51吃瓜 of the Day
canny
adjective
astute; shrewd; knowing; sagacious: a canny negotiator.
More about canny
Canny originally meant 鈥渒nowing, wise,鈥� and was a doublet of cunning, originally 鈥渒nowledgeable, learned, skillful.鈥� Canny (and cunning) both derive from Old English cunnan 鈥渢o become acquainted with, know” (Modern English verb can). All of the citations of聽canny before, say, 1800, are from Scottish authors, and the word is first attested in the latter half of the 16th century. Uncanny is also originally Scottish, but feels as American as the pulp horror and sci-fi magazines of the 1930s. The now usual sense of uncanny, 鈥渉aving a supernatural or inexplicable basis,鈥� dates from the mid-19th century.
how is canny used?
He thought himself canny and alert, able to uncover plots, or flatter the great and trick them, bend events to his will.
You have had things all your own way for all your life (… your brothers are much more canny than you are about political issues).
minutiae
plural noun
precise details; small or trifling matters: the minutiae of his craft.
More about minutiae
In English, minutiae is the plural of the noun minutia, which usually appears in the plural with the meaning 鈥減recise details, trifling matters,鈥� the same sense as the Late Latin plural noun 尘颈苍奴迟颈补别. In Latin only the singular 尘颈苍奴迟颈补 appears, and it has its literal meaning 鈥渟mallness, fineness,鈥� a derivative of 尘颈苍奴迟耻蝉, the past participle of minuere 鈥渢o reduce in size, lessen.鈥� From the same root min-, Latin also has the words minor 鈥渟maller in size or kind” (English minor), minus 鈥渁 smaller number” (English minus), minimus 鈥渟mallest, least鈥� (English minimum and minimal), and minusculus 鈥渞ather small, pretty small鈥� (English minuscule). Minutiae entered English in the mid-18th century.
how is minutiae used?
In my preceding chapters I have tried, by going into the minutiae of the science of piloting, to carry the reader step by step to a comprehension of what the science consists of ….
In a聽thank-you note聽to his devotees that he tweeted last week, the congressman offered a similar lulling density of minutiae.
More about erumpent
The rare adjective erumpent, used almost exclusively in biology, comes straight from Latin 脓谤耻尘辫脓苍蝉 (stem 脓谤耻尘辫别苍迟-), the present participle of 脓谤耻尘辫别谤别 鈥渢o burst forth.鈥� The compound verb 脓谤耻尘辫别谤别 is composed of the prefix 脓– (a variant of ex– 鈥渙ut, out of鈥�) and the simple verb rumpere 鈥渢o break,鈥� whose past participle ruptus forms the much more common derivative erupt. Erumpent entered English in the mid-17th century.
how is erumpent used?
… on his head鈥攑ressing down his erumpent red hair鈥攖he vaguely Westernish broad-brimmed hat that signalled his difference from other philosophers (as if any such signal were needed) ….
Minutes passed, sun-bathed, as they crossed a stretch of open land; the river slowed, the valley wider, furrowed fields flanking the highway, an erumpent green from rich black soil.