intelligence and legible

Intelligence (N):
intelligence is the ability to gain and apply knowledge and skills.

this word is related to a Russian word "intelligentsia", which is in fact derived from a Latin root,

Intelligentsia (N): intellectuals or highly educated people; the intellectual elite of a society.

the word intelligence can be split as "inter" which means ‘between’ + "legere" which means to ‘choose, pick out, read’;so an intelligent person has an ability to choose in between things, he can discern well.

Contextual example:
If you are intelligent, then you have a chance to be a part of intelligentsia.

cognates of this word are:
Legible (adj):
clear enough to read (here the verb root has meaning to read)

Contextual example:
I was not able to grade your homework as your handwriting is not legible.

Regards,
V

Immutable, mutability, transmute...

Well people do you remember a series of comics by the name “teenage mutant ninja turtles”? It was about 4 turtles fighting against evil; I think it was because of some chemical accident that these turtles mutate into giant anthropomorphic turtles [turtles that resemble humans - most animal cartoon characters are anthropomorphic]. Anyways today they are going to help us remember the aforementioned words. The word mutant comes from the Latin root “mutare”, which means to change.

Immutable (Adj): unchangeable.

This word can be split up into “im” which means “not”+ “mutare” means to change, which gives us "unchangeable" as the meaning.

Antonym: mutable

Context:
1) It has been found out that the nature favors change; nothing natural is immutable.

2) The night sky is not immutable, it just appears that way: the incredible speeds at which the stars are moving away from one another are imperceptible because of the vastness of the cosmos that they move in.

Mutability (N): ability to change form; fickleness
Mutability can be split up into “mutare” + “habilis” ( = able).

Context:
1) The mutability of the market creates both great risks and the possibility of great profit.

2) The mutability of loyalty in politics, means that those who are your friends today might be your enemies tomorrow.

Transmute (V): change; convert to something different

The root “trans” means “across, beyond, through” and “mutare” as we all know means “to change”. The word therefore conveys the idea of complete change, usually from a lowly state or condition to a better one. Thus the alchemists (the forerunners of modern chemist) in ancient days sought to transmute lead into gold.

Context:
Coming back to India after his master's, he was startled to see that the small, broken-down chai shop which had been his 'adda' had transmuted into into a glitzy shopping mall.

Some simple words to remember the root:

Commute (V): to travel, exchange.

Context:

He commuted each day to his office by a chartered aeroplane.

Mutual (Adj): shared by equally by two or more, common.

Context:

1) She was divorcing him because they no longer had any mutual understanding or affection.

2) Mutual funds allow people to invest money according to their ability into stocks that promise investors disproportionate returns.

Any TMNT fans like me? Then follow these links to read on http://www.ninjaturtles.com http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teenage_mutant_ninja_turtles

Regards,
V

perturb, imperturbable, turbid, turbulence...

Perturb (V): Disturb gently.
“Per” means “thoroughly” and “turbare” means “to disturb” which comes from “turba” which means “confusion.” .So to perturb somebody means to disturb him completely or thoroughly. Another cognate for this word is imperturbable.

Synonyms (N): Disturb, disquiet, discomfort, vex, agitate, muddle, and jumble.

Example: Just few minutes after the lecture started he was able to attain a state of nirvana such that nobody including his teacher was able to perturb him.

Imperturbable (Adj): Calm; placid.
“im” means “not” and perturb as we have seen means to disturb. So something that is imperturbable is a characterized by being calm and placid.

Example: His usual imperturbable face belied his agitated mind on that day.

Turbid (Adj): Muddy; having sediment distributed.
It is derived from Turbidus, which means full of confusion. Turbidus comes from the same root “turba” i.e. confusion.

Example: Current technology doesn’t allow us to handle such large volumes of turbid water for processing.

Turbulence (N): State of violent agitation.
Example: The plane crashed as soon as it was hit by turbulence.

Regards,

V

Neo, neologism, neon...

People remember the protagonist in the trilogy matrix reloaded. Yes I am talking about “Neo”. Neo comes from “neos”, which means “New, modern, recent”. It is quite surprising to find applications of this root.

Neonate (N):
A newborn infant, especially one less than four weeks old.
This word can be broken as “neo” which means new and “natus” which means to be born

Neonatal (Adj):
Relating to newborn infants.

Neologism (N):
A new word, expression, usage; creation or use of new words, coinage, portmanteau word. I think that portmanteau word needs a bit explanation.

Portmanteau word (N):
A word formed by merging the sounds and meanings of two different words for example we have a word from Barrons, chortle which comes from chuckle + snort.

Neophyte (N):
Recant convert; beginner.
This word can be broken as “neo” and “phutos” which means planted (phuton means plant).

Synonyms:
Beginner; rookie; novice; tyro; fledgling;

Neolithic (N):
Relating to the latest part of Stone Age characterized by the use of ground or polished stone implements and weapons.
The division of this word is “Neo” plus “lithos” which means stone.

Regards,
V

Kleptomania, Kletocracy..

Kleptomaniac (N): Person who has a compulsive disorder to steal.
“Kleptes” means “a thief” and “kleptein” means “to steal” and “mania” means “madness”.

These people get gratification from the act of stealing and the not from the possession of the stolen articles. (Well that’s why they are different than most of us HAHAHA)

A cognate of this word, which you won’t find in Barrons, is Kleptocracy. Now we know many words, which end with “cracy” such as aristocracy, and plutocracy etc. “Cracy” means government, rule. Thus Kleptocracy means a government in which the ruling body of thieves.

Kleptocracy (N): A ruling body of thieves; a nation ruled by thieves.

Another creepy cognate of this word is Kleptolagnia.

Kleptolagnia (N):
The practice of achieving sexual arousal through stealing; the compulsive urge to steal to serve this purpose.

Thus the word can be split as “klepto” + “lagneia” which means, “lust”

Klepht (N): A Greek brigand or bandit, A Greek fighter for independence especially against Turks.

The klephts were Greek mountain fighters who carried on guerrilla (Hit and Run kind of war) warfare against the Turks in 15th century for independence.

Regards,
V

plenary, replenish, deplete, replete, plenitude, plenty...

Plenary (Adj): complete, full.
This word is derived form the Latin root “plenus” which means “full”.

Contextual example:
After receiving plenary power to rule the country, predictably the dictator started to use it in his favor.

Antonyms: partial

Replenish (V): fill up again.
This word can be split as “re” which means “again” and “plenir” which is derived form the root “plenus”. “plenir” means “to fill”.

Contextual example:
To avoid stoppage in the manufacturing line we should replenish our stock of Mild steel plates.

Before leaving his camp he replenished his waterbottle, because the trek was going to be very long and potable water was scarce in that area.

Deplete (V): reduce, exhaust.
This word can be split as “de” (to do opposite of) + “plere” (full). Thus the meaning of the word develops as: to empty out, as inverse of filling is emptying.

Contextual example (reduce):
Because of the two accidental deaths, his near and dear ones were depleted to a few.

Contextual example (exhaust):
At the current high rate of consumption it is projected that petrol will be depleted in 85 years.

Antonyms: augment, increase

Plenitude (N): abundance, completeness.
This word comes from Latin root “plenitudo”, which in turn is derived from the root “plenus”.

Contextual example:
It was because of the plentitude of wealth and wisdom that India was invaded many times.

A quite rare word that I found related to the root “plenus”

Plenarium (N): A book or a manuscript containing a complete set of sacred writings

e.g. Gospels, Epistles. Some more familiar pleanirium’s: Vedas, Bhagwad geeta.

Contextual example:
For obtaining his degree in arts he had to study a complete plenarium.

Plenum (N): A space filled with matter at pressure greater than atmospheric pressure.

Contextual example:
The hovercraft was not able to achieve lift as the plenum chamber had many leaks. (A problem that we faced during our final year project)

To make your job of remembering the root “plenus” a tad easy, let me provide you with some easy to remember anchor words.

1) Plenty
2) Complete

Cognates, discussion, feedback are always welcome.

Regards,
V

Palimpsest, palindrome...

Palimpsest (N): Parchment (Skin of an animal prepared for writing, painting) used for second time after the original writing has been erased.

Something that is used again or altered but is still having the traces of it earlier form.
“Palin”, means “again” and “psestos” means, “rubbed smooth”. “Psetos” comes from “psen” which means to rub smooth.

Ex: “The house is a palimpsest of the tastes of successive owners”.

Remembering this word can be made easy by linking it up with its cognate, which is quite a familiar word, at least to Compsci people.

Palindrome (N): A word or a phrase that reads the same backwards as forwards.

Examples of palindrome are the numbers such as 12321 or 121 and names such as NITIN etc.
People you must have remembered the logic behind identifying a palindrome during your computer programming lab sessions, It is done by matching the numbers or characters in the given sequence (Matching the first and last and so on).

So the word can be broken as “palin” which means “again” and “dromos” means “running” (“dromos” comes from “dramein” which means to run). Thus the meaning is running back again.
More cognates (Not from barrons):

Palilalia (N): A speech disorder characterized by involuntary repetition of words, phrase, sentences

Palin + Lalia (speech, chatter)

Palilogy (N): Repetition of word or phrase for emphasis.

Regards,
V

humus, inhume and exhume...

nhume (V): Bury; inter; entomb.
This word can be broken as “in” meaning “in, within” and humus means, “earth”. The idea here is to place something into, within the earth. The next word is the antonym of this word and here “ex-“ means “out”. Thus the word means to take something out of ground.

Exhume (V): To remove from a grave disinter; disentomb; unearth.
Example:
“After the body is exhumed the DNA tests will be carried out in order to identify the victim”.

Humus (N): A black or brown organic material, which is consisting partially or wholly, decayed vegetable, which provides nutrients to plants and increases the ability of soil to retain water.
Humus is the Latin for soil.

Regards,
V

amble, ambulate, somnambulist, noctambulist, ambulatory, ambulant...

Amble (N and V): moving at an easy pace.
The word amble comes from the root “ambulare”, which means, "to walk”.

Contextual example:
Soon the trekkers came to know that they had to stop ambling in order to reach their destination before night.

Somnambulist (N): a person who walks in his sleep or performs other acts in his sleep.
Latin root “somnus” means, “sleep” and thus someone who walks in sleep is a somnambulist.

Noctambulist (N): a person who walks or moves about in night, somnambulist, sleepwalker.
The Latin root “nox” means “night” + “ambulari” .

Contextual example:
She came to know a tad too late that her husband was noctambulist/somnambulist as before she knew he had disappeared from the bed was bouncing around in the drawing room.


Ambulatory (N): able to walk; not bed ridden
After the checkup the doctor told the wounded shoulder that he was not going to be ambulatory for at least another month.

I found an archaic word related to this root “Ambulatorium” which means a place for walking. ”Ambulari” + “ory” which means a place for a particular purpose such as dormitory (place where you sleep), repository (place where you store things), refectory (place where you eat) etc.


Ambulant (Adj): walking especially in spite of a being injured or ill.

Contextual example:
The soldier tried in vain to prove to his superiors that he was ambulant.

Perambulate (V): Walk through, traverse.

Contextual example:
The errant knights saw that inscribed on the stone were the words “Those who dare to perambulate this passage shall not see light again ”

Preamble (N): introductory statement.

The word comes from latin root "prae" which means "before" + ambulari .So something that is going on before the main show, lecture etc starts up.

Contextual example:
The absence of the regular preamble to lecture conveyed the idea to students that the teacher was not in a very good mood today.

Funambulist (N): a person who performs tricks on a tight or a slack rope.
Latin root “funis” means “rope” + “ambulare”.

Contextual example:
The tricks that the funambulist was presenting generated nothing but a mild curiosity amongst the bystanders.

It should be noted that the word ramble is NOT a Cognate to the aforementioned words.

Ramble (V): Wander aimlessly (physically or mentally)

The word comes from root “Rammelen” which means “to wander about in a state of sexual desire”. The chief root is “rammen” meaning “to copulate”.

Contextual example:
Listening the politician ramble about topics ranging from rabies to rapid development of economy was really boring for the “janata”.

A simple word to remember this root, I bet you knows this one .Any guesses? Ya, it’s the word “Ambulance”. Hope this anchor word makes you remember the root “ambulare” and more importantly words associated with the same.


Cognates, discussion, feedback are always welcome.

Time required to generate this post 1:45 hr.

Regards,
V

Malleable, mallet...

Malleable (adj): able to be hammered or shaped without cracking or breaking, easily influenced, flexible, liable to change.

This word is very common to mechanical engineers jargon but the word can be used in a secondary sense also, which is: easily influenced. The word comes from the Latin root "malleus" which means "a hammer¨. The root "malleus¨ can be traced back to another root in Proto-Indo-European language (The supposed provenance of Indian and European languages) "mal-n¡¨ which means "crushing¨. Another word that I have seen in GRE domain also coming from the same root is the noun "mallet¨.

Contextual example:
As aluminum is malleable it is widely used in the sheet metal industry.

Contextual example:
Minds of children are very malleable and thus proper care should be taken especially during the childhood, so that they grow up to be rational human beings.

Mallet (n): a hammer with a large wooden head, a long handled wooden stick with a head like hammer which is used for playing croquet or polo.

Contextual example:
The player was very frustrated to know that his mallet was stolen by some miscreant.

You can even remember these words in an analogy fashion
Mallet (type of hammer): Malleable (something that can be worked with hammer without breaking)

Regards,

Lucifer, lucid...

Lucid (adj): 1) easily understood, clear, intelligible.
2) Showing an ability to think clearly.
This word comes from the Latin root “Lucidus” which means “bright”.

Contextual example:
Because of the professors lucid explanation the abstruse theory of quantum physics started to seem a tad more manageable to the students.

Lucent (adj): shining.
The root “lucidus” is derived form Latin root “lucere” which means, “to shine”, which in turn is derived from the root “lux” which means light. So something that gives out light is lucent.

If you might remember the firm by the name “Lucent technologies” create a mnemonic relating this word to the firm.

Contextual example:
Her lucent countenance belied her melancholic disposition.

In simple words her shining face misrepresented her sad mood. J

Another common cognate of this word is translucent.

Translucent (adj): allowing light to pass through partially; semi transparent.
This word can be split as “trans” (as in transparent, transgression) which means “through “+ “lucere”. Thus something that allows light to pass through partially is translucent.

Contextual example:
The presence of dregs made the water translucent.

Lux (N): SI unit of illumination.

As we have seen the Latin root “lux” means “light”, as far as remembering this root goes I would suggest link it up with the soap brand Lux (Lux aur kya J Imagine that by using this soap your countenance will radiate light, and finally we engineers would be able to find a cheap alternative source of energy).

Pellucid (adj): transparent, limpid, easy to understand.

This word can be split up as “per” which means “through” (as in perambulate, perdition)+ lucere. So something through which lux (light) can pass completely is pellucid.

Contextual example:
Just by looking through the pellucid water one was able to plumb the depth of the lake.

Contextual example:
In his third novel the writer veered of from his pellucid style of writing.

Lucifer (N): the devil, the planet Venus when it rises in the morning, (archaic) a match.

This word can be split up as lux (light) + fer (bearing) thus the meaning develops as light bearing, morning star. “Morning star” is a roman astrological term for the planet Venus, which is the brightest object in the sky after sun and moon. It reaches its maximum brightness shortly before sunrise and shortly after sunset hence the name.

Now the meaning “devil” comes from an archangel by the name Lucifer who in heaven motivated by pride led a revolution against god. On failing he was cast out of heaven .He is associated with the Satan (a word related to shaitan) (the devil) because of this revolt.

If there are any “Rasmus” fans over here like me they might know the song “Lucifer’s angel”.

Elucidate (V): explain, enlighten

This word can be split up as “e” which means “out “+ “lucid”, thus to make something lucid, clear the thing out is to elucidate it.

Regards,
V

Acrophobia, acropolis, acronym and acrobat...

Acrophobia (N): an abnormal fear of high places.
This word comes form the Latin root “akron” which literally means “extreme”, but the root also has the following meanings “top, summit, tip, beginning”. In this word the root is used to signify a phobia of high places. The root “phobia” (as in claustrophobia, hydrophobia) means “fear”.

Acropolis (N): the citadel of an ancient Greek city, which is built on high ground.
This word can be split up as “acro” + “polis”, which means “city” (as in megalopolis), thus a city on high ground can be called as an acropolis.
I will discuss the words related to the root “megalo” in my next article.

Contextual example:
In this acropolis we at least have a chance to defend ourselves against the invading hordes of Genghis khan.

Acronym (N): a word formed from the first letters of other words.
Here the root “acro” means “tip” and “onoma” (as in eponym, allonym, synonym, antonym etc) means “name”, the tip of each word from which the acronym is derived is considered to be its first letter and thus an acronym is formed from word tips i.e. first letter of each words.
Example: SONAR, LASER etc.

Acrobat (N): an entertainer who performs spectacular gymnastic feats.
This word can be split up as “akros” which means “high” + “bainein” which means, “to walk”, thus a person who walks and performs acts at some height away from ground is an acrobat.

Contextual example:
Even though he had acrophobia, he aspired to be an acrobat. (Now that’s what I call a paradox)

Some more words related to the root “acro”:
Acrylic
Acromegaly

Regards,
V

Loquacious anyone???

Loquacious (adj): talkative, garrulous.
This word comes from the Latin root “loqui” which means “to talk”.

Contextual example:
Listening to her loquacious boyfriend’s drab talk made her sleepy.

Circumlocution (N): the use of many words where fewer would do.
This word can be broken as “circum” (as in circumference, circumspect) which means “about, around” + “loqui”, thus the meaning develops as to talk around something i.e. not to be precise about something. When you are talking around something then you would generally use more words. To beat about the bush is a proverb that would give you fair enough idea of circumlocution.

Contextual example:
It was obvious that he was using circumlocution to buy time.

Somniloquy (N): sleep talking.
The Latin root “somnus” means “sleep” (as in somnambulism, insomnia, somnolent etc) + “loqui”, to talk in sleep is somniloquy.

I am not giving contextual examples for these nouns (somniloquy, soliloquy) as I think its fairly easy to understand these words even without context.

Soliloquy (N): a speech in a play when a character speaks when a character speaks their thoughts aloud when alone or regardless of hearers. Thus the meaning develops as to speak about something when you are alone.

This word can be broken as “solus” (as in solitude, solitaire, solo, solitary) which means “alone” + “loqui”.

Regards,
V

Sedentary and resident...

Sedentary (adj): involving sitting. The root for this word is 'sedere' meaning sit. Know the roots to get the fruits!

Usage
The sedentary lifestyle of the 20^th century is the reason that we have so many obese people today.

Anchor Word
Resident (re + sedere) - the idea is of a person who has chosen to 'sit' i.e. settle in a particular place)

Regards,
V

Imponderable, preponderance , ponder, equiponderance and ponderous...

Imponderable (adj): difficult or impossible to assess, without appreciable weight.
The word comes from Latin root “ponderare” which means “to weigh”, this word can be split as “im” which means “not” (as in impossible) + “ponderable” which means “able to weighed”.

Contextual example:
The engineer remarked “With such less data at hand the situation is imponderable”.

“The newly discovered metal composite was imponderable, still had strength five times as that of steel”.

Preponderance (N): the state of being greater in number.

Contextual example:
“There has been preponderance of men in the field of National defense till now.”

Ponder (V): consider carefully, think.
To ponder means to figuratively weigh something out in order to evaluate it.

Contextual example:
“After pondering over the facts which showed that the ABC soft was not making much profit, the group head decided to close it down and thus quit IT segment entirely”.

Equiponderance (N): equality of weight, equipoise.
This word can be split as “aequus” which means “equal” (as in equality, equity, equanimity, equipoise etc) + “ponderare” which as we have seen means “to weigh”, thus state of weighing equal is equiponderance.

Ponderous (adj): having great weight; boringly solemn and long winded.

Contextual example:
“His ponderous account of business trip lulled her”.

Regards,
V

Abundant, undulating and inundate

Abundant (adj):Overflowing; more than sufficient, plentiful

This word can be split into“ab”, which means “over” and “undare” which means, “flow” (the verb “undare” comes form “unda”, which means “a wave”). So, the word abundant refers to a thing supplied so generously that it overflows.

Context:
The region, abundant in natural resources, was a bone of contention among the neighboring countries.

Undulating (adj): moving with a wave like motion, having a wavy form or surface.

Something that follows a path similar to waves is undulating.

Context:

The plain was not entirely flat, but full of gentle slopes, giving the impression of an undulating sea of grass.

Inundate (v.): overwhelm; flood; submerge.

The word can be split up into “in” which means “into, within” and “unda”, so the meaning that emerges is that of 'being in the waves' or of 'the waves coming in'. In either case we get the idea of a place or person being flooded or submerged by something.

Context:
As soon as he published the book “The Dilbert Principle” Scott Adams was inundated with letters, in which people shared the strange experiences they had at their workplaces.

Regards,
V

Millennium, Biennial, Perennial, Annals:

All the aforementioned words are derived from the Latin root “annus” which means “year”.

Millennium (n):
This word can be split up into “mille” meaning “thousand” and “annus” meaning “year”. Thus millennium means a period of a thousand years. Some more familiar cognates of the root “milli” are milligram, million (a number obtained by multiplying thousand by thousand). Millennium is also considered a period of happiness.

Context:
The millennium bug was one of the most over-hyped bugs in the history of computers.

Biennial (adj): taking place every other year, (of a plant) living two years.
“Bi” means “two” (as in biceps, bigamy), so biennial event is something that occurs after two years (NOT twice a year - twice a year is biannual).

Context:
Because of the biennial nature of the cultural festival, it was one of the most eagerly awaited events taking place in the college.

Perennial (adj): lasting throughout the year, permanent.
As we know that “per” means “through” (as in pervade, permeate and perforate) and “annus” means “year”. Thus something that is present throughout the year is perennial.

[/b]Context[/b]:
The presence of perennial rivers is paramount for the development of a civilization.

Annals (n): a historical record of events year by year.
This word is derived from the root “annales” which in turn is derived from “annus”

[/b]Context[/b]:
Because of his unbeaten 400 runs against the intimidating English team, he has bagged a permanent place in the annals of cricket.

Simple word to remember this root:
Annual

Regards,
V

Vitreous, vitrify

Vitreous (adj): resembling or containing glass.
This word comes from the Latin root “vitreus” which means “glassy, transparent”. This root in turn is derived from Latin root “vitrum” which means “glass”. A term which is cognate to this root is “in vitro” which means “in glass”; you may have seen this term in relation to “in vitro fertilization”. Well there are two types of fertilization: one is “in vivo” (in the living system, in the life form) and other is “in vitro” (as the fertilization is done in Petri dish which is made of glass.)

Vitrify (V): convert into glass or a glass like substance by exposure to heat.
People you might have heard about a particular type of tiles that are quite famous these days, by name “vitrified tiles”, they are called so because they undergo a process called as “Vitrification” which gives them a shiny, glass like appearance. For more information about Vitrification follow this link.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vitrification

Vitreous humor (N): the transparent jelly like tissue filling the eyeball behind the lens. It provides structural support to the eyeball and offers an unobstructed path for light to reach the retina. For more information about this fluid follow this link (especially you can check out the schematic diagram of human eye, to know exactly where the fluid is present in the eye).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vitreous_humour

Regards,
V

Vagrant thoughts inside...

vague (adj): Not clearly expressed, inexplicit, obscure. This comes from the L vagus 'wandering'.

Context:
The CEO was a bit vague about the specifics of the action plan, which he said would triple the firm's profits.

Difficult Cognates

vagary (n): whim, caprice or an unpredictable or erratic action, instance, course etc.

This word comes from the “Latin” root “vagary” which means “to wander, or to roam”; it can be further traced back to “vagus” which means wandering.

Context:
The vagaries of the stock market make trading on it a risky business.

(By the way guys and gals, with regard to 'caprice,' do you remember the model by the name of“Caprice Bourret”. Create a mnemonic relating her whims with the word vagrant, but don’t forget it is her behavior that relates to the word and not her beauty. HAHAHA

If you want to read more about her follow this link:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caprice_Bourret)

vagrant (n): homeless wanderer. “Vagari” means “to wander”, that is to move aimlessly about from one place to another. Hence the meaning of this word. A person without a home has no choice but to wander from one place to another.

Context:
Everybody thought that the shabby stranger was a vagrant: none knew that he was their king in disguise.

vagrant (adj): stray, random.

Context:
He controlled his vagrant thoughts by practicing pranayama and yoga.

vagabond[/u] (n): wanderer, tramp. This is a synonym for vagrant meaning 'homeless wanderer'.

Context:
Sometimes he felt like running away and becoming a [u]vagabond, following nothing except his vagrant impulses.

Regards,
V

Words from history...

Chauvinist (N): blindly devoted patriot; zealous adherent of a group or a cause.
Background
This word comes from a legendary French soldier Nicolas Chauvin who was famous for his devotion to Napoleon Bonaparte. He was popularized as a character in “La cocarde tricolere”.

Stentorian (Adj): Extremely loud.
Background
This word comes “Stentor” a Greek herald in Trojan War famous for his powerful voice in the Iliad (an epic by Homer that recounts the story of Trojan war).
Cognate: stentorious (Adj).
Synonyms: stentorious, booming, roaring, thundering, ear splitting, resonant.

Narcissism (N): Excessive love or admiration of oneself.

Background
This word comes from “Narcissus” a character from Greek mythology who fell in love with his own reflection in water and pined away (waste away from longing or grief). He was transformed into a flower that bears his name.

Narcissus (N): Any of numerous bulbous spring flowering plants belonging to genus narcissus, which are known for their narcotic properties. “Narke”means numbness

Cognate: narcotic (Adj and N).

Martinet (N): A strict disciplinarian, one who demands absolute adherence to forms and rules.

Background
This word comes from a French drillmaster Jean Martinet .The system of drill invented by him in 17th century is also called as martinet.
After Jean Martinet a French army officer.

Example:
Even in his own household the man was a dreaded martinet; none in his family dared disobey him: not his children, not his wife, not even his mother.

Cognate
Martinettish (Adj): Having the characteristics of a martinet.


Regards,

V

Melancholy and melanin...

Melancholy (n): deep and long lasting sadness
Melancholic (adj): sad or depressed

This word is derived from the Greek root “melas” which means “black” and “kholia” which means "bile". The Greeks believed that four fluids (or humors) (blood, yellow bile, black bile and phlegm) controlled the health and mood of the human body. The humor “black bile” was supposed to be secreted by kidneys and spleen and its presence in excess was supposed to be the cause of sadness.

Context:
No matter how hard he tried, he was not able to hide his melancholy.

Another word derived from the same root which is familiar to us because of the TV commercials (Those sun screen lotion “wale” advertisements). The word is melanin.

Melanin (N): a dark pigment in the hair and the skin which is responsible for the tanning of the skin exposed to sunlight.

Context:
Melanoma is a form of skin cancer which develops in the cells that produce melanin.

Melanoma further can be can be split up as (melas = black + oma =disease or morbidity)

Regards,
V

Calligraphy, Callisthenic's and Callipygian...

Calligraphy (N): beautiful handwriting.

This word can be broken as "kallos" which means "beauty" and "graphia" which means "writing", the root "graphia" comes from verb root "graphein" which means "to write". So common cognates of the root graphy or graph are graphical, autograph, seismograph, photograph, graphite etc

Callisthenic's (N Pl): gymnastic exercise to achieve fitness and grace of movement.

This word also comes from the same root and can be broken as “kallos” + "sthenos" which means, "strength".

Callipygian (Adj): pertaining to having or having well-shaped buttocks.

This word comes from the statue by name "Venus Kallipygos" or "Callipygian Venus" or "Aphrodite Callipygos" (which means a Greek goddess of love having beautiful buttocks), for more information you can just search by using the name mentioned above. The word can be split as "callos" + "puge" which means, "buttocks".

California (N):

Does the word California comes from the same root? Well the explanation that I found was not much concrete, the name California is believed to come from a island ruled by Queen Califia, this was described in a 16^th century novel named "Las Serges de Esplandian". In this novel a utopian land rich in gold and ruled by Amazons is described.

Regards,
V

Abbreviate, brevity and brief...

Abbreviate (V): shorten (a word, phrase, or text).

This word can be split up as "ad" (as in ad infinitum (without limit)) which means "to" + "breviare" which is verb root, in turn it comes from the Latin root "brevis", which means "short". So abbreviate literally means "to shorten".

Abbreviation (N): a shortened form of a word.

Contextual example:

Acronyms and abbreviations are different; an abbreviation is a shortened form of a word or a phrase for example: "miss" is an abbreviation of "mistress". Whilst acronym is strictly formed from the initial letters of the words, for example LASER (light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation).

Brevity (N):

• Concise and exact use words.

• Shortness of time.

Contextual example:

The Spartans were known for brevity of speech.

Synonyms: conciseness, curtness, pithiness, succinctness, terseness.

Antonyms: lengthiness, wordiness, long-windedness.

Anchor words:

In order to make the task of remembering this root a tad easy,you can use the word "brief" as an anchor word.

Feedback, cognates, discussion are as always welcome.

Regards,
V

Endorse and dorsal...

Endorse (V): 1) sign, superscribe, autograph. 2) approve, support.

This word can be split up as "in" which here means "on" + "dorsum" which means "back", the word gets its meaning from the practice of adding comments on the back of a document in order to extend or limit its provisions. You might be familiar to this practice, the most common example is: signing on the back of check, in order to show your consent.

Contextual example:
Satyagrihis do not endorse use of violence.

Another cognate of this word is:
Dorsal (adj): having to do with the upper side or back

Contextual example:
A dorsal fin is located on the back of fishes like dolphins, whales etc.

Regards,
V

Stellar, Constellation

The other day I was watching this movie 'Italian job' in which "Charlize Theron" is in as "Stella Bridger", and she is really good at picking locks. This name of hers quite fascinated me as it was sounded quite similar to some of the words that I knew. I would be discussing these words in this post.

Stellar (Adj):

• having to do with stars

• having the quality of a star entertainer or performer, brilliant, outstanding

This word comes from the Latin root "stella" which means "a star", so something that is related to star is stellar

Contextual example:

Her stellar performance at the show was lauded appropriately.

Constellation (N): a group of stars forming a recognized pattern.

This word can be split up as "con" which means "together" and "stella" which means "star", so stars that appear to be together are said to be part of a constellation.

Some examples of constellation are:

Orion, Scorpius, Leo etc.

Regards,
V