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Aug 3, 2020
This week’s theme
Words derived from body parts

This week’s words
iron-hearted
pugnacious
ithyphallic
chicken-livered
hysteric

iron-hearted
Photo: Kanisis / Dreamstime

Previous week’s theme
Words having origins in tree names
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A.Word.A.Day
with Anu Garg

The heart is the seat of emotions. That’s what people in earlier times believed and that’s how languages have grown to have terms such as sweetheart, cruel-hearted, dishearten, heartbreak, and more.

The heart is an important part, but it takes a whole bunch of parts to make a body run. This week, I have collected words derived from various body parts, both internal and external.

These words are nowadays used metaphorically to describe someone. Can you think of a person for each of these words? For extra credit, identify one person to whom all these words would apply.

Update on the cherry tree I mentioned last week. Sunday (Aug 2) evening when I came out for a walk, the tree was gone. 10 years to grow a tree. 10 minutes to turn it into a stump.

iron-hearted

PRONUNCIATION:
(EYE-uhrn-har-tid)

MEANING:
adjective: Cruel; unfeeling.

ETYMOLOGY:
From iron, from Old English iren + heart, from Old English heorte. Earliest documented use: 1570.

USAGE:
“the steely Gullah slave
who was his grey-eyed
great-great-great-grandmother
survived endless snares
to savor a life, scot-free
of iron-hearted masters,
harsh shouts, & malarial fields.”
Cyrus Cassells; Praise Song; African American Review (St Louis, Missouri); Fall 2015.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:
What a child doesn't receive he can seldom later give. -P.D. James, novelist (3 Aug 1920-2014)

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