51吃瓜 of the Day
indelible
adjective
impossible to eliminate, forget, or change.
More about indelible
Most people probably learn the word indelible in grammar school (a.k.a. primary school, elementary school, lower school) specifically and only referring to permanent ink, which cannot be easily erased or removed. The modern spelling, indelible, arose in the second half of the 17th century, replacing the earlier, more etymologically correct indeleble. Indelible comes from Medieval Latin 颈苍诲脓濒颈产颈濒颈蝉 and is equivalent to Latin 颈苍诲脓濒脓产颈濒颈蝉 鈥渋ndestructible, imperishable.鈥� 滨苍诲脓濒脓产颈濒颈蝉 is a compound of the Latin negative prefix in– (from the same Proto-Indo-European source as English un-) and the adjective 诲脓濒脓产颈濒颈蝉 鈥渢hat can be defaced or obliterated,鈥� a derivative of the verb 诲脓濒脓谤别 鈥渢o destroy, annihilate.鈥� Cato the Elder fought in the Second Punic War as a private soldier, and many Americans will remember the sentence with which Cato ended every speech in the Senate: Carth膩g艒 d膿lenda est 鈥淐arthage must be destroyed.鈥� Indeleble entered English in the second half of the 16th century, indelible in the second half of the 17th century.
how is indelible used?
Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg made an indelible mark on the law as an advocate for gender equality long before she became an icon on the U.S. Supreme Court.
There in a classroom, amid a cohort of presumed losers and layabouts, I took my lessons in the great sin of idleness. The venue at least felt appropriate: the classroom had always been the site of my most indelible failures and losses.
indelible
supercilious
adjective
haughtily disdainful or contemptuous, as a person or a facial expression.
More about supercilious
Supercilious comes from the Latin adjective 蝉耻辫别谤肠颈濒颈艒蝉耻蝉, which has only one meaning, 鈥渇ull of stern or disapproving looks.鈥� 厂耻辫别谤肠颈濒颈艒蝉耻蝉 is a derivative of the noun supercilium 鈥渆yebrow; the eyebrow and its underlying ridge; the eyebrow as used in expressing haughtiness, disapproval, sternness.鈥� Supercilium is a compound of the preposition and prefix super, super– 鈥渁bove, beyond,” and cilium 鈥渆yelid鈥� (unless cilium is a back formation from supercilium). At any rate, cilium is a derivative of the verb 肠脓濒腻谤别 鈥渢o hide,鈥� that is, the eyelid hides the eye. Supercilious entered English at the end of the 14th century.
how is supercilious used?
Culkin inhabits space with a squalid sort of entitlement, and he employs a supercilious side-eye as if twirling a mustache.
For, though elated by his rank, it did not render him supercilious; on the contrary, he was all attention to everybody.
supercilious
More about psephology
Psephology, 鈥渢he study of elections,鈥� comes from Greek 辫蝉锚辫丑辞蝉 鈥渟mall stone, pebble.鈥� (The Greeks used pebbles in counting and arithmetic functions; the ancient Athenians also used pebbles to cast votes in elections and trials.) The element –logy is the completely naturalized combining form used in the names of sciences (geology, biology) and bodies of knowledge (theology, astrology). The 20th-century British historian R.B. McCallum wrote in a personal letter that while with C.S. Lewis and other heavy-hitting philologists, he proposed the term electionology, which so offended the sensibilities of Lewis and the others that they proposed the etymologically correct psephology, avoiding the dreadful Latin-Greek hybrid. Psephology entered English in the mid-20th century.
how is psephology used?
You don鈥檛 need a degree in psephology from the Kennedy School of Government to figure out that without the female vote and the male vote it鈥檚 hard to be elected President.
Well, for one thing, we鈥檙e inveterate聽辫蝉别辫丑辞濒辞驳测听addicts鈥攂ut also, the more special elections that occur, the more data we have to identify patterns not only across special elections, but within them.
psephology