This week's theme
Words derived from body parts

This week's words
cordate
amanuensis
impedimenta
spleen
mansuetude

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A.Word.A.Day

PRONUNCIATION:

(spleen)

MEANING:

noun:
1. An abdominal organ serving to clean blood.
2. Bad temper.

ETYMOLOGY:

From French esplen, from Latin splen, from Greek splen. Earliest documented use: 1300.

NOTES:

In earlier times it was believed that four humors controlled human behavior and an imbalance resulted in disease. According to this thinking, an excess of black bile secreted by the spleen resulted in melancholy or ill humor. Also, spleen was considered to be the seat of emotions. To vent one's spleen was to vent one's anger.

USAGE:

"On other issues Mr Ivanishvili has been full of spleen about misrule, but hazy about what he would do differently."
A Stunning Victory; The Economist (London, UK); Oct 6, 2012.

See more usage examples of spleen in Vocabulary.com's dictionary.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY: