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Word of the day

concupiscent

[ kon-kyoo-pi-suhnt, kong- ]

adjective

lustful or sensual.

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More about concupiscent

Not many Latin words are as easy to break down into their component parts as concupiscent is. The first element is a variant of the preposition and prefix cum “with,” here used as an intensive prefix (“thoroughly”). The second element is the Latin root cup- “desire.” The third, -isc, is the inceptive (also called inchoative) suffix (“beginning to …”). The final element is -ent, the inflectional stem of the present participle; concupiscent literally means “beginning to strongly desire” or simply “desirous.” Concupiscent entered English in the 14th century.

how is concupiscent used?

He looks at Faust’s romance with Gretchen (Camilla Horn) with an agonized tenderness, and at Mephisto’s courtship of the concupiscent Marthe (Yvette Guilbert) with rib-shaking ribaldry.

Richard Brody, "What to Stream This Weekend," The New Yorker, February 24, 2018

He’d have bet his Porsche, from that one look, that she had summed him up as one more concupiscent old guy, easily manipulated.

Edward Falco, Wolf Point, 2005
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Word of the day

palpebral

[ pal-puh-bruhl, pal-pee-bruhl, -peb-ruhl ]

adjective

of or relating to the eyelids.

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More about palpebral

The Latin noun palpebra (also palpebrum) “eyelid” is composed of the verb palpāre “to touch, stroke, caress” and -brum, a suffix forming nouns of instruments, e.g., candēlābrum “a stand for holding several candles, candelabra.” Palpāre derives from a complicated Proto-Indo-European root pāl- (from peǝl-) and its many variants, e.g., pel-, pelǝ-, plē-, etc. “to touch, feel, flutter, float.” A palpebra is “something that flutters (quickly).” The root is also the source of Latin palpitāre “(of a pulse) to beat, pulsate,” pāpiliō “butterfly, moth,” and Old English fēlan “to examine by touch,” English feel. Palpebral entered English in the mid-18th century.

how is palpebral used?

adrift on a gold-brown leather recliner, / the little finger of her left hand tapping / on the crocheted antimacassar, / palpebral twitches of chronic hypnagogia.

Rodney Jones, "Requiem for Reba Portis," Village Prodigies, 2017

In his palpebral vision, she beckoned.

Richard Fariña, Been Down So Long It Looks Like Up to Me, 1966
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Word of the day

mump

[ muhmp, moomp ]

verb

to sulk; mope.

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More about mump

The rare English verb mump is akin to the equally rare Dutch mompen “to mumble, grumble,” and the magnificent German verbs mumpfen “to chew with one’s mouth full” and mimpfeln “to mumble while eating.” The Germanic verbs most likely derive from a Proto-Indo-European root meuǝ- “be silent,” from which English also derives mum “silent,” Latin mūtus “silent, mute,” and Greek mustḗrion “secret rite, mystery,” a derivative of mústēs “an initiate,” a derivative of mueîn “to initiate, instruct, teach,” itself a derivative of múein “to close the eyes, mouth, or other opening” (lest one reveal what is not to be revealed). Mump entered English in the 16th century.

how is mump used?

Up, Dullard! It is better service to enjoy a novel than to mump.

Robert Louis Stevenson, "Letter to his Mother, December 30, 1883" Selected Letters of Robert Louis Stevenson, 1997

Come, my dear fellow, do not spoil the excellent impression you have already made. I am sure to mump and moan is not in you …

John Collis Snaith, The Wayfarers, 1902
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