November Word Alert

Eight new-to-me words I recently encountered:

  • hebdomadal: “a rare and curious term” for weekly; a hebdomad is a group of seven [days].
  • descanted: to descant is to sing or play a musical counterpoint.
  • hortatory: of prescriptive or persuasive speech; language that exhorts.
  • meed: an old term for one’s pay or due.
  • fils: French for son; appended to a name to distinguish a son from a father, similar to junior (but perhaps in cases where no such suffix is given as part of the name).
  • entente: a shared understanding or intent, especially in a geopolitical sense. (See also the more familiar détente.)
  • apopthegm: alternate spelling of apothegm: an aphorism or wise saying.
  • ambit: scope or extent; perhaps literally describing the route of a patrol but today more likely to denote the jurisdiction of an office.

Posted on Saturday, November 29th, 2025. Tags: .

←