Word origins

• melancholiaDeep sadness or gloom; melancholy
• supernumeraryA person who works in a group, association, or public office without forming part of the regular staff (the numerary).
• LeviteA member of the Hebrew tribe of Levi, particularly in its role as a priestly caste.
• rotellaA disc.
• tamariskAny of several shrubs, of the genus Tamarix, native to arid regions in Eurasia and Africa, often invasive in other arid regions.
• conflationA blowing or fusing together, as of many instruments in a concert, or of many fires in a foundry.
• CapernaumAn ancient town in Galilee, Israel, a biblical and archaeological site.
• cappaThe thick wall on the proximal side of the corpus of a pollen grain.
• peduncleThe stalk supporting an inflorescence or a solitary flower/fruit.
• episcopateBishops seen as a group.
• mendacityThe fact or condition of being untruthful; dishonesty.
• cambiumA layer of cells between the xylem and the phloem that is responsible for the secondary growth of roots and stems.
• extemporaneousWith inadequate preparation or without advance thought; offhand.
• natatoriumA swimming pool, especially an indoor one; a building housing one or more swimming pools.
• cachexiaA systemic wasting of muscle tissue, with or without loss of fat mass, that accompanies a chronic disease.
• presbyterAn elder, priest, pastor, or minister in various Christian churches.
• pronominalOf, pertaining to, resembling, or functioning as a pronoun.
• syzygyAn alignment of three celestial bodies (for example, the Sun, Earth, and Moon) such that one body is directly between the other two, such as occurs at an eclipse.
• volvulusObstruction of the bowel in which a loop of bowel has abnormally twisted on itself.
• recapitulateTo summarize or repeat in concise form.
• amboA raised platform in an early Christian church, as well as in the Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, and Eastern Catholic churches.
• uncialOf or relating to an ounce, or an inch, especially to letters printed an inch high.
• offertoryA prayer said or sung as an anthem while offerings of bread and wine are placed on the altar during the Roman Catholic Mass or the Anglican Communion service.
• valencyThe capacity of something to combine with other things, as for example the capability of a vaccine as measured by the number of pathogen serotypes that it can counteract.
• plasmProtoplasm.
• vilifyTo say defamatory things about someone or something; to speak ill of.
• equilibrateTo balance, or bring into equilibrium.
• catenaryRelating to a chain; like a chain.
• usufructThe legal right to use and derive profit or benefit from property that belongs to another person, as long as the property is not damaged.
• RicardianSomeone who believes King Richard III was a just king, misrepresented by Tudor propaganda; a supporter of Richard III.
• diptychA writing tablet consisting of two leaves of rigid material connected by hinges and shutting together so as to protect the writing within.
• masticationThe process of chewing.
• ungulateHaving hooves.
• sciamachyshadow-boxing; fighting that is futile or make-believe
• raseTo be extremely angry; to rage; specifically, of a dog or wolf: to snarl in rage.
• uvulathe slight elevation in the mucous membrane immediately behind the internal urethral orifice of the urinary bladder, caused by the middle lobe of the prostate
• monosyllabicConsisting of one syllable.
• mesenteryThe membrane that attaches the intestines to the wall of the abdomen, maintaining their position in the abdominal cavity, and supplying them with blood vessels, nerves, and lymphatics.
• halluxA big toe.
• mediatrixA female mediator.
• metathesisThe transposition of letters, syllables or sounds within a word.
• trapeziumA quadrilateral with two sides parallel.
• chorionThe protective and nutritive membrane in higher vertebrates that attaches the fetus to the uterus.
• ossuaryA container, receptacle, or building, such as an urn or vault, for holding the bones of the dead.
• imminenceThe state or condition of being about to happen; imminent quality.
• syntagmaA constituent segment within a text, such as a word or a phrase that forms a syntactic unit.
• HonoriusA male given name from Latin, particularly (historical) the Roman emperor Honorius.
• MarcionA diminutive of the male given name Marcus, from Koine Greek, particularly
• seminiferousproducing seed
• metonymyThe use of a single characteristic or part of an object, concept or phenomenon to identify the entire object, concept, phenomenon or a related object.
• myometriumThe smooth muscle forming the wall of the uterus.
• tragusThe small piece of thick cartilage on the inner side of the external ear that is immediately in front of and partly closing the ear canal.
• metastasizeOf a disease (especially cancer) or a tumour: to form a metastasis (“a secondary focus away from the primary site”) in (a body organ).
• MercianA native or inhabitant of the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Mercia.
• accentuationA more distinct or prominent form.
• pedicelA stalk of an individual flower (or fruit, e.g., once fertilised) or spore-producing body within a cluster.
• mensurationThe act or process of measuring; measurement.
• lumbagoBackache of the lumbar region or lower back, which can be caused by muscle strain or a slipped disc.
• phasisA phase (of the moon, a planet etc.).
• realiaObjects from real life or from the real world, as opposed to theoretical constructs or fabricated examples.
• phylonAll of the organisms descending from a given common ancestor, regarded as a race, tribe, vel sim.; a clade.
• theophanyA manifestation of a deity to a person.
• oligarchicOf or pertaining to oligarchy.
• sensoriumThe entire sensory apparatus of an organism.
• excommunicateTo officially exclude someone from membership of a church or religious community.
• VortigernA male given name from Proto-Brythonic, of historical usage, notably borne by Vortigern, a legendary 5th-century British ruler.
• exotericOf a doctrine, information, etc.: suitable to be imparted to the public without secrecy or other reservations.
• coevalOf the same age or era; contemporary.
• undulateTo cause to move in a wavelike motion.
• salvificAble or intending to provide salvation or redemption.
• BlasiusA male given name from Latin.
• eparchyA district of the Roman Empire at the third echelon
• HebraicaTexts or artifacts containing Hebrew writing.
• necromanticOf or relating to necromancy: the resurrection of or communication with the dead, especially through the use of black magic.
• scissionThe act of division, separation, cutting, cleaving, or severing; cleavage.
• VisigothAny member of an ancient East Germanic tribe, one branch of the Goths (the Ostrogoths being the other), which participated in several wars with Rome and established a kingdom with Toulouse for its capital.
• realisA category of grammatical moods, the most common of which is the indicative mood, that indicate that something actually is, or is not, the case.
• neotericModern, new-fangled.
• prandialOf or pertaining to a meal, especially dinner.
• CordulaA female given name from Latin.
• polypodiumSynonym of polypody: any fern of the genus Polypodium.
• primogenitureThe state of being the firstborn of the children of the same parents.
• remonstrateTo object with in critical fashion; to express disapproval (with, against).
• arthrogryposisThe permanent fixation of a joint in a contracted position.
• meticIn Ancient Greek city-states, a resident alien who did not have the rights of a citizen and who paid a tax for the right to live there.
• Holofernesa character in the deuterocanonical Book of Judith, an invading general of Nebuchadnezzar, beheaded by Judith.
• temporalisA fan-shaped muscle which arises from the surface of the temporal fossa and converges to an aponeurosis which contracts into a thick flat tendon inserted into the coronoid process of the mandible; it serves to raise the lower jaw and is involved in closing the mouth and chewing.
• antoninianusA silver coin used during the Roman Empire, equal to two denarii.
• canoniccanonical
• palpebralOf, pertaining to, or located on or near the eyelids.
• abecedarianSomeone who is learning the alphabet.
• chalazionA cyst in the eyelid, caused by inflammation of a blocked meibomian gland.
• viscidHaving a high viscosity.
• univocalHaving only one possible meaning.
• cambionThe half-demon offspring of either an incubus and a female human or a succubus and a male human.
• perspicaciousOf acute discernment; having keen insight; mentally perceptive.
• luxationThe act of luxating, or the state of being luxated; a dislocation or displacement.
• recrudescenceThe condition or state being recrudescent; the condition of something (often undesirable) breaking out again, or re-emerging after temporary abatement or suppression.
• decanOne of a collection of 36 small constellations or zodiacal subdivisions that appear heliacally at intervals of 10 days or are separated by approximately 10 degrees.
• gravamenA grievance complained of.