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Jul 1, 2016
This week’s theme
Color words derived from animals

This week’s words
vermeil
teal
ponceau
taupe
sepia

A drawing by Leonardo da Vinci in sepia ink
A drawing in sepia ink
by Leonardo da Vinci

This week’s comments
AWADmail 731

Next week’s theme
Words with initial silent letters
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A.Word.A.Day
with Anu Garg

sepia

PRONUNCIATION:
(SEE-pee-uh)

MEANING:
noun: 1. A reddish brown color. 2. A brown pigment originally made from the cuttlefish ink. 3. A drawing made with this pigment. 4. A monochrome photograph in this color.
adjective: Of a reddish-brown color.

ETYMOLOGY:
From Latin sepia (cuttlefish), from Greek sepia (cuttlefish). Earliest documented use: 1569.

USAGE:
“I know it sounds strange to invoke the sepia-toned suffering of the 1930s when we’re talking about an economy that has only 5.1 percent unemployment.”
Matt O’Brien; Brexit’ and the Far Right’s Rise in UK and Elsewhere; The Washington Post; Jun 1, 2016.

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

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:
The American who first discovered Columbus made a bad discovery. -Georg Christoph Lichtenberg, scientist and philosopher (1 Jul 1742-1799)

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