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A.Word.A.Day--paraph

Pronunciation Sound Clip RealAudio

This week's theme: There is a word for it.

paraph (PAR-uhf, puh-RAF) noun

A flourish at the end of a signature, originally as a precaution against forgery.

[Via French and Latin from Greek paragraphos (a line showing a break in sense or a change of speakers), from para- (beside) + graphein (write). Ultimately from the Indo-European root gerbh- (to scratch), which also gave us crab, crayfish, carve, crawl, grammar, anagram, program, and graphite.]

Examples of paraphs (would that be paraphernalia?) :

Today's word in Visual Thesaurus.

-Anu Garg (words at wordsmith.org)

"This was a considerable feat in that he had recognised not only the initial upon the bedcloth, but its unique paraph in one corner." Linda Berdoll; Mr. Darcy Takes a Wife; Landmark; 2004.

X-Bonus

Too often I would hear men boast of the miles covered that day, rarely of what they had seen. -Louis L'Amour, novelist (1908-1988)
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