Word of the Day
More about avenaceous
The very rare adjective avenaceous, meaning “of, like, or pertaining to oats,” is used only in botany. Avenaceous comes straight from the Latin adjective avēnāceus “made from oats,” a derivative of avēna “oats,” which comes from the same Proto-Indo-European source as Lithuanian avižà and Slavic (Polish) owies, both meaning “oats.” Avenaceous entered English in the 18th century.
how is avenaceous used?
See birds that know our avenaceous store / Stoop to our hand, and thence repleted soar …
A spikelet, almost entire, of what seems to be a species of Poa, and the flowering glume of another grass, probably avenaceous, have also been found.
More about organon
The Greek noun órganon means “tool, instrument, sensory organ, body part, musical instrument (whence the English name of the musical instrument), surgical instrument, table of calculations, (a concrete) work, work product, and a set of principles for conducting scientific and philosophical work.” This last meaning first occurs in the works of the Peripatetic philosopher Alexander of Aphrodisias, who lived in the late 2nd and early 3rd centuries a.d. and was the most famous ancient Greek commentator on Aristotle. Órganon is a derivative of the Greek root erg-, org– (also dialectal werg-, worg-), from the Proto-Indo-European root werg-, worg-; the Germanic form of this root is werk-, whence English work. Organon in its sense “bodily organ” entered English in the late 16th century; the philosophical sense entered English in the early 17th century.
how is organon used?
… for genuine proof in concrete matter we require an organon more delicate, versatile, and elastic than verbal argumentation.
It [logic] thus sunk into the position of an Organon or instrument.
vigesimal
adjective
of, relating to, or based on twenty.
More about vigesimal
The English adjective vigesimal comes from the Latin adjectives vīgēsimus and vīcēsimus (also vīcēnsimus) “twentieth.” There is an obvious connection in meaning between the adjectives and the Latin numeral vīgintī “twenty,” but there is also an obvious difficulty in form. The fluctuation between –g– and –c– in the Latin words has never been satisfactorily explained, as the expected Latin form would be vīcintī. Vigesimal entered English in the 17th century.
how is vigesimal used?
Maya numeral systems were vigesimal (base twenty), counted by twenties, four hundreds, eight thousands, and so on, rather than by tens, hundreds, and thousands as in a decimal system.
Portland is making vigorous preparations for the vigesimal or twentieth anniversary celebration of the founding of the Christian Endeavor Society ….