Word of the Day
paresthesia
noun
an abnormal sensation, as prickling, itching, etc.
Why the Museum of Science chose paresthesia
The pins and needles feeling of paresthesia might get worse just before it subsides. To find out more about paresthesia, watch this video from science communicator, Alex Dainis, PhD.
Learn more fun facts at the Museum of Science.
More about paresthesia
Paresthesia, “an abnormal sensation,” comes from New Latin, a revived variety of Latin used in scientific literature. In paresthesia, the -esthesia element means “capacity for sensation or feeling” and ultimately comes from Ancient Greek aísthēsis, “sensation, perception.” Ancient Greek ai becomes ae in Latin and either ae or e in English. This is why words such as esthetics and anesthesia are also spelled aesthetics and anaesthesia. Paresthesia was first recorded in English in the late 1850s.
EXAMPLE OF PARESTHESIA USED IN A SENTENCE
After sitting for so long, she winced from the paresthesia in her legs when she stood up.
sitzmark
noun
a sunken area in the snow marking a backward fall of a skier.
More about sitzmark
Sitzmark “a sunken area in the snow made by a falling skier” is a loanword from German, in which it is a compound of sitzen “to sit” and Mark “mark, visible impression.” Sitzen is a close relative of English sit, and because t in English tends to correspond to d in other Indo-European languages, we can see the connection to the Words of the Day sedentary (from Latin sedēre, “to sit”) and sídh (from Old Irish síd, “fairy mound”). English mark and German Mark are indeed related and share an origin with demarcation, march, margin, margrave, marquee, and remark—but not with the month March or the name Mark. Sitzmark was first recorded in English in the late 1930s.
EXAMPLE OF SITZMARK USED IN A SENTENCE
Even the bunny slopes are riddled with sitzmarks left by aspiring skiers in need of a bit more practice.
More about sklent
Sklent, “to deviate from a straight course,” is a Scots variant of Middle English slenten “to slant.” As we learned from the Word of the Day whigmaleerie, Scots is a sister language of English with its own grammar and vocabulary, unlike Scottish English, which is a dialect of English or Scottish Gaelic, which is a Celtic language. Similar to that of the Word of the Day tawpie, sklent’s origin lies in Scandinavia, and relatives of sklent include Swedish slinta “to slide, slip.” The apparent addition of the k in sklent is an example of an excrescent sound, as we learned from the Word of the Day enumerate. Sklent was first recorded in English circa 1510.
EXAMPLE OF SKLENT USED IN A SENTENCE
The driver swerved off the asphalt rather than answer an uncomfortable question, sklenting from both the road and the truth in one fell swoop.