Words for Week 13
| hoi polloi "the many," "the masses" [everybody except us intellectuals] < Greek hoi "the" polloi "many" [plural of polus "much"] |
| scopophila "voyeurism" < Greek scopo- "look" + philia "fondness for" |
| epitaph "funerary inscription" from Greek epi- "upon" + taphos "tomb" |
| polyglot "one who speaks many languages" < Greek poly- "much, many" + glotta/glossa "tongue" |
| autodidact "a self-taught person" < Greek auto- "self" + didaskein "to teach" |
| misoneism "hatred of anything new" miso- "hate" + neo- "new" |
| burke "to suffocate, stifle, or disregard" < William Burke, a notorious 19th c. murderer |
| bromidrosis "pungent body odor" < Greek bromo- "stench" + hidro- "sweat" |
| chiliast "a millennialist" < Greek chilioi "thousands" + -ast "one who practices |
| neologism "a new word usage, a newly coined word" neo- "new" + log- "word" + -ism "usage" |
| Luddite "one who fears that technology and automation will cause unemployment < Ned Ludd, a 19th c. English textile worker |
palindrome "a phrase that can be read either backwards of forwards" < Greek palin "again" + -drome "running"
Examples:
- ABLEWASIEREISAWELBA [able was I ere I saw Elba]
- AMANAPLANACANAL:PANAMA [a man, a plan, a canal: Panama]
- MADAMI'MADAM [madam, I'm Adam]
- DENNISSINNED [Dennis sinned]
- NAOMIDIDIMOAN? [Naomi, did I moan?]
- GOHANGASALAMII'MALASAGNAHOG
enantionyms "words that are pronounced the same but have opposite meanings":
- raise raze
- cleave cleave
- refrain refrain (?)
- sanction sanction
heteronyms "words that are spelled the same but pronounced differently"
- content (noun) content (adj.)
- wind, wind
- sow, sow
- bow, bow
- Polish, polish
- sewer, sewer