Word of the Day
Jugendstil
noun
art nouveau, a style of fine and applied art characterized by curvilinear motifs, as practiced in German-speaking countries.
More about Jugendstil
From German, Jugendstil consists of Jugend, meaning “youth,” and Stil, meaning “style.” Jugend and English youth are distant relatives of Latin juvenis, “young.” Stil and English style both come from Latin stilus, “tool for writing.” Jugendstil was first recorded in English in the late 1920s.
EXAMPLE OF JUGENDSTIL USED IN A SENTENCE
The old movie theater’s lobby reflected Jugendstil, with bold curves and detailed flowers adorning the wallpaper.
Hobson-Jobson
noun
the alteration of a word or phrase borrowed from another language to accord more closely with the phonological and lexical patterns of the borrowing language.
More about Hobson-Jobson
Hobson-Jobson comes from the Arabic lament ḥasan ḥusayn. British soldiers stationed in South Asia mistakenly wrote the Arabic phrase down as Hossy Gossy or Hossein Jossen. Eventually, the spelling Hobson-Jobson won out, after Hobson and Jobson, two clown characters in Victorian literature. Henry Yule and Arthur Coke Burrell coined Hobson-Jobson for the name of their glossary of Anglo-Indian words in 1886.
EXAMPLE OF HOBSON-JOBSON USED IN A SENTENCE
English buckaroo and cockroach are the results of Hobson-Jobson, coming from Spanish vaquero and cucaracha.
coquettish
adjective
characteristically flirtatious, especially in a teasing, lighthearted manner.
More about coquettish
Coquettish comes from the French word coquette, a flirtatious woman, with a male equivalent, coquet. Formed from coq, “rooster,” and -et (feminine -ette), a suffix meaning “small, little,” coquettish is a relative of the Word of the Day cockade. Coquettish was first recorded in English around 1690.
EXAMPLE OF COQUETTISH USED IN A SENTENCE
She finished telling her riveting story with only a coquettish wink, leaving her audience begging to know the ending.