Word of the Day
fecund
adjective
very productive or creative intellectually: the fecund years of the Italian Renaissance.
More about fecund
The English adjective fecund ultimately comes from Latin 蹿脓肠耻苍诲耻蝉 鈥渇ertile, productive,鈥� used of humans, animals, and plants. The first syllable聽蹿脓– is a Latin development of the Proto-Indo-European root 诲丑脓(颈)– 鈥渢o suck, suckle.鈥� From 蹿脓– Latin forms the derivatives 蹿脓l墨x 鈥渇ruitful, productive, fortunate, blessed, lucky鈥� (source of the English name Felix and felicity), 蹿脓mina 鈥渨oman鈥� (originally a feminine participle meaning 鈥渟uckling鈥�), 蹿脓tus 鈥減arturition, birth, conception, begetting, young (plant or animal), child,鈥� and 蹿墨濒颈耻蝉 and 蹿墨濒颈补 鈥渟on鈥� and 鈥渄aughter,鈥� respectively (and source of filial). 顿丑脓(颈)– appears in Greek as 迟丑脓(颈)-, as in 迟丑锚蝉迟丑补颈 鈥渢o suckle鈥� and 迟丑脓濒岣� 鈥渘ipple, teat鈥� (an element of the uncommon English noun thelitis 鈥渋nflammation of the nipple鈥�).聽Fecund entered English in the 15th century.
how is fecund used?
… he possesses a fecund imagination able to spin out one successful series after another ….
He sort of reminded me of Billy Name … the guy who pretty much functioned as the Factory’s foreman during its most fecund years.
More about jactation
Jactation comes straight from the Latin noun 箩补肠迟腻迟颈艒苍– (the inflectional stem of 箩补肠迟腻迟颈艒) 鈥渁 flinging or throwing about, a shaking or jolting, tossing of the waves at sea,鈥� and by extension, 鈥渇requent changing of one鈥檚 mind or attitude, boastfulness, grounds for boasting.鈥� 闯补肠迟腻迟颈艒 is a derivative of the verb 箩补肠迟腻谤别 鈥渢o throw, hurl, toss,鈥� a frequentative verb from jacere 鈥渢o throw, toss, sow (seed), cast (anchor).鈥� Jactation entered English in the 16th century.
how is jactation used?
Judge of my mortification, t’other day, when in a moment of jactation, I boasted of being born in that illustrious, ancient, and powerful kingdom!
Others see in them merely the jactation of a limited wit, which is nothing more.
disinvent
verb (used with object)
to undo the invention of; to reverse the existence of.
More about disinvent
Disinvent is an obvious compound of the prefix dis-, here having a reversing force, and the verb invent. It is quite rare, first appearing in the second half of the 19th century (for the 鈥渄isinventing鈥� of the telegraph). In the 20th century disinvent has been applied to the impossibility of 鈥渄isinventing鈥� nuclear or chemical weapons.
how is disinvent used?
However alarmed we are by those weapons, we cannot disinvent them. The world cannot cancel the knowledge of how to make them. It is an irreversible fact.
A number of science fiction movies have actually had to 鈥�disinvent鈥� existing technologies in order to retell the myth of how rebels against 鈥渢he system鈥� help preserve free and open societies.