Weekly Word Archives

To nutate generally means to “rock, sway, or nod; usually involuntarily”. It comes from Latin nūtāre, meaning “to nod repeatedly”. But the noun nutation has several specific meanings.

Possibly one of the strangest things I’ve heard of, tarantism is “a mania characterized by an uncontrollable impulse to dance, esp. as prevalent in southern Italy from the 15th to the 17th century, popularly attributed to the bite of the tarantula”.

If you’re into crossword puzzles, you better know this word! A cruciverbalist is “a designer or aficionado of crossword puzzles”.

The adjective recherche means “rare”, “exotic”, “of studied refinement or elegance”, or “pretentious”. As you may have guessed, this word comes from French.

The verb to thraw means “to throw” in British dialect, and in Scottish it means “to twist” or “to oppose”. The adjective thrawn can mean “twisted; crooked” or “perverse; contrary”.

The adjective echt means “real; authentic; genuine”. Sounds German, doesn’t it? Because it’s a real, authentic, genuine German word!

The adjective abdominous means “having a large belly” or “potbellied”.

To fustigate means “to beat with a club” or “to criticize harshly”.

The adjective sonorous means “capable of giving out a sound”, “rich and full in sound”, “grandiloquent”, or “loud, deep, or resonant”.

Pernoctation, a not-so-common word, means “the act or state of passing the whole night; a remaining all night”.