This week’s theme
Words related to time

This week’s words
anachronistic
kairos
chiliad
epoch
isochronal

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A.Word.A.Day

PRONUNCIATION:

(KY-rahs)

MEANING:

noun: The right time for taking an action; a decisive moment.

ETYMOLOGY:

From Ancient Greek kairos (a fitting time). In Modern Greek the word means weather or time. Earliest documented use: 1936.

NOTES:

There’s the regular time, chronos, the mundane one that keeps moving. Then there’s kairos, the special occasion, the opportune moment to do something. In Salviati’s painting, notice Time putting his finger on the scale -- he can do it because it’s not the boring 9-5 kind of time. Rather, it’s the one where stars are aligned, winds are favorable, and the universe is conspiring in your favor. It’s meant to be. Seize the day. Kairos, the Greek god of opportunity, is putting his thumb (or finger) on the scale in your favor. What are you waiting for?

USAGE:

“Barbara said, ‘I imagined her as having entered more fully into kairos -- the appointed time, the fullness of time. There’s a suspension of certainty.’”
Rachel Aviv; The Edge of Identity; The New Yorker; Apr 2, 2018.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY: