Word origins

• peroneusAny of several muscles of the lateral side of the leg, which arise from the fibula and act to move the foot.
• phantasmaticPhantasmal, incorporeal.
• pharisaicalOf or pertaining to the Pharisees.
• pharisaismThe doctrines and practices, or the character and spirit, of the Pharisees.
• -phobicUsed to form adjectives indicating a fear of a specific thing.
• pignoratitiousOf, like, or pertaining to pignoration.
• plagalDesignating a mode lying a perfect fourth below the authentic form.
• plagio-Slanted, oblique.
• planularOf or pertaining to a plane.
• pleonasmRedundancy in wording.
• plethoricSuffering from plethora; ruddy in complexion, congested or swollen with blood.
• poena damniThe pain caused by a sense of loss.
• poliorceticsThe art of siege warfare, namely, that of conducting or resisting a siege.
• polychroniouslong-lasting; chronic.
• posse comitatusThe able-bodied men over 15 in a given county who can be summoned by the sheriff to help keep the peace, or arrest a felon; also a group of men so gathered.
• postcibalSynonym of postprandial.
• postfurcaOne of the apodemes of the sternum of an insect, to which the hind legs are attached.
• postilA Bible commentary written in its margins.
• preambulousPertaining to a preamble; preliminary, preambular.
• precatoryExpressing a wish.
• prefixumA prefix.
• prelatyThe system of ecclesiastic governance by prelates or bishops; episcopacy, prelacy.
• prenexOf a formula, having all of its quantifiers at the beginning.
• presentativePresenting, or able to represent, an idea in the mind.
• presentialIn-person, on-premises, face-to-face (that is, not involving online, virtual or remote interaction).
• primageA payment made for loading or unloading a ship, or for care of goods during transit by ship.
• principal partAny of the forms of a word which contain its stem(s) in the simplest form, or such a form that, when taken with all the other principal parts (showing various inflections), allows the entire paradigm to be derived.
• principiateThe product of a principle.
• procopeSynonym of apheresis.
• protasisThe first part of a play, in which the setting and characters are introduced.
• prothesisThe prepending of phonemes at the beginning of a word without changing its morphological structure, as in Spanish esfera from Greek (via Latin) sphaera (“sphere”) (without prothesis the word would have become *sfera).
• provocatoryprovocative
• provocatrixA female provocator.
• pyreeAn ancient Persian temple devoted to fire.
• pythonessA female soothsayer
• q.e.d.Used to indicate that an argument or proposition is proved by the existence of some fact or scenario.
• quadrageneAn indulgence from 40 days of fasting or similar abstinence, especially during Lent; (later) various equivalent indulgences against punishment in Purgatory.
• quadrangulateTo divide (a plane or other surface) into quadrangles, often by removing the dividing line between two adjacent triangles (following a previous triangulation).
• quadrenniumA period of 4 years, particularly (historical) the sets of four years in the ancient Egyptian and Greek calendars.
• quinquangleSynonym of pentagon (“a polygon with five sides and five angles”).
• radioleThe spine of a sea urchin.
• recusativeRefusing; denying; rejecting of the norm.
• redhibitoryOf or pertaining to redhibition (the annulling of a sale).
• reluctationResistance, struggle.
• reminiscentialOf or relating to remembering; reminiscent.
• reptitiousSynonym of reptile: creeping, crawling.
• rerageMoney owed; overdue payment.
• rinatrixA type of water snake formerly thought to poison water.
• risoriusA narrow band of facial muscle arising from the fascia over the masseter and inserting into the tissues at the corner of the mouth, which it draws laterally, as is used when smiling.
• sacramentarianOne of the German reformers who rejected both the Roman and the Lutheran doctrine of the holy Eucharist.
• sacristA sacristan.
• salvifyinggiving salvation
• sanatoryproducing health; healing or curative
• satyriasisExcessive sexual desire, found in a man.
• scansionThe rhythm or meter of a line or verse.
• scappleTo work roughly, or shape without finishing, as stone before leaving the quarry.
• scholiastA scholar who writes commentary on the works of an author, especially one of the ancient commentators on classical authors.
• sciolistOne who exhibits only superficial knowledge; a self-proclaimed expert with little real understanding.
• sciomancydivination using shadows
• scissureA longitudinal opening made by cutting; a cleft; a fissure.
• secundineThe second coat, or integument, of an ovule, lying within the primine.
• septenniumA period of seven years.
• sericteriumA silk gland, as in the silkworms.
• sexangularHaving six angles; hexagonal.
• siglumA letter or other symbol that stands for a name or word; specifically, one used in a modern literary work to refer to an early version of a text.
• silentiaryA person who keeps silent, especially from religious motives.
• Sino-XenicRelated to pronunciations for reading Chinese in Japan, Korea and Vietnam, originating in medieval times and the source of large-scale borrowings of Chinese words into Japonic, Koreanic and Vietnamese languages, none of which are genetically related to Chinese (excluding Sinitic topolects).
• skeletA skeleton.
• spagyricPertaining to alchemy; alchemical, especially regarding medicine.
• spheralspherical
• spleneticBad-tempered, irritable, peevish, spiteful, habitually angry.
• sporangiumA case, capsule, or container in which spores are produced by an organism.
• stannaryOf or pertaining to tin mining, especially in Cornwall.
• stapedotomyA surgical operation in which a tiny hole is made in the footplate of the stapes, and a prosthesis is placed to touch this area with movement of the tympanic membrane.
• strobilusSensu strictissimo a more-or-less cone-shaped fruiting body of any of various vascular Pteridophyta, such as horsetail, that bear spores;
• strophulusAn eruption of red pimples upon the face, neck, and arms, in early infancy
• struthonianA person like an ostrich; someone who ignores facts or reality or someone who lacks responsibility.
• subalternalSubordinate.
• sublunarySituated beneath the moon; specifically, between the moon and the earth.
• subridentCharacterized by a smile; smiling.
• subrisionAn act of smiling.
• sub rosaCovertly or in secret; confidentially, privately, secretly.
• supererogationAn act of doing more than is required.
• superparticularOf a natural number, being larger than another natural number by a unit fraction of that smaller number.
• suppedaneuma foot-support for a crucified person, projecting from the base of the cross
• suppletiveMaking up for deficiencies; supplementary; suppletory.
• suppletoryA source of supply.
• syntaxisSyntax.
• temporaneoustemporary
• terraqueousChiefly in terraqueous globe (that is, the Earth): consisting of both land and water.
• tetraeterisSynonym of quadrennium: A four-year period, particularly (historical) those used in ancient Egyptian and Greek astronomical calculations.
• theatricRelating to acting or the theater, theatrical.
• TheodericA male given name of historical usage, notably borne by Flāvius Theodericus Magnus (Theoderic the Great) (c. 454–526 CE), King of the Ostrogoths (from 475), of the Ostrogothic Kingdom of Italy (from 493), and of the Visigoths (from 511).
• theosisThe likeness to or union with God; deification.
• theurgyA form of magic designed to allow for worship or conjuration of, or communication with spirits or deities.
• tmesisThe insertion of one or more words between the components of a compound word.
• tractileCapable of being drawn or stretched out in length.
• traducianOne who believes that a child's soul is inherited from its parents.
• trinaryA trinary star.
• triobolarMean; worthless.