5 Words. What they mean, where they come from and relevant popular culture or literary references. Build your vocabulary by reading this all in one post.
1. carapace
noun. the hard upper shell of a tortoise, crustacean, or arachnid.
Pronunciation: [kar-uh-peys]
Related: carapaced, carapacial
Origin: 1836, from French carapace “tortoise shell”, from Spanish carapacho or Portuguese carapaça, which is of uncertain origin, perhaps somehow from Latin capa.
The word carapace has been used beautifully by Vikram Seth in one of the verses in The Golden Gate. Discriminating though dogmatic / Tender beneath a carapace / Of well-groomed tastes and tasteful grooming / John, though his corporate stock is booming.
2. amnesty
noun. an official pardon for people who have been convicted of political offences.
verb. grant an official pardon to.
Pronunciation: [am-nuh-stee]
Origin: “pardon of past offenses,” 1570s, from French amnestie “intentional overlooking,” from Latin amnestia, from Greek amnestia “forgetfulness (of wrong); an amnesty.
Amnesty International is also commonly known as Amnesty. A non-governmental organization focused on human rights with over 7 million members and supporters. Know more about Amnesty.
3. levity
noun. the treatment of a serious matter with humour or lack of due respect.
Pronunciation: [lev-i-tee]
Origin: “want of seriousness, frivolity,” 1560s, from Latin levitatem (nominative levitas) “lightness, frivolity,” from levis “light” in weight + -ity.
Levity is a 2003 drama film starring Billy Bob Thornton, Morgan Freeman, Holly Hunter, and Kirsten Dunst. Also, read Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë, where she writes: “I believe the dead are at peace, but it is not right to speak of them with levity.”
4. inebriate
verb. make (someone) drunk; intoxicate.
noun. a drunkard.
adjective. drunk; intoxicated.
Pronunciation: [in-ee-bree-eyt, in-ee-bree-it]
Related: inebriation, uninebriated, uninebriating
Origin: late 15c., from Latin inebriatus, past participle of inebriare “to make drunk,” from “in” + ebriare “make drunk,” from ebrius “drunk,” of unknown origin.
Read Catch-22 by Joseph Heller where he writes: He broke out the bottles of bourbon he had managed to buy on his four-day weekly circuits with the courier plane and laughed, sang, shuffled and shouted in a festival of inebriated ecstasy until he could no longer keep awake and receded peacefully into slumber.
5. prehensile
adjective. (chiefly of an animal’s limb or tail) capable of grasping.
Pronunciation: [pri-hen-sil, -sahyl]
Related: prehensility, nonprehensile, subprehensile
Origin: 1771, from French préhensile “adapted for grasping” (Buffon), from Latin prehensus, past participle of prehendere ‘to grasp, seize, get hold of’.
Must watch this video of a prehensile-tailed porcupine. They have unspined prehensile tails and make a distinctive “baby-like” sound to communicate. Wow!
Sources:
Apart from Google search, the data in this series is taken from Dictionary.com, Online Etymology Dictionary and Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.