51吃瓜 of the Day
circadian
adjective
noting or pertaining to rhythmic biological cycles recurring at approximately 24-hour intervals.
More about circadian
Circadian 鈥減ertaining to 24-hour biological cycles鈥� is a coinage based on two Latin terms: the preposition 肠颈谤肠腻 鈥渁bout, around鈥� and 诲颈脓蝉 鈥渄ay.鈥� English has also adapted 肠颈谤肠腻 directly (as circa) when providing estimates of dates. If you were wondering why 肠颈谤肠腻 resembled circle and circus, it is because all three words descend from Ancient Greek 办铆谤办辞蝉 鈥渞ing, circle.鈥� Latin 诲颈脓蝉 is also the source of day-related words such as diary, diet, and meridian; the term also has an adjective form, diurnus 鈥渄aily,鈥� which is the source of words such as diurnal and journal, as we learned about in the etymology for the recent 51吃瓜 of the Day selection toujours perdrix. Circadian was first recorded in English in the late 1950s.
how is circadian used?
Think of every cell and system in your body as having a tiny clock. And each of these tiny clocks is on approximately a 24-hour cycle, so a master clock in your brain coordinates and makes sure those tiny clocks work together. This 鈥�circadian system鈥� essentially signals to your body what time of day it is and what time of year it is and helps match your behavior with your environment.
Sleep seems to remove us from the general tyranny of the advancing clock. When you wake, 20 minutes could have passed as easily as three hours. But sleep defines time, dividing day and night. Humans discover circadian rhythm through the urge to sleep. That urge is, of course, cyclic, endless: always more sleep to be had.
circadian
avgolemono
noun
a soup or sauce made with beaten eggs, lemon juice, and usually chicken broth.
More about avgolemono
Avgolemono 鈥渁 soup made with beaten eggs, lemon juice, and chicken broth鈥� is a loanword from Modern Greek 补耻驳辞濒茅尘辞苍辞, literally meaning 鈥渆gg lemon.鈥� Through a series of regular yet dramatic sound changes, Modern Greek 补耻驳贸 derives from classical Greek 艒颈贸苍 鈥渆gg,鈥� which is the source of the combining form oo- (as in oocyte 鈥渋mmature egg cell鈥�) and is distantly related to English egg and Latin ovum (as in ovary and, via Spanish, in huevos rancheros). Modern Greek 濒别尘贸苍颈, bucking the common trend of Greek words exported to the Italian peninsula, is a borrowing from Italian limone and ultimately derives from Persian 濒墨尘奴; from here, the word may have traveled through India and originated in Southeast Asia, perhaps in the Austronesian language family. Avgolemono was first recorded in English in the early 1960s.
how is avgolemono used?
Avgolemono is the most famous Greek sauce, named for its indispensable ingredients, avgo (egg) and lemoni (lemon). Light in color and of the prized lemony flavor, it is prepared with or without a roux base. But egg, lemon juice, and hot stock or broth from the dish for which it is being prepared are necessities .鈥� Some Greek villagers, when adding the avgolemono to soup or dish, make a kissing sound, a magical trick to keep the egg from curdling.
“How do you like the avgolemono?” Mrs. Redbone asks Wakefield. “They say it was first served at the table of Aristophanes after he wrote a play about the meeting of a chicken and a lemon.” “That’s lovely,” interjects Persephone. “I thought it was first served at the Greek diner on Twenty-third Street where I first had it.” Avgolemono is a lovely soup, light, pale as the crest of a wave, filled with sun, the rice like grains of sand on the beach at Kios. I must be getting soft, thinks Wakefield: I’m making soup metaphors. I’ve got to toughen up.
avgolemono
ostracize
verb (used with object)
to exclude, by general consent, from society, friendship, conversation, privileges, etc.
More about ostracize
Ostracize 鈥渢o exclude from society鈥� derives from Ancient Greek 辞蝉迟谤补办铆锄别颈苍 鈥渢o banish,鈥� from 贸蝉迟谤补办辞苍 鈥減otsherd, tile, ballot鈥� and the verbal suffix -izein 鈥�-ize.鈥� The original sense of 辞蝉迟谤补办铆锄别颈苍 involved banishing a person by voting that was conducted by using potsherds as ballots, hence the verb鈥檚 derivation. Though ostracize resembles ostrich, the flightless bird, in spelling and pronunciation, the two words are unrelated; instead, ostracize descends from a Proto-Indo-European root meaning 鈥渂one鈥� that is also found in osteoporosis, a common bone disease; oyster, because of the hardness of the shell; and, from Latin, the adjective osseous 鈥渂辞苍测.鈥� Ostracize was first recorded in English in the 1640s.
how is ostracize used?
Frida was confined to her bed for nine months鈥攁n eternity for an active six-year-old. Her father tended to her with care, and when she was finally given the go-ahead to return to school, Guillermo prescribed sports. Frida excelled in soccer, swimming, roller-skating, and boxing. She grew stronger, but her right leg remained puny and withered. She was ostracized at school for her 鈥減eg leg.鈥� To help compensate for her loneliness, her father, who believed her to be the most like him of all his daughters 鈥� gave her books from his library and taught her how to take and develop photographs.
The ballot is the scepter of power in the hand of every citizen. Woman can never have an equal chance with man in the struggle of life until she too wields this power. So long as women have no voice in the Government under which they live they will be an ostracised [sic] class, and invidious distinctions will be made against them in the world of work. Thrown on their own resources they have all the hardships that men have to encounter in earning their daily bread, with the added disabilities which grow out of disfranchisement.
ostracize