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Mar 27, 2009
This week's theme
Double trouble

This week's words
diptych
snake_eyes
portmanteau
zwieback
dicephalous

Life magazine cover: Abby and Brittany Hensel
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with Anu Garg

dicephalous

PRONUNCIATION:
(dai-SEF-uh-luhs)

MEANING:
adjective: Having two heads.

ETYMOLOGY:
From Greek dikephalos (two-headed), from di- (two) + kephale head. Ultimately from the Indo-European root ghebh-el- (head) that is also the root of the word gable.
A synonym of today's word, bicephalous, also has all distinct letters.

USAGE:
"A woman pregnant with Siamese twins with two heads and one body has spoken of her decision to keep them. Miss Chamberlain and Mr Pedace, 32, a Roman Catholic, hope their babies will follow the example of 18-year-old American dicephalous twins Abigail and Brittany Hensel, who share a body but lead a full life."
Ellen Widdup; Woman is Expecting Twins With One Body; The Evening Standard (London, UK); Jan 12, 2009.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:
Nothing is at last sacred but the integrity of your own mind. Absolve you to yourself, and you shall have the suffrage of the world. -Ralph Waldo Emerson, writer and philosopher (1803-1882)

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