Word of the Day
Janus word
noun
a word that has opposite or nearly opposite meanings.
More about Janus word
Janus word, “a word that has opposite or nearly opposite meanings,” is the namesake of Janus, the literally two-faced Roman god of beginnings, doorways, and the movement of the sun. As we learned from the Word of the Day génoise, the name Janus is also the source of January (Latin Jānuārius) and related to jānus, “doorway, covered passage,” as in janitor. Janus words go by many alternative names, such as the Latin–Greek blend contranym (also contronym) or the purely Greek auto-antonym. Janus word was first recorded in English in the late 1930s, predating its alternatives.
EXAMPLE OF JANUS WORD USED IN A SENTENCE
Because the headline used the Janus word “sanction,” it was difficult to tell whether the government was approving or disapproving of the matter at hand.
epigenetic
adjective
noting or pertaining to the process by which the expression of genetic information is modified on a molecular level without a change to the DNA sequence.
More about epigenetic
Epigenetic, “pertaining to the process by which the expression of genetic information is modified on a molecular level,” is a compound of epi-, “on, over,” and genetic, which is formed from Ancient Greek génesis, “origin, source.” It may be easy to assume that gene is a shortened form of genetic, but the two are only distantly related. For more relatives of epigenetic, compare the Words of the Day gens du monde, iatrogenic, and kindred. Epigenetic was first recorded in English circa 1830, but its modern sense dates to the late 1950s.
EXAMPLE OF EPIGENETIC USED IN A SENTENCE
Forty years after their separation at birth, epigenetic reasons had made one twin start to go gray earlier than the other.
rejuvenate
verb
to restore to a former state; renew; renovate.
More about rejuvenate
Rejuvenate, “to restore to a former state,” is based on Latin juvenis, “young,” with re- indicating “again” or “back.” Juvenis is also the source of juvenile, and through contraction of the -uve- into -ū-, its comparative form is the easily recognizable jūnior, “younger.” Though this change from -uve- to -ū- may seem a little odd, a similar phenomenon happened in English, with Old English geoguth becoming modern English youth, a distant relative of juvenis. Rejuvenate was first recorded in English at the turn of the 19th century.
EXAMPLE OF REJUVENATE USED IN A SENTENCE
The construction workers rejuvenated the abandoned house, repairing its windows and laying down new floors.