Source: Oxford Dictionaries

I bet you’ve never heard this word before. Unless you’re a history enthusiast, of course, in which case you may already be familiar with it from reading about the Defenestrations of Prague. I, however, am not such an enthusiast; to give an idea, I had never heard about the aforementioned historical incidents until I started doing research for this blog post. Instead, I didn’t learn about the word “defenestration” until I read a short humorous piece by the famous Brazilian satirical writer Luís Fernando Veríssimo, in which he comments on several words that sound like they should mean something different than what they actually do. According to the author, “defenestration” should be some sort of exotic lustful act practiced by few, or another word for the extermination of pests, or an official term found in legal documents, but he never would have guessed what it really means…

“Defenestration” is the act of throwing a person or object out of a window. To be honest, I probably would have gone the same way as Veríssimo and assumed it meant something a little more vulgar. Maybe I could have made a more accurate guess if I had a better grasp of French, as the root of fenêtre (“window”) is embedded in this word; at least, that’s how my mom got it right. The word “defenestration” is comprised of the Latin roots de– “from, out of” and fenestra “window”, and was coined around 1618 in reference to the incident in Prague that precipitated the Thirty Years’ War (yes, one of the very same incidents mentioned in the last paragraph).

So how can you use this word in your own writing? Well, that’s the fun part: it’s all about context. “Defenestration” has been used as much in formal writing as in humorous accounts, to equal effect. It could be used to narrate a historical act of political dispute or the climactic end of a struggle in an action scene. It’s even become a comical neologism for the removal of a computer’s Microsoft Windows OS in place of an alternative (as explained in this 2004 article from Linux Insider). The possibilities are numerous; it’s up to your own imagination to shape it into the sense you want. Have fun!

What are your thoughts on this word? Any suggestions for future “Word of the Week” featured words?

Source: Oxford Dictionaries

“Opaque”, like “pedestrian“, is a simple word with at least two distinct meanings: one concrete and one abstract. Unlike “pedestrian”, however, it’s easier to see a connection between the two definitions. When describing a physical object as “opaque”, you’re affirming that no light can pass through it, and thus it cannot be seen through (as opposed to a transparent sheet of glass or a translucent plastic bag). Similarly, when something abstract (like language or an idea) is “opaque”, it’s difficult to see through it to understand its deeper meaning.

His car was so filthy, even the windows were starting to become opaque.

The slang the teenager used with her friends was completely opaque to her parents.

The original spelling of the word in late Middle English was opake, which was eventually influenced by the French form to become the modern spelling. The definition comes from the Latin adjective opacus (feminine opaca, neuter opacum), meaning “dark” or “shaded”. The first time I heard the word “opaque” was in my seventh grade science class, where it simply meant the opposite of transparent, but I’ve since come to learn and appreciate the word’s more abstract meaning through literature. As far as using this word in my own writing, I often prefer the figurative definition, as it can help to illustrate elements of the story intended to be more mysterious, though it also works well when trying to establish that an object’s lack of transparency is important to the scene in some way.

On a side note, this word can also be used as a noun to mean something that’s opaque, although I myself have rarely heard it used in this way. In terms of photography, the word refers to a substance used for producing opaque areas on negatives, which might be handy to know if you’re looking to create a detailed profile for a character who’s a photographer. I know I’ll find that useful someday…

I like the word “opaque” for the same reasons I like the word “pedestrian”: its differing meanings that can be used in both literal and figurative contexts, as well as the unique sound of the word itself. Overall, “opaque” is a good word for any writer to know, and in my opinion, it can make for some interesting descriptions. Have fun with it!

What are your thoughts on this word? Any suggestions for future “Word of the Week” featured words?

Source: Oxford Dictionaries

I had absolutely no idea what this word meant the first time I heard it. In fact, if anyone had asked me back then to guess the definition, I might have said that it probably had to do with slime or gooeyness of some sort. Of course, this seems like a rather silly guess when you consider that one of the earliest memories I can recall of hearing this word in context was watching Pain greet Hades as “Your Most Lugubriousness” in the 1997 Disney film Hercules. Eternally ablaze the god of the underworld may have been, but slimy he most certainly was not. But what else was he for sure? Dismal.

When something is described as “lugubrious”, it has a mournful and gloomy air to it (e.g. lugubrious ballads). This definition comes from the word’s root in the Latin verb lugere, meaning “to mourn” or “grieve”. It’s worth noting, however, that of several different synonyms for the word “glum”, “lugubrious” is possibly the heaviest. While a “sullen” person is naturally ill-humored and “melancholy” is a somewhat chronic form of sadness, anything “lugubrious” is dismal to the point of exaggeration. This may explain why it’s one of my best friend’s favorite words; his sense of humor sometimes involves slightly melodramatic descriptions of his own melancholy observations!

What are your thoughts on this word? Any suggestions for future “Word of the Week” featured words?

Source: Oxford Dictionaries

Kurt von Trapp: I’m Kurt. I’m 11. I’m incorrigible.

Fräulein Maria: Congratulations.

Kurt: What’s “incorrigible”?

Maria: I think it means you want to be treated like a boy.

– The Sound of Music (1965)

Clearly the above dialogue cannot serve as a trustworthy source of information, as the enchanting character of Fräulein Maria (immortalized by the very talented Julie Andrews in The Sound of Music) was only humoring the mischievous young Kurt von Trapp. Instead, it can be inferred from context that a former governess to the von Trapp children simply believed the boy to be a lost cause (and rather insensitively made that opinion apparent to him).

“Incorrigible” is a word used to describe a person or their tendencies that are supposedly difficult (if not impossible) to correct from their undisciplined state (e.g. an incorrigible flirt). This definition shouldn’t be difficult to memorize, since it stems from the Latin adjective incorrigibilis (in- “not” + corrigere “to correct” + -ibilis “-able”), or literally “not correctable”. I myself find it easy to remember because of my familiarity with the word in Portuguese (my second language): incorrigível, which translates directly as “uncorrectable”.

Personally, I prefer to use “incorrigible” in my writing when referring to a character with a more harmless type of behavior, as in the aforementioned examples of flirting and playful mischief. For a more serious connotation, I would probably go with a synonym like “hardened” or “habitual”; despite having a similar definition, these adjectives tend to fit better with nouns of a darker sort (incorrigible gossip, hardened criminal, habitual liar). Take care with your choice of words when writing; it could make all the difference in setting the tone of your scene!

Note: not to be confused with “encourageable”, which may or may not be a real word, but which is definitely what I understood the first time I watched The Sound of Music!

What are your thoughts on this word? Any suggestions for future “Word of the Week” featured words?

Source: Oxford Dictionaries

Billy Flynn: “Amos accused me of having an affair… so I told him that the charge was erroneous.”

D.A. Harrison: Objection, Your Honor! Mr. Flynn is twisting this evidence to draw conclusions that are specious and…

Flynn: Erroneous?

Harrison: Exactly!

– Chicago (2002)

I’ll be honest: I almost never use this word in my own writing. The reason is that I consider it a little too “advanced” for most of the stories I like to create, and if I were to ever include it in a narrative, it would probably be within a dialogue involving characters who are politicians or lawyers (as in the above example, taken from the 2002 musical film Chicago). Basically, it’s a fancy way of saying “wrong”, and a character who might use such a word in place of its simpler counterpart would logically be of a more well-educated and studious type.

So why did I choose to include “erroneous” in my Word of the Week list? I just think it’s a good word to know, and even if you wouldn’t use it yourself, it never hurts to have a few extra vocabulary words under your belt. Need a little more convincing than that? No problem; here’s some brief etymology for you, then.

The word “erroneous” is derived from the Latin verb errare, meaning “to stray” or “err”. It should be fairly obvious, therefore, why this word fits so well into legal contexts, as it works to describe a deviation from the requirements of the law without identifying it as strictly “illegal”. Sounds like a handy tip for writers of legal thrillers, right?

So there’s another word to consider for your writing. I hardly use it, but obviously that doesn’t mean you couldn’t put it to much better use than I ever could. Have fun!

What are your thoughts on this word? Any suggestions for future “Word of the Week” featured words?

Source: Oxford Dictionaries

“It is pronounced i-GREE-jəs.”

– Captain Jack Sparrow, Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End (2007)

“Egregious” may very well be one of my favorite words. I’m not even entirely sure why; I just really like the sound of it. Say it with me: “egregious”. Doesn’t that sound pretty cool? No? OK, maybe it’s just me.

Nowadays, to call something “egregious” is to insult it, as you’re basically referring to it as noticeable in a bad way (e.g. egregious errors). Interestingly enough, though, this word actually used to mean something good, that is, it was used to describe what was outstanding in a positive sense. So how does a word go from being complimentary to being derogatory?

One word: sarcasm.

It’s believed that at some point in the late 16th century, the normally positive word “egregious” started being used in a sarcastic manner. Over time, this negative use must have become the norm, thus giving origin to the more unfavorable definition that we now know today.

It may be worth mentioning, though, that traces of the archaic meaning may still exist today. For instance, I recently asked my dad for his opinion on the word “egregious”, and I was surprised to learn that to him, it had a positive meaning: something along the lines of “honorable”. This is because he had learned from his father that the Italian word egregio (oh yeah, my dad is European, by the way) is used in formal correspondence to mean “dear” or “distinguished”, as in Egregio Signore (Dear Sir). Pretty neat, huh? At least, I think so!

Bonus fun fact: “egregious” has roots in the Latin adjective egregius, which basically means “standing out from the flock” (ex– ‘out’ + grex-/greg– ‘flock’). At least that’s one thing these two polar definitions have in common!

What are your thoughts on this word? Any suggestions for future “Word of the Week” featured words?

Source: Oxford Dictionaries

“Pedestrian” was one of my 7th-grade Language Arts teacher’s favorite vocabulary words. It’s one of those interesting words with two very different meanings: on one hand, you could use it to refer to a person strolling in front of your car at the crosswalk; on the other, you could use it to insult a piece of fiction you just read (or any other piece of art for that matter) that you didn’t find particularly exciting.

He told his therapist that he daydreams about running slow pedestrians over with his car.

It amazes me that such a pedestrian novel series could become a worldwide success.

So why is it that this word can have two different meanings with no apparent connection? I myself used to think that the original definition of the English word was just “a person traveling on foot” and that only recently did it come to mean “dull”, but a little research has taught me that this double meaning goes much farther back than that. Apparently, etymology places the root of the word “pedestrian” in the Latin adjective pedester (feminine pedestris, neuter pedestre), which also means both “on foot” and “commonplace”. Only the root of this word (pedes) means just “one who walks” (except in chess, where it refers to a pawn). Who knew?

As for the reason behind the different definitions in Latin, that’s where my knowledge on the subject ends. If I ever do learn more, though, I’ll be sure to update this entry. My apologies!

Anyway, I’m a fan of this word; it’s just common enough to count as colloquial language (though that may or may not be changing in recent times), yet just long enough to pass as an advanced vocabulary word. Overall, it’s simple and fun to use, which is why I thought it would be a good choice to start off Monday’s “Word of the Week” segments. I hope you’ll enjoy them!

What are your thoughts on this word? Any suggestions for future “Word of the Week” featured words?