Word of the Day
ambrosial
adjective
exceptionally pleasing to taste or smell; especially delicious or fragrant.
More about ambrosial
The English adjective ambrosial comes from the Greek noun 补尘产谤辞蝉铆补 鈥渋mmortality; elixir of life, food of the gods.” (狈茅办迟补谤 is 鈥渢he drink of the gods, nectar鈥�). The initial a– of 补尘产谤辞蝉铆补 is a variant of the prefix an– meaning 鈥渘ot, without, lacking,鈥� as in atheist or anarchy. The b in 补尘产谤辞蝉铆补 is a glide consonant between the m and the r. The mro is a derivative of 尘艞-, a variant of the very common Proto-Indo-European root mer-, mor-, 尘艞– 鈥渢o die.鈥� The variant 尘艞– is also the source of Latin mors (stem mort-) 鈥渄eath,鈥� Morta 鈥済oddess of death,鈥� and 尘辞谤墨 鈥渢o die,鈥� Armenian mard 鈥渕an,鈥� Sanskrit 尘艞t谩– 鈥渄ead,鈥� and Slavic (Polish) martwy 鈥渄ead.鈥� The root variant 尘艞– regularly becomes mur– in the Germanic languages, yielding murder in English and Mord 鈥渕urder鈥� in German. The root variant mor– is the source of Greek 尘辞谤迟贸蝉 and Sanskrit 尘谩谤迟补– 鈥渉uman (being), mortal,鈥� and Old Persian martiya– 鈥渕ortal, man.鈥� The root variant mer– is the source of Hittite mert 鈥渄颈别诲.鈥� Ambrosial entered English in the second half of the 16th century.
how is ambrosial used?
Her dishes were threaded through with the islands鈥� smoke and spice and with the ambrosial sweetness of tropical fruit …
He quickly sautes the preserved duck with wild onions, bathes it with a buttery white wine sauce, and tosses in the parboiled, bite-sized pasta and the glistening green fiddleheads. After a few ambrosial bites, I call it investigative journalism.
ambrosial
pother
noun
a heated discussion, debate, or argument; fuss; to-do.
More about pother
All the authorities agree that pother 鈥渃ommotion, uproar; heated argument鈥� has no reliable etymology; indeed, even the words that pother may be related to, like bother, have no trustworthy etymology. (The fact that an early citation of pother is spelled bother just makes things worse.) Pother originally rhymed with other and brother; it acquired its current pronunciation by the beginning of the 19th century.
how is pother used?
Yet what a pother is there of pismires over a grain of sand. But that grain of sand is their whole world.
“I don’t know what’s so very extraordinary about it, or why there should be such a pother,” he began; and he knew that he was insolently ignoring abundant reasons for pother, if there had been any pother. “Yes, I’m engaged.”
pother
ingenious
adjective
cleverly inventive or resourceful.
More about ingenious
Ingenious comes from late Middle English ingenious 鈥渋ntelligent, resourceful, quick-witted,鈥� from Old French 颈苍驳别苍茂辞蝉, engeignos, from Latin 颈苍驳别苍颈艒蝉耻蝉 鈥渃lever, talented, gifted.” 滨苍驳别苍颈艒蝉耻蝉 is a derivative of the noun ingenium 鈥渘atural disposition, temperament, mood; natural ability, cleverness,鈥� and the adjectival suffix –艒蝉耻蝉, the source via Old French and Anglo-French of the English suffix –ous. Ingenious entered English in the second half of the 15th century.
how is ingenious used?
She was an ingenious inventor who聽planted聽a seed that would blossom into some of today鈥檚 most ubiquitous technology, including Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, GPS, cordless phones and cell phones.
Yet as ingenious as this inventor was, their toy did not spark a societal revolution.
ingenious