Friday 7 August 2026
Ab Vrbe Condita 2779
08/02/2026
Illinium (noun)
Based on experimental data later found to have been erroneous, a name honoring the University of Illinois proposed for the element now known as promethium. Two other preliminary names for it were florentium and cyclonium.
Illinium (noun)
Based on experimental data later found to have been erroneous, a name honoring the University of Illinois proposed for the element now known as promethium. Two other preliminary names for it were florentium and cyclonium.
Recent entries
Touch word to see definition.
07/26/2026: Quaquaversal (adjective) Turning or dipping in any or every direction
07/19/2026: Frugivory (noun) The symbiotic relationship between fruit-eating birds and the fruiting plant itself whereby its seeds get dispersed
07/12/2026: Dephlogisticate (verb) To render something fireproof
07/05/2026: Parnel (noun) A priest’s mistress
06/28/2026: Fluviatile (adjective) Living in rivers
06/21/2026: Atopognosia (noun) The inability to tell where something is touching you
06/14/2026: Assoil (verb) To absolve, to pronounce Not Guilty
06/07/2026: Corncrake (noun) An elusive, omnivorous, chestnut-colored bird of the family Rallidae (rails) that ranges through Eurasia and winters in Africa
05/31/2026: Agonic (noun) The imaginary line, roughly longitudinal, where magnetic and true north lie in exactly the same direction. It wanders unpredictably, typically about 10 miles per year.
05/24/2026: Penniform (adjective) Feather-shaped
05/17/2026: Nixie (noun) A letter or package that’s undeliverable due to a faulty address. Or, a female water spirit. Or, one of those old-fashioned numeric displays consisting of a neon-filled glass tube and multiple cathodes.
05/10/2026: Grimthorpe (verb) To alter or remodel a building without taking its history and character into account. Named for Edmund Beckett, 1st Baron Grimthorpe, QC (1816–1905).
05/03/2026: Ulotrichous (adjective) Having tightly curled or “peppercorn” hair
04/26/2026: Distichiasis (noun) The condition, caused by a genetic mutation, of having double rows of eyelashes. One of its better known sufferers was actress Elizabeth Taylor.
04/19/2026: Absquatulate (verb) To slip out without being seen
04/12/2026: Semiotician (noun) An expert at reading signs, symbols, gestures, and other visual cues
04/05/2026: Jyngine (adjective) Wryneck-like. A wryneck is either of two species of European woodpeckers that can whip their heads around almost 180 degrees, which, combined with hissing, serves as a threat display.
03/29/2026: Idiolect (noun) The individualistic traits of a person’s speech. A further subdivision of dialect.
03/22/2026: Hapax legomenon (noun) The bane of dictionary authors, a word within a particular language that occurrs only once in the written record
03/15/2026: Mesonoxian (adjective) Pertaining to midnight
Touch word to see definition.
07/26/2026: Quaquaversal (adjective) Turning or dipping in any or every direction
07/19/2026: Frugivory (noun) The symbiotic relationship between fruit-eating birds and the fruiting plant itself whereby its seeds get dispersed
07/12/2026: Dephlogisticate (verb) To render something fireproof
07/05/2026: Parnel (noun) A priest’s mistress
06/28/2026: Fluviatile (adjective) Living in rivers
06/21/2026: Atopognosia (noun) The inability to tell where something is touching you
06/14/2026: Assoil (verb) To absolve, to pronounce Not Guilty
06/07/2026: Corncrake (noun) An elusive, omnivorous, chestnut-colored bird of the family Rallidae (rails) that ranges through Eurasia and winters in Africa
05/31/2026: Agonic (noun) The imaginary line, roughly longitudinal, where magnetic and true north lie in exactly the same direction. It wanders unpredictably, typically about 10 miles per year.
05/24/2026: Penniform (adjective) Feather-shaped
05/17/2026: Nixie (noun) A letter or package that’s undeliverable due to a faulty address. Or, a female water spirit. Or, one of those old-fashioned numeric displays consisting of a neon-filled glass tube and multiple cathodes.
05/10/2026: Grimthorpe (verb) To alter or remodel a building without taking its history and character into account. Named for Edmund Beckett, 1st Baron Grimthorpe, QC (1816–1905).
05/03/2026: Ulotrichous (adjective) Having tightly curled or “peppercorn” hair
04/26/2026: Distichiasis (noun) The condition, caused by a genetic mutation, of having double rows of eyelashes. One of its better known sufferers was actress Elizabeth Taylor.
04/19/2026: Absquatulate (verb) To slip out without being seen
04/12/2026: Semiotician (noun) An expert at reading signs, symbols, gestures, and other visual cues
04/05/2026: Jyngine (adjective) Wryneck-like. A wryneck is either of two species of European woodpeckers that can whip their heads around almost 180 degrees, which, combined with hissing, serves as a threat display.
03/29/2026: Idiolect (noun) The individualistic traits of a person’s speech. A further subdivision of dialect.
03/22/2026: Hapax legomenon (noun) The bane of dictionary authors, a word within a particular language that occurrs only once in the written record
03/15/2026: Mesonoxian (adjective) Pertaining to midnight
