51吃瓜 of the Day
More about Stygian
Stygian originally referred to Styx, one of the mythological rivers of the underworld. Ancient Greek 厂迟媒虫 likely shares an origin with several words relating to hatred, and the Greeks once believed that swearing on the river鈥檚 name created an unbreakable vow. Stygian was first recorded in English in the 1560s.
EXAMPLE OF STYGIAN USED IN A SENTENCE
The basement was a windowless, Stygian space, with only a single flickering fluorescent providing the weakest of light.
sewellel
noun
a small, burrowing rodent of the Pacific coastal region of North America, also known as the mountain beaver.
More about sewellel
Sewellel is an adaptation of 拧-飞补濒谩濒, a term from the Lower Chinook language of the Pacific Northwest that refers to a robe made of mountain beaver skins. When explorer Meriwether Lewis (of the Lewis and Clark expedition) heard 拧-飞补濒谩濒, he misunderstood the term as referring to the mountain beaver itself and transcribed it as sewellel in 1806.
EXAMPLE OF SEWELLEL USED IN A SENTENCE
The sewellel poked its head out from its burrow and went off to forage for food.
miasma
noun
a poisonous cloud of vapor produced by decaying organic matter.
Why the Museum of Science chose miasma
To find out, watch this video from science communicator Alex Dainis, PhD.
Learn more at .
More about miasma
Miasma derives from Ancient Greek 尘铆补蝉尘补, meaning 鈥減ollution, stain.鈥� The 尘铆补蝉- element comes from the verb 尘颈补铆苍别颈苍, 鈥渢o pollute, stain,鈥� while -ma is a common suffix that also appears in , , and . Miasma was first recorded in English around 1660.
EXAMPLE OF MIASMA USED IN A SENTENCE
The impassable swamp was known for the many miasmata that drifted through the air, threatening to suffocate travelers.
