This week's theme
Words made with combining forms

This week's words
logophile
homologous
hagiarchy
archetype
dactylography

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A.Word.A.Day

PRONUNCIATION:

(huh-MOL-uh-guhs, hoh-)

MEANING:

adjective:
1. Exhibiting a degree of correspondence or similarity.
2. Corresponding in structure and evolutionary origin, but not necessarily in function.
For example, human arm, dog foreleg, bird wing, and whale flipper are homologous.

ETYMOLOGY:

From Greek homo- (same) + logos (word, proportion, reason). Earliest documented use: 1660.

USAGE:

"Hobbes argues that the family constitutes a structure homologous to the state."
Jean Bethke Elshtain; Sovereignty: God, State, and Self; Basic Books; 2008.

"The Guide seemed to make a sign by certain motions of his robe which may or may not have involved the lifting of an arm or some homologous member."
HP Lovecraft; The Dreams in the Witch House and Other Weird Stories; Penguin; 2004.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY: