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Sep 13, 2016
This week’s theme
Words to describe people

This week’s words
boulevardier
pachyderm
revenant
rhapsode
bon viveur

pachyderm
Photo: Haider Ali

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A.Word.A.Day
with Anu Garg

pachyderm

PRONUNCIATION:
(PAK-i-duhrm)

MEANING:
noun
1. Someone or something having thick skin, for example, elephant, hippopotamus, and rhinoceros.
2. An insensitive person.
3. A person who is not affected by criticism or ridicule.

ETYMOLOGY:
From French pachyderme, from Greek pakhudermos (thick-skinned), from pakhus (thick) + derma (skin). Ultimately from the Indo-European root der- (to split, peel, or flay), which also gave us tear, tart, turd, and Hindi dalit (oppressed, crushed). Earliest documented use: 1828.

USAGE:
“This pachyderm we work for can survive a few slings and arrows.”
Arthur Hailey; Overload; Doubleday; 1979.

See more usage examples of pachyderm in Vocabulary.com’s dictionary.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:
Much of writing might be described as mental pregnancy with successive difficult deliveries. -J.B. Priestley, author (13 Sep 1894-1984)

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