Word of the Day
niveous
adjective
resembling snow; snowy.
Why the Museum of Science chose niveous
Snow, or things that are niveous, appear white because they reflect back the entire color spectrum. To learn more about what niveous means, watch this video from award-winning science communicator Maynard Okereke, better known as the Hip Hop M.D.
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More about niveous
Niveous comes from the Latin stem niv-, 鈥渟now,鈥� which combines with the suffix -eous to form an adjective. Today, niv- survives as French neige, Italian and Portuguese neve, Romanian nea, and Spanish nieve, all meaning 鈥渟now.鈥� Niv- is a distant relative of English snow, which has the s- that Latin lost thousands of years ago. Other examples include the English/Latin pairs slack and laxus (鈥渓oose鈥�) as well as steer and taurus (鈥渂耻濒濒鈥�). Niveous was first recorded in English around 1620.
EXAMPLE OF NIVEOUS USED IN A SENTENCE
With the previous day鈥檚 blizzard finally past, the children headed outside for an afternoon of frivolous play in their now niveous neighborhood.
产辞产猫肠丑别
noun
a slightly cupped ring placed over the socket of a candleholder to catch the drippings of a candle.
More about 产辞产猫肠丑别
叠辞产猫肠丑别, 鈥渁 cupped ring that catches a candle鈥檚 drippings,鈥� comes from French but is of uncertain origin. With that said, linguists have one prevailing hypothesis. The bob- part may be the same as the first element in Middle French bobine, 鈥�skein of thread,鈥� which is the source of English bobbin. The -猫肠丑别 element could be based on an analogy with 蹿濒补尘尘猫肠丑别, 鈥渟park,鈥� which comes from Old High German falawiska, 鈥渉ot ashes.鈥� 叠辞产猫肠丑别 was first recorded in English in the late 1890s.
EXAMPLE OF BOB脠CHE USED IN A SENTENCE
Without a 产辞产猫肠丑别 available, they carried the lit candles very carefully, dodging scalding drips of hot wax.
shammes
noun
the candle used to kindle the candles in the Hanukkah menorah.
More about shammes
Shammes, 鈥渢he candle used to kindle the candles in the Hanukkah menorah,鈥� is a borrowing of Yiddish shames, which comes from Hebrew 蝉丑补尘尘腻蝉丑, 鈥渟erver, attendant.鈥� As we learned from the Word of the Day cherubic, many Hebrew nouns add -im to become plural, which is why one 蝉丑补尘尘腻蝉丑 in Hebrew becomes multiple 蝉丑补尘尘腻蝉丑im and one shammes in English becomes multiple shammosim. Though Hebrew 蝉丑补尘尘腻蝉丑 is easily confused with Shamash, an Assyrian and Babylonian sun god, the two are not related; while Shamash comes from a Semitic root meaning 鈥渟un,鈥� 蝉丑补尘尘腻蝉丑 appears to come from Egyptian 拧尘蝉飞, 鈥渇ollower, servant.鈥� Shammes was first recorded in English in the late 1940s.
EXAMPLE OF SHAMMES USED IN A SENTENCE
She had the honor of lighting the shammes and the first candle on the first night of Hanukkah.