Apr
6
Paleooology
Filed Under P | 7 Comments
Paleooology is my favourite word because it has three “o”s in a row. What’s not to like? Also the idea that there’s a science devoted solely to fossilized eggs is quite pleasing.
James
UK
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(158 votes, average: 8.68 out of 10)
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Apr
6
Pulchritudinous
Filed Under P | 4 Comments
I love how a word that means “beautiful” is so ugly-sounding. It could make the best backhanded compliment, but at the same time it’s such an extravagant word that if someone knows what it means, it could also be the best kind of praise.
Krystle C.
Ottawa, Canada
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(136 votes, average: 8.82 out of 10) Loading ...
Apr
6
Tempestuous
Filed Under T | 3 Comments
It’s onomatopoeic without trying to be.
Bob
Northeast
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(79 votes, average: 6.89 out of 10) Loading ...
Apr
6
It’s that G at the beginning. The sound of the word fits its meaning somehow, but that G enables it to conjure up images of mis-shapen trees and terribly old men, so well that I find it oddly funny. Hope it’s not just me!
Mark Harwood
Isle of Arran
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(139 votes, average: 7.74 out of 10) Loading ...
Apr
6
Caveat
Filed Under C | Leave a Comment
This word is quite interesting… but there’s a caveat:
And that is how it’s done. It means a warning, essentially. This word is so ominous and imposing that it’s not even English. As a fun little extra, it also has three (at least) quick phrases that you can throw into almost any situation:
Caveat lector (let the reader beware),
Caveat emptor (let the buyer beware), and
Caveat venditor (let the seller beware).
Derek
Missouri
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(59 votes, average: 7.12 out of 10) Loading ...
Apr
6
Schenectady
Filed Under S | 9 Comments
It’s just fun to say. I like to say it and put the emphasis on different syllables until it starts to sound Chinese. It’s also a word I could easily imagine in a child’s rhyme game, it may actually be in one. It’s a word that I never have occasion to say in a functional manner, which makes it even better, purely a fun word. I hope I never meet anyone from Schenectady, because if I ever have to use the word in a real sentence, it may lose its luster.
Dawn Looney
Baton Rouge, LA
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(56 votes, average: 5.75 out of 10) Loading ...
Apr
6
I love this word. To me it connotes the crinkly eyes people get when they smile. I have a friend with crinkly eyes. Obviously, you have to avoid using the word to describe people who are perhaps older, as to others it can be interpreted as rude.
Hatti
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(50 votes, average: 6.58 out of 10) Loading ...
Apr
6
Pule
Filed Under P | Leave a Comment
There are so many whiners in this world but so few words to describe them.
Carol
Tx
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(44 votes, average: 6.48 out of 10) Loading ...
Apr
6
Syzygy
Filed Under U | 4 Comments
A word as difficult to find as an occurrence of its main meaning: the confluence of three or more celestial bodies. Its uniqueness in the world of English words–the second-longest word failing to contain a, e, i, o, or u, surpassed only by “rhythms” and tied with its singular–makes this one of my favorite words.
That, and it makes it look like Webster gave Lynyrd Skynyrd a chance to put a word in the dictionary.
Claudia
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(72 votes, average: 9.24 out of 10) Loading ...
Apr
6
Roughly speaking, a quale (plural “qualia”) is the character of a sensory experience. It’s not the color red as light (which is electromagnetic radiation with a wavelength of roughly 625–740 nm), but what you experience when looking at something red that you don’t experience when looking at something (e.g.) blue or green. It’s an important concept central to the philosophy of perception.
Kanenas
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(26 votes, average: 7.77 out of 10) Loading ...
