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Why Dictionary.com chose lekker
More about lekker
- Lekker comes from Afrikaans, a creole language spoken in South Africa with roots from Dutch.
- Lekker is also a word in Dutch, meaning “tasty,” which is related to the Dutch verb likken, “to lick.”
- Lekker was first attested in South African English around 1900.
EXAMPLES OF LEKKER
- They had a lekker time dancing the night away at the lively South African club.
- The warm sunshine and cool breeze made our beach picnic absolutely lekker.
invaluable
adjective
beyond calculable or appraisable value; of inestimable worth; priceless.
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Why Dictionary.com chose invaluable
More about invaluable
- Invaluable was first recorded in 1570–80.
- Invaluable comes from the negative prefix in– and the word valuable in its outdated sense of “capable of valuation.”
- To complicate it all, invaluable has also been used to mean “worthless,” although its “priceless” sense is much more common.
EXAMPLES OF INVALUABLE
- The advice she gave me was invaluable; it completely transformed the way I approached the project.
- The experience of traveling to different countries and immersing myself in different languages and cultures has been invaluable to my personal growth and understanding of the world.
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Why Dictionary.com chose arvo
More about arvo
- Arvo is Australian English slang that was first recorded in 1930–35.
- Arvo takes the af- from the word afternoon, voices the –f so that is pronounced like a –v, and combines it with –o.
- The ar– represents how a speaker of a dialect in which r is not pronounced, like Australian English, would say a low back vowel (-a).
- Many Australian English terms are similarly shortened, like avo for avocado, servo for service station, and devo for devastated.
EXAMPLES OF ARVO
- Their friends said they would catch them at the beach later in the arvo for a game of volleyball.
- The sun is shining, making this arvo perfect for a bike ride.
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