Wondrous Words Wednesday

Wondrous Word Wednesday hosted by Kathy of BermudaOnion

Todays words have been taken from ARC of yet to be published The Merry Misogynist by Colin Cotterill

1) Compendium (Page 20): "So far, this young lady is a compendium of contradictions."

Pronunciation:

\kəm-ˈpen-dē-əm\

Function:

noun

Inflected Form(s):

plural com·pen·di·ums or -dia \-dē-ə\

Etymology:

Medieval Latin, from Latin, saving, shortcut, from compendere to weigh together, from com- + pendere to weigh

1: a brief summary of a larger work or of a field of knowledge : abstract
2 a: a list of a number of items b: collection, compilation

2) Conundrum (Page 50): He decided to focus his mind on the conundrum of why a beautiful young woman had such gnarled feet....

Pronunciation:

\kə-ˈnən-drəm\

Function:

noun

Etymology:

origin unknown

1: a riddle whose answer is or involves a pun
2 a: a question or problem having only a conjectural answer
b: an intricate and difficult problem

3) Abseiled (Page 179): A tiny delicate green caterpillar abseiled down a fine silk thread and landed on the open page.

Pronunciation:

\ˈab-ˌsāl, -ˌsī(-ə)l\

Function:

intransitive verb

Etymology:

German abseilen, from ab down, off + Seil rope

Date:

1941

chiefly British : rappel

— abseil noun

4) Butte (Page245): They arrived on top of the butte.

Pronunciation:

\ˈbyüt\

Function:

noun

Etymology:

French, knoll, from Middle French bute

: an isolated hill or mountain with steep or precipitous sides usually having a smaller summit area than a mesa

Meanings taken from http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Cover Attraction hosted by Marcia of The Printed Page