Some beautiful words I have learnt and/or used lately
1. 'Petrichor'
the earthy scent produced when rain falls on dry soil. From Ancient Greek πέτρα (pétra) 'rock', or πέτρος (pétros) 'stone', and ἰχώρ (ikhṓr), the ethereal fluid that flows in the veins of the immortals
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2. 'Pinguicula'
aka butterworts—a genus of carnivorous flowering plants in the family Lentibulariaceae. From Latin pinguis, 'fat'.
Fig. 1 non-carnivorous phase
Fig. 2 carnivorous phase
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3. 'jentacular'
pertaining to breakfast. From Latin iēntāculum, 'breakfast', particularly taken right after getting up. From Proto-Indo-European *h₁yaǵ-, 'to sacrifice; to worship'
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4. 'Adlubescence'
pleasure, delight. From post-classical Latin adlubescentia, from classical Latin adlubēscent-, adlubēscēns, present participle of adlubēscere (ad + lubēscere), meaining 'to be pleasing', 'gratify'
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5. 'Palsa'
small peat mounds rising out of a mire in the zone of discontinuous permafrost.
From the Finnish language, which in turn is a borrowing from Northern Sami, 'balsa'.
Replying to
Cfr. 'Pingo'
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A pingo, also called a hydrolaccolith, is a mound of earth-covered ice found in the Arctic and subarctic that can reach up to 70 metres (230 ft) in height and up to 600 m (2,000 ft) in diameter. The term originated as the Inuvialuktun word for a small hill en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pingo
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6. 'Gowpen'
(I love this word): the space created when cupping two hands together. From Old Norse gaupn ('hollow made by cupped hands'). Doublet of yepsen.
dsl.ac.uk/entry/snd/gowp
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7. 'Uhtceare'
apart from being the reason I started this thread, it's an Old English word referring to the anxiety that grips you just before dawn, when you wake up too early and can't get back to sleep because you're worried about the day ahead, no matter how tired you are
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