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Mar 7, 2019
This week’s theme
Words from previous years

This week’s words
mondegreen
resistentialism
spoonerism
petrichor
omphaloskepsis

petrichor
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A.Word.A.Day
with Anu Garg

petrichor

PRONUNCIATION:
(PET-ri-kuhr)

MEANING:
noun: The pleasant smell that accompanies the first rain after a dry spell.

ETYMOLOGY:
Coined by researchers I.J. Bear and R.G. Thomas in 1964, from Greek petros (stone) + ichor (the fluid that supposedly flows in the veins of the gods in Greek mythology). Earliest documented use: 1964.

USAGE:
“Verity could smell the heavenly scent of petrichor rising up from the damp, hot summer pavement.”
Annie Darling; True Love at the Lonely Hearts Bookshop; HarperCollins; 2018.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:
If we had paid no more attention to our plants than we have to our children, we would now be living in a jungle of weeds. -Luther Burbank, horticulturist (7 Mar 1849-1926)

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