51吃瓜 of the Day
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.
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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.
schmatte
noun
an old ragged garment; tattered article of clothing.
More about schmatte
Schmatte, 鈥渁n old ragged garment,鈥� is an Americanism adapted from Yiddish shmate, 鈥渞ag,鈥� from Polish szmata, of the same meaning. Though much of Yiddish vocabulary comes from German, it uses the Hebrew writing system as an alphabet and treats silent Hebrew consonants as vowels. This is how the letters aleph and ayin, which are silent in most varieties of modern Hebrew, make the 鈥渁h鈥� and 鈥渆h鈥� sounds in Yiddish shmate. Schmatte may also appear as shmatte in English; both spellings are equally valid, with the sch- closer to German spelling standards despite its Polish origin. Schmatte was first recorded in English in the late 1960s.
EXAMPLE OF SCHMATTE USED IN A SENTENCE
鈥淭ake that schmatte off,鈥� the grandmother scolded, 鈥渁nd put on a proper coat, or you鈥檒l catch a cold!鈥�