Word origins

• contrectationThe initial stage of the sexual act involving manual contact and tumescence; sexual foreplay.
• corbiculumSynonym of corbicula (“bee's pollen-basket”).
• correctrixA woman or girl who corrects; a female corrector.
• corruptrixA female corrupter.
• cothurnusA buskin used in ancient tragedy.
• creatrixA female creator.
• creditrixA female creditor.
• crepidaA type of footwear consisting of a sole attached to the foot with fairly elaborate straps, distinguished by the Ancient Greeks and Ancient Romans from sandals proper but now usually considered a style of sandal.
• crepusculumcrepuscule; twilight; dusk
• crotalumA kind of clapper or castanet used in religious dances by groups in Ancient Greece (including the Korybants) and elsewhere.
• cruciverbalistA person who constructs or solves crosswords.
• crux ansataSynonym of ankh.
• cubicularBelonging or relating to a bedchamber or bedroom.
• cubileThe lowest course of stones in a building.
• cubitusThe ulna.
• cuneusA portion of the occipital lobe of the human brain, involved in visual processing.
• curatrixA female curator, guardian, or custodian
• curiosumA possibly unimportant point of interest; a curiosity.
• cyno-Of or pertaining to dogs.
• de die ad diemFrom day to day.
• de die in diemFrom day to day.
• dehiscentOf or pertaining to dehiscence, i.e., a rupture, as with a surgical wound opening up, often with a flow of serous fluid.
• DeianiraThe third wife of Heracles.
• delirationaberration of the mind; delirium
• desiderableDesirable.
• devotorA worshipper; someone given to devotion.
• diabetes insipidusA disease characterized by excretion of large amounts of severely diluted urine, which cannot be reduced when fluid intake is reduced.
• digitus minimus pedisSynonym of little toe (Latin designation).
• digitus primus pedisSynonym of big toe (Latin designation).
• digitus quartus pedisSynonym of ring toe (Latin designation).
• digitus secundus pedisSynonym of long toe (Latin designation).
• digitus tertius pedisSynonym of middle toe (Latin designation).
• dilapidateTo cause to become ruined or put into disrepair.
• dilucularOf or pertaining to dawn.
• diluviumAn inundation or flood; a deluge.
• directrixA line used to define a curve or surface; especially a line, the distance from which a point on a conic has a constant ratio to that from the focus.
• dispensatrixA female dispensator.
• disputatorOne who takes part in a dispute; a disputant or debater.
• divisimSeparately.
• doctrixA female doctor, chiefly a physician.
• doli incapaxThe principle that a child cannot be held legally responsible for their actions, and so cannot be convicted of a criminal offence.
• donatrixFemale donator.
• dormitoriumA dormitory.
• dubitanteHaving doubts; used in law reports of a judge who is doubtful about a legal proposition but hesitates to declare it wrong.
• dubitativeTending to doubt; doubtful.
• duces tecumBring with you.
• dulcitySweetness (literal and figurative).
• duovirSynonym of duumvir.
• editrixA female editor.
• effectrixAn efficient cause.
• effictionAn expressing or a representing.
• ElizabethaA female given name from Latin, variant of Elizabeth.
• EmerentiaA female given name from Latin, of rare usage.
• EmerentianaA female given name from Latin, of rare usage.
• -endForming nouns denoting patients or recipients of actions.
• eoanRelating to the dawn.
• epanadiplosisA figure of speech by which the same word is used both at the beginning and at the end of a sentence.
• epicedeAn elegy; an ode to someone deceased.
• epicediumAn epicede: a dirge, lament, elegy.
• epithalamiumA song or poem celebrating a marriage.
• epithetonAn epithet, an attribute of a person or thing.
• eponymyThe status or condition of being an eponym (person lending their name to something); the distinction of having something named after oneself.
• equuleusAn ancient torture device, possibly resembling a wooden horse, or possibly a rack.
• eructateTo belch, to burp.
• eructationThe act of belching, of expelling gas from the stomach through the mouth.
• esculentSuitable for eating; eatable, edible.
• EuxineThe Black Sea.
• evocatrixA female evocator.
• excurseA fuller discussion (usually in a separate section at the end of a chapter or book) of a particular part of the text of a work, especially a Bible commentary or classical Greek or Latin text.
• exemplativeServing as or providing a typical example.
• exemplificatorSomething serving as an example.
• exempli gratiaFor the sake of an example.
• exemplumAn example.
• exenterateTo disembowel; to eviscerate.
• exenterationThe surgical removal of all the contents of a body cavity such as the pelvis or the orbit.
• exequaturAn official authorization given by a government to a consul etc.
• ex gratiaGiven as a favour; given as a gift.
• exitusdeath
• ex nihiloOut of nothing.
• ex nihilo nihil fitNothing comes from nothing; out of nothing, nothing is produced.
• Exon DomesdayThe initial detailed summary of the Domesday survey returns from the Domesday circuit of Cornwall, Devon, Dorset, Somerset and Wiltshire, which was used to compile the parts of the Great Domesday Book relating to those counties.
• expiatorOne who makes expiation or atonement.
• expunctionThe act of expunging or erasing.
• ex rerum naturaFrom the nature of things; from the nature of the case; from nature; applied to arguments based on observation or experiment, as opposed to pure reason.
• exscindTo cut out.
• exsiccatumA dried specimen such as that in a herbarium.
• exsolveTo separate from one another at a critical point in temperature.
• exterminatrixA woman who exterminates.
• exuviaeThe coverings of an animal that have been shed or cast off, particularly the molted exoskeletons of arthropods.
• factrixA female factor (agent or representative).
• fautrixA patroness.
• FavoniusThe god of the west wind. He is also the husband of Flora and the father of Karpos. He is the Roman counterpart of Zephyrus.
• feretrumA kind of medieval reliquary or shrine containing the sacred effigies and relics of a saint.
• filicoidAny fern-like plant.
• FloraliaAn ancient Roman festival in honor of the goddess Flora, held on April 27 during the Republican era, or April 28 in the Julian calendar.
• formatorA symbol that indicates a relationship between designators.
• Free City of Tri-InsulaA proposed city-state comprising Long Island, Manhattan, and Staten Island, put forward on January 6th, 1861, by the mayor of New York City, Fernando Wood, shortly before the beginning of the American Civil War.
• frugiferentBearing fruit.
• fumidSmoky or vaporous.
• fumus boni iurisA likelihood of success based on the merit of a case; a requirement for admission to certain benefits, such as legal aid and injunctions.