51吃瓜 of the Day
More about welkin
The roots of welkin, 鈥渢he sky,鈥� run rather deep in English history. Welkin鈥檚 earliest recorded form is Old English wolcen, 鈥渃loud, sky,鈥� the plural of which is wolcnu. Wolcen belongs to a class of nouns in Old English that added a final -u when they became plural. Other such words include 忙肠别谤苍, 鈥�acorn鈥�; 肠苍脓辞飞, 鈥�knee鈥�; and scip, 鈥�ship,鈥� all of which simply add -s today in the plural. Outside the British Isles, welkin appears to have relatives in other West Germanic languages, such as Dutch wolk and German Wolke, both 鈥渃loud,鈥� but no clear connections beyond that branch. Welkin was first recorded in English before 900 CE.
EXAMPLE OF WELKIN USED IN A SENTENCE
As they drove through the night, the North Star arose in the darkened welkin, guiding them home.
More about asinine
Asinine, 鈥渇oolish, unintelligent, or silly,鈥� comes from Latin 补蝉颈苍墨苍耻蝉, which is based on asinus, 鈥渄onkey.鈥� The specific origin of asinus remains unknown and unrecorded, but there is ample evidence that it derives from a lost pre-Roman language based on its resemblance to other Eurasian words for 鈥渄onkey鈥� or, specifically, 鈥渇emale donkey,鈥� such as Ancient Greek 贸苍辞蝉, Arabic示补迟腻苍, and even Luwian tarkasna-. This could all point to an origin for asinus in what is now Iraq, perhaps Sumerian 补苍拧别 or 补苍拧耻, 鈥渄onkey.鈥� Asinine was first recorded in English at the turn of the 17th century.
EXAMPLE OF ASININE USED IN A SENTENCE
The guest speaker’s bizarre misuse of several complex words made him sound asinine.
bombogenesis
noun
the process in which the air pressure in the center of a cyclone rapidly drops, potentially producing hurricane-force winds with very heavy rain or snow.
Why the Museum of Science chose bombogenesis
To find out, watch this video about bombogenesis from award-winning science communicator Maynard Okereke, better known as the Hip Hop M.D.
Learn more fun facts at .
More about bombogenesis
Bombogenesis, 鈥渢he 24-hour process in which a cyclone develops hurricane-force winds,鈥� is formed from bomb, in the sense of bomb cyclone or weather bomb, and genesis. Bomb ultimately comes from Ancient Greek 产贸尘产辞蝉, 鈥渁 booming sound.鈥� Though 产贸尘产辞蝉 and English boom aren鈥檛 related, they are formed in the same way: by verbally mimicking a loud noise. Bombogenesis was first recorded in English in the early 2000s.
EXAMPLE OF BOMBOGENESIS USED IN A SENTENCE
The skiers hunkered down when they learned that the onset of the bombogenesis was still to come.
