A.Word.A.Day -- pavid

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A.Word.A.Day--pavid

This week's theme: Words to describe people.

pavid (PAV-id) adjective

Timid; fearful.

[From Latin pavere (to be frightened). Ultimately from the Indo-European root pau- (to cut, stroke, or stamp) that is also the source of amputate, compute, dispute, and count.]

"Ah remember his filthy bearded face twisted with terror, his pavid hands trembling, his pathetic sobbing."
Nick Cave; And the Ass Saw the Angel; Black Spring Press; 1989.

X-Bonus

Nothing is more humbling than to look with a strong magnifying glass at an insect so tiny that the naked eye sees only the barest speck and to discover that nevertheless it is sculpted and articulated and striped with the same care and imagination as a zebra. Apparently it does not occur to nature whether or not a creature is within our range of vision, and the suspicion arises that even the zebra was not designed for our benefit. -Rudolf Arnheim, psychologist and author (1904-2007)

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