What new words have you learned this week? These are new to me, from Elephant Run, Come to the Table, and Kabul 24.
Join Kathy at BermudaOnion to see more.
1. dah
(n) (dä)
Definition—(Burmese) long knife
Use—“I can get you some water, but I didn’t bring my dah so food will be more difficult.”
~ Elephant Run
2. musth
(n) [muhst]
Definition—an annual period of heightened aggressiveness and sexual activity in male elephants, during which violent frenzies occur.
Use—“The rage is upon him,” Tin answered. “He’s in musth, or as we call it in Burmese, mone.”
~ Elephant Run
3. pangolin
(n) [PANG-guh-lin]
Definition—toothless mammal of southern Africa and Asia having a body covered with horny scales and a long snout for feeding on ants and termites
Use—“Pangolin. Harmless insectivore. The young have the same armor plating, but in miniature.”
~ Elephant Run
4. concomitant
(adj) [kon-KOM-i-tuhnt]
Definition—existing or occurring together
Use—“The altar and the concomitant “passing” ritual were followed by a table of joy and celebration.”
~ Come to the Table
5. fricative
(n) [FRIK-uh-tiv]
Definition—a consonant, such as f or s, produced by the forcing of breath through a constricted passage. Also called spirant
Use—“He grabbed the handle, his voice bellowing in the harsh, fricative Pashtun dialect, and threw open the front door.”
~ Kabul 24
6. Pashtun
(n) [pŭsh'tōōn]
Definition—a member of the mountain people living in the eastern regions of Afghanistan
Use—[see # 5]
7. Kalashnikov
(n) [kə-LASH-nə-kôf']
Definition—any of a series of assault rifles of Soviet design, especially the AK-47 
Use—“A Talib armed with a Kalashnikov leaped from the vehicle and forced himself into the backseat of the taxi.”
~ Kabul 24
5 comments:
Wow, you found a lot of words in that book! Who even knew there was a word for something like musth. Somehow I don't think I'll ever have the opportunity to use it. Thanks for participating.
Your words give me the real spirit of the book. Good teasers. I like concomitant. I'm going to try to use that one and add it to my vocabulary.
Great words, there were actually a few I didn't know! Thanks for expanding my vocab :)
I wouldn't want to run into a Pangolin. All good words, thank you.
http://readwithtea.blogspot.com/2009/10/wondrous-words_21.html
i actually knew pangolin, hard to think of a mammal without teeth and with scales instead of hair, but God made the platypus too, i love when He does special stuff like that
and concomitant is one of those $5 words that academics throw around a lot, so i'm learning to recognize it more readily
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