February 05, 2014

Return to Wondrous Words

Ah, my fellow word-lovers, it is so good to be returning to some of my favorite memes--in other words, to be fully engaged in blogging again--and one of my absolute favorites since I first discovered it a couple of years ago is "Wondrous Words Wednesday". Together, we celebrate new words we come across each week, whether we've never seen them before, have seen them but do not know their definitions, or are simply unsure of our understanding of them. In this week's entry, I happen to have one of each.

Brand New to Me:
1. trigram/hexagram--these are the names of the symbols around which the Chinese classic, the I Ching, centers, and upon which its pearls of wisdom are based. A trigram is so called because it is composed of three lines, while a hexagram consists of six. I decided to do some research on this work when I spotted a copy in the library earlier in the week, and it has proven quite fascinating.

Seen But Not Previously Known:
2. Invidious--"likely to arouse or incur resentment or anger in others," so says Google. I came across this one in an episode of the British panel show, QI. Thank you, Stephen Fry.

Known But I was not Sure if I was Correct:
3. Autochthonous--Merriam Webster Online defines this term as "formed or originating in the place where found," and Google adds that this something or someone "indigenous rather than descended from migrants or colonists." I was on the right track, but didn't have a clear picture of this meaning until I checked into it further. This one came from the introduction of the translation of the I Ching I've been reading.


7 comments:

  1. I thought I knew hexagram and trigram but looked them up and found they look different than I thought. Autochthonous is completely new to me and I do understand it but I'm not sure about using it since I can't figure out how to pronounce it!

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  2. Love learning new words, and yours are wow, anomalous. LOL

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  3. Hi Jennifer,

    I didn't 100% know of your words this week, although some of them I could have probably worked out ... Trigram and Hexagram are very similar to triangle and hexagon .... Invidious is very similar to envious.

    Autochthonous is completely new to me and one I would never have guessed in a million years. I have trouble saying it, let alone spelling it correctly!

    Thanks for sharing such unusual words,

    Yvonne.

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  4. Love invidious, the way it rolls off the tongue. Not feeling the third one, made my brain shut down mid-pronounciation. This is a nice meme. Notice you didn't IWSG this month young lady but maybe next month.

    ---Greetings from a February IWSG Cohost.

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    Replies
    1. You have to wait until Wednesday is over! :) I'm getting ready to post my IWSG entry right now.

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  5. What a brilliant idea - I always mean to look words up straight away but can't be bothered to get up and get the dictionary most of the time! You've inspired me! Thanks for visiting my blog :-) Linda

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  6. By popular demand, here is how you pronounce my final word:
    a-TOK-tho-nus
    Hope that helps a little.

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