer killed an old cobbler who smiled at him.Ergo,Zabernism came to mean an abuse of military power.
March 30th, 2009 at 9:07 am
13 is incorrect. It means to jump straight upwards.
This makes me question the correctness of the other words.
I used this word for school and got points taken off my test.
March 31st, 2009 at 6:58 pm
lol on number 10. with the little pronunciation thing.. if you read the definition it makes sense. and is hilarious.
April 13th, 2009 at 8:13 am
http://www.freerice.com/index.php
a great site to help hungry people and practice your new definitions
thanks. I think it’s a great list!
May 4th, 2009 at 4:04 am
Awesome, now I have a new word to describe Bill Kaulitz (Of Tokio Hotel)
His hair is very Erinaceous
May 6th, 2009 at 9:16 am
The growth of language is closely linked with and directly results from the experiences and experiments of manking as a whole. thus every words serves two fold functions: it denotes or connotes a meaning or meanings on one hand and on the other it stands apart as a milstone in the history of the evolution of a language.The words that tire out of their journey become obsolete , the words that become too prolonnged take refuge in the volumes of the ponderous voluminous library or technical books.We will look too pedantic using them when simpler and easier words are available because these words will impede rather than facilitate the process of communication in case the listener or the leader is not familiar with them. However as I said earlier, these tingling , titillating curio words have great entertaing and educating value like the amazing collection of an antiquarian or a curator. If one has to pay a little bit of attention or effort in learning or using them it is worth while for the peep they provide in to the hisory of ther language. THREE CHEERS FOR THE COLLECTION AND COMMENTS!!!!
May 6th, 2009 at 10:38 am
^
Wow.
May 7th, 2009 at 4:12 pm
I think this is kinda funny:
Hippomonstrousityomonophobia: The fear of big words.
May 7th, 2009 at 4:45 pm
I am a sesquipedalian and even I did not know all of these words.Hmm.
May 12th, 2009 at 6:38 pm
Too bad “Ding dong, the widdiful zabernist is gone” doesn’t have a ring to it.
June 6th, 2009 at 1:01 am
. floccinaucinihilipilification
i choose this word whic inspire me very much
the meaning of this word is
BEAUTY IN IN THE EYE OF VIEWER
June 23rd, 2009 at 9:10 pm
LOL at 104….yeah very interesting to contemplate one’s navel.
June 28th, 2009 at 6:42 am
So a Lieutental Admiral John Wittness, who’s head had a resounding resemblance to a hedgehog, and who’s voicebox contained a remarkable speaking voice; found a small, dusty, wooden box, in a dumpster that, upon inspection seemed worthless, though contained an entirely unique and previously unfound, smelly piece of cheese. Admiral Wittness swore on god and his wife and Shakespeare’s Sonnet 16, that the cheese was worth more than anything, including the night of new years eve, two nights ago, when the Admiral was beaten, strung up, and left to hang, but not die, for it was all a joke, a zaberism…(or any of the rest woowoo!)