This week’s theme
Words derived from body parts

This week’s words
precipitous
oppugn
enervate
splenetic
eviscerate

---

A.Word.A.Day

PRONUNCIATION:

(spli-NET-ik)

MEANING:

adjective: Bad-tempered; spiteful.

ETYMOLOGY:

From spleen, from French esplen, from Latin splen, from Greek splen. Earliest documented use: 1398.

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, the spleen was considered to be the seat of emotions. To vent one's spleen was to vent one's anger.

USAGE:

“Kasit Piromya, Thailand’s splenetic foreign minister, has complained that other countries are not helping Thailand to catch a ‘bloody terrorist’.”
Picking Up the Pieces; The Economist (London, UK); May 27, 2010.

See more usage examples of splenetic in Vocabulary.com’s dictionary.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY: