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Nov 23, 2023
This week’s themeSelf-referential words This week’s words monosemous double-barreled exolete pentasyllabic back-form 
Illustration: Anu Garg + AI
A.Word.A.Day
with Anu Gargpentasyllabic
PRONUNCIATION:
(pen-tuh-si-LAB-ik)
MEANING:
adjective: Having five syllables.
ETYMOLOGY:
From Greek penta- (five) + syllabic, from syllabe (syllable). Earliest
documented use: 1771.
NOTES:
The word fifteen-lettered has 15 letters and seventeen-lettered
has 17. The word odd has an odd number of letters, while even has an even number
of letters. There’s still some truth and justice in this world!
USAGE:
“Of course, ‘Chinese restaurant’ is pentasyllabic! Was even rash enough
to take out notebook to record idea.” Peter Burt; Confessions; Lulu; 2014. See more usage examples of pentasyllabic in Vocabulary.com’s dictionary. A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:
To seek understanding before taking action, yet to trust my instincts when
action is called for. Never to avoid danger from fear, never to seek out
danger for its own sake. Never to conform to fashion from fear of
eccentricity, never to be eccentric from fear of conformity. -Steven Brust,
novelist (b. 23 Nov 1955)
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