In recent weeks at Webb’s “Weird Words,” we’ve extolled a relatively new addition to the august ranks of trustworthy English dictionaries: The Microsoft Encarta College Dictionary.
Though it’s been around for nearly for 25 years, I only just learned of it — and I’m gladly surprised by its thoroughness and reliability.
So, for this week’s regular roster of oddball words, let’s skim Encarta and sample a selection — with all definitions exclusively from MECD:
Champerty (CHAM-pur-tee, noun) – A legal agreement in which one party helps finance a litigant and later receives a cut of any successful settlement. Fans of To Kill a Mockingbird may recognize the adjective-form “champertous”; it’s how Judge Taylor describes the Cunningham land feud in Chap. 16.
In fact, champerty originally meant “field rent.” Coming through the French champ (“field”), it is distantly related to champion — literally, “winner of the field.” (See also Champs Elysees — Elysian Fields.)
Cirriped (SEE-ruh-ped, noun) – Ocean crustacean that remains fixed in one spot while drawing food via slender hairs. The word literally means “curly legs,” in Latin.
Ephebe (ee-FEEB, noun) – In ancient Greece, a young man between 18 and 20 who has just reached manhood or citizenship and is undergoing military training.
Good luck using that in everyday chit-chat.
Froufrou (FROO-froo, noun) – The sound made by rustling silk (esp. women’s clothing); also, elaborate sartorial decoration. As you might’ve guessed, this word derives from French — but it is, apparently, onomatopoeic (in other words, it imitates sound).
Fulgurate (FOOL-guh-rate [or FULL-], verb) – “To flash with or like lightning.” Secondarily, it means to remove unwanted tissue (like a wart) with electrical current.
Through the Latin base fulg- (“to flash”), the term is related to fulgurite (glass made when lightning hits sand) — but not to another cool outlier: fuliginous (sooty or smoky in color).
Furuncle (fyoo-RUNGK-ul, noun) – A boil on the skin. This too uses a Latin base: fur-, meaning “thief” — as in furtive and ferret. “Furuncle” is named for a knob on a vine — one that steals the sap.
Sorry — I got stuck in the F-section there!
Pyxis (PICK-sis, noun) “A seed capsule with a cap that falls off to release the seeds.” (And just so I don’t get likewise stuck under P: MECD also has pyx, pyxie, pyrosis and pyruria.)
Recalescence (ree-kal-ESS-ence, noun) – Sudden increase in the temperature & brightness of a cooling metal — “caused by the release of latent heat as the metal undergoes a change in crystalline structure.” Cal is Latin for “warm” — so a calorie was originally a unit of heat.
Skeg (SKEG, noun) – Part of a ship’s keel, near the stern, connecting to the rudderpost; also, the stabilizing underside fin on a surfboard.
Sypher (SIGH-fer, verb) – To join planks with chamfered edges so they form a flush surface. (A chamfer is a shallow cut, edge or groove made in wood.)
Zucchetto (zoo-KET-oh, noun) – As small, round skullcap worn by Catholic clergy; it varies in color depending on rank. And yes, it is related to the common vegetable — these hats apparently being shaped like a gourd.
In any case, I’ve learned that if you want weird words, you always can count on the letter Z.
Or Microsoft Encarta.
By Joseph W. Smith III
