WORD GROUPS

Some Three-Letter Words You May Not Know

[1] APE - To ape someone is to imitate them, often in a mocking way. Most people don't like being

aped. To ape is to imitate, but it can mean a few different things. One type of aping is to blatantly

imitate something or someone in every way. That's considered a bad thing because it's so

unoriginal — it's a rip-off. Another kind of aping is like a caricature — to ape in this way is a way

of making fun or spoofing someone. Either way, you probably don't want to be accused of aping.

[2] DUN - Use the adjective dun for something that’s a dusty grey brown color, like a dun cow, or

the dun entry rug that used to be white. The noun and adjective forms of dun all relate to color. It

probably comes from German roots, and may be related to the word dusk, as a dun color has a

dull quality that you might associate with dusk or fading light. A dun horse is called a Dun. As a

verb, to dun means to attempt to collect an overdue bill. You might dun your brother for that $10

he owes you from 3 months ago.

[3] KEN - The noun ken means "range of vision or comprehension." If quantum mechanics is

beyond your ken, you don't understand it, or it is beyond your scope of knowledge. Ken is rarely

used today outside of the phrase, "beyond one'sken." It goes all the way back, however, to Proto

Indo-European, the reconstructed ancestor of most European, Near Eastern, and South Asian

languages. Coming from the root *gno- "to know," ken has many relatives in modern English such

asincognito, cunning, and know itself.

[4] SOW - When you plant seeds in the ground, you sowthem. You can also sow things like doubts

or ideas, simply by spreading them around. If your ideas (or your seeds) develop and grow,

you've successfully sown them. The verb sow is pronounced completely differently from the noun

sow, which means "a female pig." When you sow flower seeds, it rhymes with "go." When you

admire an enormous, muddy sow in a pig pen, it rhymes with "cow." When two words are spelled

the same but sound different, they're calledheteronyms.

[5] VEX - If something vexes you, it brings you trouble or difficulty. In other words, it annoys,

worries, distresses, irritates, bothers, or puzzles you. Vex can be used as an adjective: for example,

a vexing issue is not easily solved. The verb vex, the corresponding adjectivevexatious, and the

noun vexation are all slightly old-fashioned though still in current use. Vex descends from Middle

Englishvexen, from Middle French vexer, from Latin vexare "to shake, attack, trouble."

[6] VIE - To vie for something means to compete for it. Two teams may vie for the gold medal, but

one will have to go home with silver. Vie may be spelled the same as the French word, vie, but

they are pronounced differently, vī and vē respectively, and are not related in meaning or history.

English vie comes from the Latin verb meaning "to invite" as in to invite a challenge. Be careful of

the spelling which includes an ie to y shift. “He intends to vie for the top prize,” but “He is vying

for the top prize.”

Words About Combining or Separating

[1] AMALGAMATION - You create an amalgamation by taking separate thing and combining them

into one. If your school is closing and joining with another school to create a new school, that is

an amalgamation. Commonly, amalgamation is a term used to describe the merger of two or more

companies into one. Before J.P Morgan Chase was a single bank (or an amalgamation), it was two

separate entities: J.P. Morgan and the Chase Manhattan Corporation. When you want to describe

something as being made up of many previously separate parts, you can say it's an amalgamation.

[2] ECLECTIC - She listens to hip-hop, Gregorian chant, and folk music from the '60s. He's been

seen wearing a handmade tuxedo jacket over a thrift-store flannel shirt. They both haveeclectic

tastes. The English word eclectic first appeared in the seventeenth century to describe

philosophers who did not belong to a particular school of thought, but instead assembled their

doctrines by picking and choosing from a variety of philosophical systems. Today, the word can

refer to any assemblage of varied parts. You can have an eclectic group of friends (friends from

diverse groups), eclectic taste in furniture (a mixture of 18th-century French chairs, Andy Warhol

paintings, and Persian rugs), or enjoy eclectic cuisine (fusion cooking that uses ingredients from

different national cuisines).

[3] CATHOLIC - When capitalized, Catholic refers to the Catholic Church. With a lower-case

"c,"catholic means "universal" and "inclusive." If you listen to anything from hip-hop to Baroque,

you have catholic taste in music. When it entered the English language in the sixteenth

century,catholic simply meant "general" or "common." Applied to the Western Church, it

essentially meant "the Church universal," or the whole body of Christian believers, as opposed to

separate congregations. After the Reformation, the Western Church called itself the Catholic

Church to distinguish itself from communities of faith that were no longer obedient to Rome. This

usage remains the most common, although you can still use catholic to mean general.

[4] MOTLEY - If you've encountered the word motley, it's most likely in the phrase "motley crew,"

which means a diverse and poorly organized group. Think of a band of pirates, or the assorted

characters who became The Fellowship of the Ring. In contemporary usage, motley can be used in

virtually any context as a synonym for mismatched, heterogeneous, or ragtag. But the word was

first used to describe multicolored fabric, especially the type of material used in a jester's

costume. This distinctive apparel was a sign of the fool's place outside the class system — and, in

the Elizabethan era, it signified that the jester was beyond the sumptuary laws that determined

who could wear what. Thus, the fool had the exceptional ability to speak freely, even to royalty.

[5] CORROBORATE - To corroborate is to back someone else’s story. If you swear to your teacher

that you didn't throw the spitball, and your friends corroborate your story by promising that you

were concentrating on math homework, she might actually believe you. For example, a witness in

court corroborates the testimony of others, and further experimentation can corroborate a

scientific theory. Near synonyms are substantiate and confirm.Corroborate, originally meaning

"to support or strengthen," was borrowed from Latin corrōborāre, formed from the prefix

cor-"completely" plus rōborāre "to strengthen" (from rōbur"strength").

[6] ASUNDER - Asunder is an adverb that means “into separate pieces.” So if you’ve torn

asunderthe breakup letter from your girlfriend; you’ve forcefully ripped it into separate pieces —

and rightly so. Asunder comes from the Old English phrase on sundran, which means “into

separate places.” It is a somewhat archaic and uncommon word and most of us know it only from

marriage ceremonies: “What God has joined together let no man putasunder.” In most cases you

can use its more common synonym “apart” and convey the same meaning, unless you want to

express a particularly violent or forceful ripping.

[7] DIASPORA - A diaspora is a large group of people with a similar heritage or homeland who

have since moved out to places all over the world. The term diaspora comes from an ancient

Greek word meaning "to scatter about." And that's exactly what the people of a diaspora do —

they scatter from their homeland to places across the globe, spreading their culture as they go.

The Bible refers to the Diaspora of Jews exiled from Israel by the Babylonians. But the word is

now also used more generally to describe any large migration of refugees, language, or culture.

[8] CLEAVE - Cleave, a verb, has two very different meanings. It can describe cutting or splitting

something apart with a sharp instrument, or — oddly enough — it can describe sticking to

something like glue. To cleave or not to cleave, that is the question. Cleave can refer to being in

close contact, to staying really, really close to someone or something: "If you are walking in the

pitch-black woods without a flashlight, you want to cleave to the person in front of you." On the

other hand, it can mean to split apart with a sharp tool — which is not the action you want to

happen while walking in the woods. We've seen that movie.

[9] DISSEMINATE - Disseminate means to spread information, knowledge, opinions widely.

Semin- derives from the Latin word for seed; the idea withdisseminate is that information travels

like seeds sown by a farmer. Think about a teacher distributing a hand out at the beginning of a

class. The dis- of disseminate and distribute come from the same Latin, which means "abroad."

But unlike papers distributed in class, information cannot be pulled back in. Think about false

rumors or political smear campaigns and you'll understand that dissemination is usually a one-

way process.

Words from the Greeks and the Romans

[1] APHRODISIAC - An aphrodisiac is a drug (or something else) that puts people in the mood for

sex. Anything described as aphrodisiac gets folks ready for sex. In some cases, that could be a

drug. Other people find candles, music, or even dimming the lights to be aphrodisiacs. Food is

considered a major aphrodisiac by many people, and there are several foods like oysters and

chocolate that are thought to have an aphrodisiac effect. When you see aphrodisiac, think sexual.

[2] CHTHONIC - Something chthonic dwells beneath the earth. This word usually refers to

mythological creatures. Every heard about the mole men, who live underneath the ground in

tunnels? Or the mutants who live in the sewers? Or even the Fraggles? Of course, those critters

are imaginary, but they're examples of chthonic creatures: beings who live under the surface of

the earth. Chthonic beasts are more likely to be demons than angels, so this adjective has a hellish

component to it. Many mythologies feature chthonic creatures.

[3] HERMETIC - If you want to keep cookies crisp for a long time, store them in a jar with a

hermetic, or airtight, seal. Hermetic means sealed so that no air can get in. The word can be used

metaphorically as well. A child who is completely protected from the outside world might be said

to come from a hermetic environment. The word comes from the name of the Greek god, Hermes

Trismegistus, who was a magician and alchemist and was credited with creating the process for

making a completely airtight glass tube, a god-like feat if there ever was one.

[4] MERCURIAL - Mercurial describes someone whose mood or behavior is changeable and

unpredictable, or someone who is clever, lively, and quick. With a mercurial teacher, you never

know where you stand. Mercury was the ancient Roman god of commerce and messenger of the

gods, and the planet Mercury was named after the Roman god. In Middle English, this adjective

meant "relating to the planet or god Mercury" and derives from Latinmercuriālis, from Mercurius

"Mercury." A mercurial personality has the unpredictability associated with the god Mercury or,

in astrology, is supposedly influenced by the planet.

[5] MNEMONIC - A mnemonic is a memory aid for something, often taking the form of a rhyme or

an acronym. I before E except after C, is a mnemonic to help you remember how to spell words

like "piece" and "receive." As an adjective, mnemonic describes something related to memory.

"Spring forward, Fall back" is a mnemonic device to help you remember which way to set your

clocks for daylight savings time. Set the clock forward an hour in the spring when daylight savings

time begins, and set the clock back an hour in the fall when it ends. Well-known mnemonics exist

to help you remember things like the planets, the digits of Pi, and the color spectrum.

[6] MUSE - As a verb, to muse is to consider something thoughtfully. As a noun, it means a person

— especially a woman — who is a source of artistic inspiration. In mythology, the Muses were

nine goddesses who symbolized the arts and sciences. Today, a muse is a person who serves as an

artist's inspiration. Often filmmakers talk about a certain actor being a muse — meaning the

actor inspired a movie. Writers, painters, musicians, and other artists have muses. Muse can also

refer to thinking deeply. If you muse about something, you're giving it serious thought. You can't

muse in five seconds. People muse on certain ideas for years.

[7] BEMUSE - To bemuse means to confuse or puzzle. You might be bemused opening a box of

candy from a "secret admirer." Your teacher might give you a bemused smile if you write your

essay as a series of haikus. Bemuse is not the same as amuse, which means to entertain someone

or make them laugh. In fact, one of the worst receptions a joke might receive is a bemused "huh?"

rather than an amused "ha." Bemusement is a light feeling—there's no anxiety attached to it, no

feeling of being hurt or tricked.

[8] ODYSSEY - Ever since Homer’s epic poem The Odysseytold the story of warrior Odysseus’ ten-

year journey home from Troy, odyssey has meant any epic journey. As with the word journey,

odyssey has both a literal meaning and a figurative one. A cross-country drive in which your car

breaks down can be an odyssey, but so can the journey from orientation to finals that is the

freshman year of college.

[9] SATURNINE - Medieval alchemists ascribed to the planet Saturn a gloomy and slow character.

When people are called saturnine, it means they are like the planet––gloomy, mean, scowling. Not

exactly the life of the party. Saturnine is a word you don't hear often nowadays, though you

probably know people with saturnine dispositions. The ultimate saturnine character in literature

is Heathcliff––and for clarification's sake, that would be the brooding, bitter, obsessed hero of

"Wuthering Heights," not the lovably pudgy cat of comic-strip fame.

Words expressing Generosity and Stinginess

[1] MAGNANIMOUS - A magnanimous person has a generous spirit. Letting your little sister have

the last of the cookies, even though you hadn't eaten since breakfast, would be considered a

magnanimous act. Magnanimous comes from Latin magnus "great" and animus"soul," so it

literally describes someone who is big-hearted. A person can show that over-sized spirit by being

noble or brave, or by easily forgiving others and not showing resentment. It implies superiority,

and is something you should say of others rather than of yourself. Being magnanimous doesn't

require doling out tons of cash — just being an understanding and tolerant soul will do the trick.

[2] PARSIMONIOUS - A parsimonious person is unwilling to spend a lot of money. You know those

people who count up every penny when it's time to split a restaurant bill? You can call them

parsimonious. Or cheap. Stingy is the most common and general synonym, but there are many

other near synonyms: thrifty, frugal, penurious, niggardly, penny-pinching, miserly, tight-fisted,

tight. The adjective parsimonious was formed in English from the noun parsimony"the quality of

being careful in spending" (from Latin parcimonia,from parcere "to spare") plus the suffix –ous

"having the quality of."

[3] PRODIGAL - In the Bible, the Prodigal Son leaves home and wastes all his money, but when he

returns, he feels sorry. Use the adjective prodigal to describe someone who spends too much

money, or something very wasteful. Prodigal usually applies to the spending of money. In the

Bible, the Prodigal Son leaves home and wastes all his money, but when he returns, he feels sorry.

You could also use this word to describe something that is very abundant or generous in quantity,

such as prodigal praise. Prodigal comes from Latinprodigere "to drive away, waste," from the

prefix prod- "forth" plus agere "to drive."

[4] PENURIOUS - Don't have two nickels to rub together? You're penurious — a lovely long way of

saying you're flat broke. Penurious also means a general dislike of spending money. If someone

accuses you of being cheap, tell them you prefer to be thought of as penurious. It sounds so much

classier. It's related to a similar word, penury, which means "a state of extreme poverty."

[5] ELEEMOSYNARY - Eleemosynary is an adjective that describes things that are related to

charitable giving, especially when you're talking about assistance to the poor. Monetary

donations toeleemosynary institutions are usually tax deductible. Eleemosynary comes from the

Latin word eleemosyna, which means alms, the historic term for money or food given to the poor.

Eleemosyna is rooted in the Greek word eleos, meaning mercy. You can use the word

eleemosynary today when you mean pertaining to or dependent on charitable giving. If you say,

"Eleemosynary contributions commence with one's own domicile," then you've found a verbose

way to say, "Charity begins at home."

[6] FRUGAL - A person who lives simply and economically can be called frugal. Buying clothes at a

consignment shop would be consideredfrugal. Not getting your mom a gift for her birthday —

that's just cheap. Thrifty, spartan, and prudent are synonyms for frugal, a word that often has

positive connotations when used to describe a person who lives a simple life. "The question for

retailers is whether shoppers will remain frugal or slowly resume their old spending habits

whenever they get more money in their pockets," wrote The Wall Street Journal. You might also

speak of "a frugal meal" — a very plain, cheap one. The word is from Latin frux, meaning "fruit"

(in the sense of "profit").

[7] MUNIFICENT - If you give your best friend a bracelet for her birthday, then you’re a good

friend. If you give her a diamond bracelet, a racehorse, and an oil well, then you’re a munificent

friend, meaning you are very lavish when it comes to giving gifts. (And it’s possible you may also

be broke.) If you’re the generous type, you may already know that the wordmunificent traces

back to the Latin word unificus, meaning “generous, bountiful, liberal,” which in turn originated

from the word munus, meaning “gift or service.” Put those two concepts together and you have

big-time gift giving on a lavish scale. Use the word munificent to describe instances of over-the-

top generosity — think Oprah on a gift-giving binge at Christmastime.

[8] AVARICIOUS - Someone who is avaricious is greedy or grasping, concerned with gaining

wealth. The suggestion is that an avaricious person will do anything to achieve material gain, and

it is, in general, not a pleasant attribute. The Latin verb avēre, meaning "to crave" provides the

groundwork for the word avaricious and its definition as "greedy or covetous." The adjective is

applied to anyone who "craves" great wealth, and suggests that desire for personal gain is an

overriding influence in the avaricious person's life. The widespread quality of this selfishness was

cleverly noted by Voltaire, who wrote, “Men hate the individual whom they call avaricious only

because nothing can be gained from him.”

[9] MEAN - If you got a fortune cookie with the message "Your future will contain many bananas,"

you might ask, "What on earth does that mean?" In other words, you wonder what the intention

or meaning of the fortune might be. Mean is one of those ordinary, everyday words with lots of

different meanings. The adjective mean can describe someone who's stingy or ungenerous, but it

also means "unkind or unfair," which is what a little kid intends to convey when she yells at her

mother, "You're mean!" In the sentence, "She lived in a mean little house," mean has yet another

meaning, this time being "shabby or poor."

[10] INDULGENT - Someone who is self-indulgent gives themselves a lot of treats. Parents who

are indulgent cave to ever desire their child expresses. Indulgent means lenient, or overly

generous. Indulgent is a word that, here in Puritanical North America, is hard to know how to

take. Is it okay to “indulge yourself” as so many spa advertisements suggest? Or is indulgent

always associated with excess? You can indulge fantasies of figuring out the answer, or you can

give in to an indulgent shrug and move on to another word.

Animal Words

[1] EQUINE - Equine means having to do with horses. An equine saddle is one used for a horse, as

opposed to one for a camel. An equine face is a horse face, and no, that's not a very nice thing to

say. Equine is connected to words that refer to animals—bovine means having to do with cows,

porcine pigs, feline cats, canine dogs, etc. Many young girls go through an equine phase, where

they are obsessed with all things horse—books, dolls, images, and, last but not least, actual

horseback riding.

[2] BOVINE - If something is bovine, it has to do with cows or cattle, or it reminds you of the slow

and seemingly unintelligent ways of cows and cattle. Someone's glacial pace and dull comments

might contribute to his thoroughly bovine impression. The adjective bovine is used for anything

that has to do with animals from the genus “Bos,” which classifies wild and domestic cattle. Mad

Cow Disease is technically known as bovine spongiform encephalopathy, and it can be said to

have bovine origins. What are known as cow pies are, in fact, bovine droppings. People can be

described as bovine if they are intellectually dull, slow-moving, or somewhat cow-like in their

appearance.

[3] URSINE - Ursine means having similarities to bears. Telling a woman that she has "ursine

qualities" will not get you a second date. In fact, saying that a woman resembles a bear will

probably get you slapped. Ursine means to have bear-like qualities: big, furry, muscular, and

lumbering. If you're using the word to describe a big, hulking football player it might be perceived

as a compliment. If, on the other hand, you use ursine to describe a woman, she wouldn't be

flattered at all. Ursine originated back in the 16th century, from the Latin word for — you guessed

it — "bear."

[4] PORCINE - You might be tempted to describe your greedy lunch companions as porcine, but

you should try to resist the urge. Porcine means "like a pig." The adjective porcine is a scientific

term for talking about pigs, but it's also useful for describing anything — or anyone — resembling

a pig. A large, shiny-faced man might appear porcine to you, and so might a group of hungry kids

who shove and jostle each other to get their hands on a plate of brownies. The Latin root is

porcus, or "pig."

[5] SIMIAN - As a noun, a simian is a monkey or ape. Something monkey- or ape-like can be

described using the adjective simian. So: something can be simian without being a simian. Got it?

The first syllable in simian rhymes with dim and gets the accent: "SIM-ee-an." This is a case in

which the adjective form came before the noun. How? Simian comes from the Greek word simos,

meaning "snub-nosed, bent upward." It wasn't until the late nineteenth century that this

description became the label for those animals whose noses simian describes.

[6] SERPENTINE - You can use the adjective serpentine to describe things that look like a serpent

or are snakelike. Looking down at the carved riverbeds in the Grand Canyon is like looking into a

basket of snakes: the serpentine twists curve throughout the canyon floor. Not everyone likes

snakes, but those who aren’t grossed out by the highly flexible bodies of serpents might enjoy

using the word serpentine for things that resemble their snaky, curvy lines. Strands of hair, cracks

in dry desert, and roller-coaster rides can look serpentine, and you might tangle with a

serpentine hose while minding your own business and watering the plants. Sometimes

serpentine even describes people who are snakelike or slippery in character.

[7] PACHYDERM - A pachyderm is a really big animal with really thick skin, like an elephant or a

hippo. If you break this word down to its parts, you see pachy which means thick and derm which

means skin. It comes from the Greek, but was first used to describe a class of animals by a French

naturalist in 1797. He believed that thick skinned animals all belonged to the same family and

categorized them together. We now know to classify them according to different features, but the

word remains both in use and descriptively useful.

[8] AVIAN - Anything avian relates to birds. Avian flu is the bird flu, which birds can pass to

humans. Someone who flies a plane is an aviator, and that may help you remember that avian

things have to do with birds. Feathers are part of avian anatomy. Laying eggs is the avian method

of reproduction. Bird-watchers are avian experts who know how to tell birds apart.

Ornithologists are also avian experts: they’re scientists who study birds.

BONUS WORDS

[1] SESQUIPEDALIAN - Use the adjective sesquipedalian to describe a word that's very long and

multisyllabic. For example the word sesquipedalian is in factsesquipedalian. Sesquipedalian can

also be used to describe someone or something that overuses big words, like a philosophy

professor or a chemistry textbook. If someone gives a sesquipedalian speech, people often

assume it was smart, even if they don’t really know what it was about because they can’t

understand the words. Each of those long words is referred to as asesquipedalia.

Antidisestablishmentarianism is a sesquipedalia: in fact it’s the longest non-coined and

nontechnical word in the English language.

[2] DICHOTOMY - A dichotomy is an idea or classification split in two. When you point out a

dichotomy, you draw a clear distinction between two things. A dichotomy is a contrast between

two things. When there are two ideas, especially two opposed ideas — like war and peace, or love

and hate — you have a dichotomy. You often hear about a "false dichotomy," which occurs when a

situation is unfairly represented as an "either/or" scenario. For example, the statement "All cars

are either small and efficient or large and polluting" creates a false dichotomy because there are

some cars that don't fit into either category.

[3] GAMUT - A visit with a long-lost cousin might arouse emotions that run the gamut of joy,

regret, sorrow, and excitement. A gamut is a full or complete range. In the 16th century, the gamut

was the lowest note on the musical scale. In music as well as life, the word has expanded to mean

from high to low, or the whole range. The word is often associated with "run," as in "run the

gamut from totally excited to so terrified you're quaking with fear." And if you've talked about

every discussion point on your agenda, you've covered the gamut of issues that need discussing.

[4] PHILANTHROPIST - A philanthropist is a person who gives money or gifts to charities, or

helps needy people in other ways. Famous examples include Andrew Carnegie and Bill & Melinda

Gates. In English, the -ist suffix describes a person who does a particular action. A philanthropist

practices philanthropy.Philanthropists are wealthy people with a generous nature and a concern

for human welfare. Philanthropy is from Late Latinphilanthrōpia, from Greek, from philanthrōpos

"humane, kind," from the prefix phil- plus anthrōpos "man, mankind."

[5] MISER - A miser is someone who hoards his or her own wealth and doesn’t share or spend

any of it. If you remember the old saying “You can’t take it with you!” — then you won't end up

acting stingy like a miser. The most famous fictional miser is probably Scrooge in Dickens’s A

Christmas Carol. The image of his shivering with cold while he counts his coins illustrates the

misery often associated with misers. To be a miser, your impulse to hoard means you won’t even

indulge yourself by spending money for fear of depleting your stash.

[6] FELINE - You can describe your kitten as your youngfeline friend, since feline describes

anything having to do with cats. The adjective feline is useful when you're talking about cats —

just as canine describes dogs, and ursine describes bears. You might talk about the special feline

food and toys you buy for your pet, or describe his feline beauty. You can even describe a person

as feline, if something about him or her is catlike. The Latin root felinus means "of or belonging to

a cat," from feles, "cat."

[7] CANINE - Canine is how zoologists refer to all mammals with snouts and non-retractable

claws. Sound familiar? That's right, Fido a canine. (All dogs are.) Coyotes and wolves are canines,

too. The sharp pointy teeth in your mouth are also called canines. Like wolves, we use these sharp

incisors to tear meat from the bone, though these days we tend to get some help in that

department from knives and forks. Fun fact: The police call their drug-sniffing dogs the K-9 unit.

Get it?

[8] MENAGERIE - A menagerie (pronounced muh-NA-juh-ree, with NA as in "national") is a

collection of live animals that people visit, study, or keep as pets. If you really want a backyard

menagerie of farm animals after visiting the petting zoo, take a long sniff and remember what

comes with them. Pet lovers can have a menagerie of cats, dogs, and birds or exotic animals such

as snakes, ferrets, and piranhas. Zoos have animal collections like the menagerie of sea creatures

in the aquarium and the swinging apes in the jungle menagerie. And a science or medical center

may have a menagerie of rats for studying behavior. If you want a menagerie, an ant farm is a

good one: lots of animals in a container, always working, and never stinking up the place.