Word of the Day
katabatic
adjective
(of a wind or air current) moving downward or down a slope.
More about katabatic
Katabatic comes from Ancient Greek katá, meaning “down, through, against, towards,” and baínein, “to go.” Katá has several variants in English and also appears in catalog and cathedral. Meanwhile, baínein is the source of acrobat, basis, and diabetes. Katabatic was first recorded in English in the late 1910s.
EXAMPLE OF KATABATIC USED IN A SENTENCE
The katabatic gusts rushed down the mountain, burying the village with the snow they carried along.
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.