51吃瓜 of the Day
More about ichnite
Ichnite 鈥渁 fossil footprint鈥� is a compound of the combining form ichno- 鈥渢rack, footstep鈥� and the suffix -ite, which is often found in terms for minerals and fossils. Ichno- derives from Ancient Greek 铆肠丑苍辞蝉 鈥渢rack,鈥� which is of uncertain origin, though hypotheses that lack wide acceptance include connections to Ancient Greek 辞铆办丑辞尘补颈 鈥渢o go away, leave, disappear,鈥� to various Slavic words related to bodily wounds and cavities, and to Ancient Greek 补颈办丑尘岣� 鈥渟pear point.鈥� Perhaps the best-known derivation of 铆肠丑苍辞蝉, for those of you with a passion for Ancient Greek literature, is Ichneutae, the name of a play by Sophocles that is also known variously as Searchers or Trackers in English. Ichnite was first recorded in English in the early 1850s.
how is ichnite used?
In most cases, a fossil footprint, also known as an ichnite, represents evidence that has not moved over time while a bone or tooth could have been transported to the site under study and therefore be out of context .鈥� A footprint or ichnite can reflect the basic shape of the dinosaur鈥檚 foot, the number of toes, and to some extent, the mechanics of how the dinosaur carried its weight.
Just as trackways consisting of true footprints in many cases may end in a particular ichnite for reasons that are not obvious, … they may be so faint that the researcher has difficulties drawing accurate print outlines …. The basic features of the ichnites in La Rioja are simple. Tetrapod footprints made by turtles, pterosaurs, crocodiles, and dinosaurs have been found.
ichnite
pinyin
noun
a system for transliterating Chinese into the Latin alphabet: introduced in 1958 and adopted as the official system of romanization by the People's Republic of China in 1979.
More about pinyin
Pinyin 鈥渁 system for transliterating Chinese into the Latin alphabet鈥� is a borrowing from Mandarin Chinese 辫墨苍测墨苍, a compound of 辫墨苍 鈥渢o arrange, classify鈥� and 测墨苍 鈥渟ound, pronunciation.鈥� Because Chinese uses a writing system that is logographic (using symbols to indicate words) there are numerous methods that linguists have developed to romanize Chinese, that is, to transliterate the language into the Roman alphabet. While pinyin is the most popular today, the Wade鈥揋iles and Yale systems were widespread in China throughout the 20th century. With place names specifically, the so-called 鈥減ostal spellings鈥� were used to render names such as Peking and Nanking into English. After pinyin鈥檚 adoption as the official standard of romanization in 1979, a wave of transliteration swept through China, and the most recognizable effects were the changes in place names, such as the switch from Peking and Nanking to their pinyin versions 叠臎颈箩墨苍驳 and 狈谩苍箩墨苍驳. Pinyin was first recorded in English in the mid-20th century.
how is pinyin used?
Pinyin, which was adopted by China in 1958, gave readers unfamiliar with Chinese characters a crucial tool to understand how to pronounce them. These characters do not readily disclose information on how to say them aloud鈥攂ut with such a system as Pinyin, those characters more easily and clearly yield their meaning when converted into languages like English and Spanish, which use the Roman alphabet. While it was not the first system to Romanize Chinese, Pinyin has become the most widely accepted.
As Beijing welcomed 2022, residents in the Chinese capital noticed a subtle shift taking place in the city’s subway: on signs, the English word “station” has been replaced with “Zhan,” the pinyin, or romanized version, of the Chinese character. And in some cases, English station names such as Olympic Park and Terminal 2 of the Beijing airport have become “Aolinpike Gongyuan” and “2 Hao Hangzhanlou”鈥攖hough the English translations are still displayed in brackets underneath.
pinyin
telluric
adjective
of or proceeding from the earth or soil.
More about telluric
Telluric 鈥渙f or relating to the earth鈥� derives from the Latin noun 迟别濒濒奴蝉 (stem 迟别濒濒奴谤-) 鈥渆arth.鈥� Much as Latin had two words for 鈥渟tar鈥濃��sidus and stella, as featured in the etymology for recent 51吃瓜 of the Day circumstellar鈥擫atin had two words as well for 鈥渆arth鈥�: 迟别濒濒奴蝉 and terra. Just as stella became the more productive of the two and is the source of modern Romance words for 鈥渟tar,鈥� so was terra preferred over 迟别濒濒奴蝉. While 迟别濒濒奴蝉 is the root of a few technical terms in English, such as the element tellurium, terra can be found today in English terms such as terrain, territory, and extraterrestrial as well as in French terre and Spanish tierra. Telluric was first recorded in English in the 1830s.
how is telluric used?
There came to me the cracked, halting voices of the water drawers as they returned from the river, laden, and I set down my books and listened to the broken rhythm of their gait, the thud of their walking sticks, the telluric drone of shifting plates of granite.
telluric