It’s Wednesday and that means it’s time to learn some new words! Wondrous Words Wednesday, hosted by Kathy at Bermuda Onion, is a meme which encourages us to share words we have learned while reading. The words I share will sometimes be completely new to me, and other times they will be words I am familiar with, and maybe even use correctly, but when I think about how to explain the meaning, I’m lost — I have to look it up. It’s all about expanding my vocabulary!
apocryphal - of doubtful authenticity, although widely circulated as being true
“But in that first storm, suffering from exposure and frostbite and desperate, he’d remembered an idea he’s previously dismissed as apocryphal.”
satsuma - a tangerine of a hardy loose-skinned variety, originally grown in Japan
“We divide the Earth up into segments like a peeled satsuma,” she says.
chiaroscuro - an effect of contrasted light and shadow created by light falling unevenly or from a particular direction on something
“She switched on the cab’s light and saw her own face as a chiaroscuro in the windscreen against the darkness outside.”
paraselenae - a bright spot in the sky similar to a parhelion but formed by moonlight; also called mock moon or moon dog.
“She realized that two of the moons were paraselenae”
And of course we need to know that meaning of....
parhelion - any of several bright spots often tinged with color that often appear on the parhelic circle called also sun dog.
parhelic circle - a luminous circle or halo parallel to the horizon at the altitude of the sun, also called parhelic ring.
What new-to-you words have you discovered this week?
I am familiar with the phrase sun dog, but have never heard parhelion or parhelic circle. All new to me today. Interesting words.
ReplyDeleteI knew chiaroscuro from my art training and apocryphal from religious conversations. The whole "sun dog" thing is new to me. Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteThe only one i knew was satsuma.
ReplyDeleteThat's quite a cache you have here today. They are all new to me.
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