Today's Word

Yesterday's Word

Archives

FAQ

May 11, 2004

This week's theme
Words to describe people

This week's words
polyhistor
heteroclite
apostate
polyvalent
clodhopper

A.Word.A.Day on your site
Add the daily word to your web page. It is free.

---

heteroclite

adjective:
1. Deviating from the ordinary rule; eccentric.
2. (In grammar) Irregularly inflected.

noun:
1. A person who is unconventional; a maverick.
2. A word that is irregularly formed.

[From Middle French, from Late Latin heteroclitus, from Greek heteroklitos, from hetero- + klinein (to lean, inflect). Ultimately from the Indo-European root klei (to lean). Other words derived from the same root are decline, incline, recline, lean, client, climax, and ladder.]

"They (candidates) are a heteroclite bunch."
Philip Revzin; Will Italians Vote To Send a Scotsman To EC Parliament?; The Wall Street Journal (New York); Jun 16, 1989.

"I might have imagined. Nor could I have dreamed the heteroclite crew -- men I had met aboard Tzadkiel's ship." Gene Wolfe; The Urth of the New Sun; Tor Books; 1997.

X-Bonus