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What are some of your favorite words you've come across while reading? (sh.itjust.works)

submitted 1 year ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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Mine is "palimpsest". I first encountered this word while reading The Secret History by Donna Tartt.

Definition: a manuscript or piece of writing material on which the original writing has been effaced to make room for later writing but of which traces remain.

I love that there's a word for this.

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[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 year ago (1 children)

"Defenestrate". Meaning to throw someone or something out of a window.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

Ahh yeah! That's another one of my favorites

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Mine is “snickerdoodle” which brought back long forgotten memories of bake sales. Also it’s just a delightful word!

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

One of the best cookies

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

One in Spanish that I really liked: arrebol. The definition is “the reddish colour of the sky during twilight”. It’s a pretty word for a pretty concept. 🌅

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

Love that

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

I just came across "palimpsest" for the first time recently too! It was while reading The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue, by VE Schwab. It's been a while since I had to look a word up, so it stuck in my mind, lol.

[–] BrerChicken 2 points 1 year ago

I'm a big fan of portmanteau, not a hard one but a fun one. And in Spanish the word cuaderno always made me happy, it means "notebook."

[–] FantasticFox 1 points 1 year ago

"Incipient" - it means something that is just beginning.

[–] Knoll0114 1 points 1 year ago

Florid; as in, "Wilde's florid prose..."

I don't know why but it's stuck in my mind since.

[–] whomst 1 points 1 year ago

Susurrus (n) a soft murmuring or rustling sound; whisper

It's just fun to say

[–] myhouseonneptune 1 points 1 year ago

Pulchritudinous! It means pretty, but it sounds like an insult :-D