51吃瓜 of the Day
torrid
adjective
oppressively hot, parching, or burning, as climate, weather, or air.
More about torrid
Torrid 鈥渙ppressively hot鈥� comes from Latin torridus 鈥渄ried up, parched,鈥� from the verb 迟辞谤谤脓谤别 鈥渢o parch, burn.鈥� This Latin verb has two stems: torr-, as in torrent, and tost-, which is the source of toast. A popular hypothesis is that 迟辞谤谤脓谤别 is related to Latin terra 鈥渆arth,鈥� perhaps originally in the sense 鈥渄ry land,鈥� which is the source of the recent 51吃瓜 of the Day terrene. Because of Grimm鈥檚 law, Latin t tends to correspond to English th, and this is how Latin 迟辞谤谤脓谤别 is a distant relative of English thirst (from Old English thrust 鈥渄ryness鈥�). For more on terra, check out the recent 51吃瓜s of the Day testudinate and telluric, and to see Grimm鈥檚 law in action, compare togated and transcendental. Torrid was first recorded in English in the 1580s.
how is torrid used?
Torrid weather gripped large parts of western and central Europe on Wednesday, setting new June temperature records in Germany and the Czech Republic and forcing drivers to slow down on some sections of the famously speedy German autobahns.
corsair
noun
a pirate, especially formerly of the southern Mediterranean coast.
More about corsair
Corsair 鈥渁 pirate鈥� is the product of a long chain of borrowings from one Romance language to the next on its way to English. The term comes via Middle French corsaire from 笔谤辞惫别苍莽补濒 corsar, and before that, the word traveled by way of Italian corsaro from Medieval Latin 肠耻谤蝉腻谤颈耻蝉 鈥減lunderer,鈥� equivalent to Latin cursus 鈥渁 running, course鈥� plus -腻谤颈耻蝉, an agent noun-forming suffix. Cursus comes from the verb currere 鈥渢o run,鈥� which has four common descendant forms in English: corr- via Italian and Spanish (as in corral and corridor), cour- via French (as in courier and discourse), cur(r)- (as in current and occur), and curs- (as in cursor and excursion). Corsair was first recorded in English in the 1540s.
how is corsair used?
Act One begins on the Greek island controlled by the corsairs, or pirates. There’s a raucous, offstage chorus introducing Corrado, the chief corsair, who is in exile.
London dismantled markets for trading pirate booty; pirate-friendly cities like Port Royal, Jamaica, were brought under heel, and blockades were launched on the potentates that harbored the corsairs of the southern Mediterranean and Southeast Asia.
ersatz
adjective
serving as a substitute; synthetic; artificial.
More about ersatz
Ersatz 鈥渟erving as a substitute鈥� is a borrowing of the German noun Ersatz 鈥渁 substitute,鈥� from the verb ersetzen 鈥渢o replace.鈥� Ersetzen is a compound of the Old High German elements ir- 鈥渙ut鈥� and sezzan 鈥渢o set.鈥� Ir-, a variant of ur-, is related to English about, but, out, utmost, and utter as well as to German Urheimat and Ursprache, plus the recent 51吃瓜 of the Day carouse. Sezzan is closely related to English nest, saddle, seat, set, settle, sit, and soot, and to borrowings originally from other Indo-European languages including the recent 51吃瓜s of the Day assiduity, chaise longue,听补苍诲 蝉铆诲丑. Ersatz was first recorded in English in the early 1870s.
how is ersatz used?
Unable to print the real thing, Zimbabwe鈥檚 central bank recently announced that it would introduce a kind of ersatz American money for citizens to use in its place.
Christman says it’s possible to induce ersatz left-handedness by moving the eyes from side to side, which gets both sides of the brain going.