Spanish Word of the Day
Monday, July 29, 2013
raro, adjective
strange; rare
strange; rare
Raro is another of those Spanish words which may be a bit misleading. Though it can also mean rare, it is very commonly used to meanstrange.
Es un tipo algo raro.
He’s a rather strange guy.
Tiene unas costumbres muy raras.
She has some very strange habits.
If something strikes you as strange, you use the exclamation ¡Que raro!:
No está aquí. - ¡Que raro!
It isn’t here. - How strange!
To emphasize that something that’s happened is really strange, you can use:
¡Que cosa más rara!
How very strange!
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Word of the Day for Monday, July 29, 2013
coaptation \koh-ap-TEY-shuhn\, noun:
a joining or adjustment of parts to one another: the coaptation of a broken bone.
...though nothing be declared thereby of the structure and coaptation of the spring, wheels, balance, etc. and the manner how they act on one another so as to make the needle point out the true time of day.
-- Aldous Huxley, Complete Essays, Vol. 4, 1936-1938
Harding approved entirely, and it was decided that the two wounds should be dressed without attempting to close them by immediate coaptation.
-- Jules Verne, The Mysterious Island, 1874
Coaptation stems from the Latin word coaptātiō which meant "a precise joining together."
Word of the Day for Tuesday, July 30, 2013
esse \ES-se; Eng. ES-ee\, noun:
being; existence.
The esse of the life of every man, which he has from his father, is called the soul, and the existence of life thence derived is called the body.
-- Emanuel Swedenborg, The Earths in Our Solar System, 1758
According to Berkeley, the esse of things is percipi. They exist as they are perceived.
-- Thomas Love Peacock, Nightmare Abbey, 1818
Esse comes from the Latin word of the same spelling meaning "to be." It has been in English since the 1600s.
Spanish Word of the Day
Wednesday, July 31, 2013
redundancia, noun
tautology
tautology
Here’s a ‘false friend’ whose meaning has very little connection with its English cousin ‘redundancy’.
You can use redundancia when commenting on the use of language, especially when repeating a word you’ve already used:
You can use redundancia when commenting on the use of language, especially when repeating a word you’ve already used:
Las modelos son hoy el modelo de estas jóvenes, valga la redundancia, ...
Nowadays models are the model, pardon the repetition, for these young women...
If an expression says the same thing twice, it’s also una redundancia - a tautology.
Se ha dicho que la expresión persona human es una redundancia.
It’s been said that the phrase ‘persona humana’ is a tautology.
If something is unnecessary, it can also be described as una redundancia, something superfluous:
Este programa televisivo es una redundancia.
This TV programme is superfluous.
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Spanish Word of the Day
Thursday, August 1, 2013
referirse, reflexive verb
to refer; to mean
to refer; to mean
You’ll need to remember that referirse to refer is reflexive.
Me refiero a lo de anoche.
I’m referring to what happened last night.
Se refirió a la necesidad de poner el plan en marcha.
He referred to OR spoke of the need to put the plan into action.
It often translates as to mean, especially in direct and indirect questions:
¿Te refieres a mí?
Do you mean me?
No sé a qué te refieres.
I don’t know what you mean.
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Word of the Day for Wednesday, July 31, 2013
residuum \ri-ZIJ-oo-uhm\, noun:
1. the residue, remainder, or rest of something.
2. Also, residue. Chemistry. a quantity or body of matter remaining after evaporation, combustion, distillation, etc.
3. any residual product.
4. Law. the residue of an estate.
2. Also, residue. Chemistry. a quantity or body of matter remaining after evaporation, combustion, distillation, etc.
3. any residual product.
4. Law. the residue of an estate.
Perhaps not: the residuum is, you see, Byres, what is left.
-- Frederick Marryat, The Poacher, 1841
Our friend's corporeal envelope had been so well lined with this residuum, as well as various earlier memories of his parents, that their own special Swann had become to my family a complete and living creature...
-- Marcel Proust, translated by C.K. Scott Moncrieff and Terence Kilmartin, Remembrance of Things Past, 1922–1931
Residuum shares a root with the word residue. It comes directly from the Latin residuum meaning "a remainder."
Word of the Day for Thursday, August 1, 2013
bemused \bih-MYOOZD\, adjective:
1. bewildered or confused.
2. lost in thought; preoccupied.
2. lost in thought; preoccupied.
He was not only bemused by the voice he had heard. He was bemused by to the very grandeur of the position which he aspired.
-- Robert Penn Warren, All the King's Men, 1946
She said nothing else, she just watched his quiet bemused and intent face as he plumbed his empty pockets one by one.
-- William Faulkner, Pylon, 1935
Bemused comes from the Old French muser meaning "to ponder," "dream" or "waste time." It entered English in the late 1800s, though the verb form bemuse has existed in English since the early-to-mid 1700s.
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