NEA New English Academy: Fwd: rufescent: Dictionary.com Word of the Day

Monday, November 17, 2014

Fwd: rufescent: Dictionary.com Word of the Day

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Dictionary.com <doctor@dictionary.com>
Date: Mon, Nov 17, 2014 at 3:05 AM
Subject: rufescent: Dictionary.com Word of the Day
To: hectorpinillos@gmail.com

Nov. 17, 2014

rufescent

\roo-FES-uhnt\

adjective
1. somewhat reddish; tinged with red; rufous.

Quotes

On leaving the nest the young Swallows, especially the birds of the first brood, lost this rufescent tint rather quickly and become bleached, the forehead turning to white with exposure, and the throat fading to a pale tawny buff or white.
-- Richard Bowdler Sharpe, "Catalogue of the Passeriformes, or Perching Birds, in the Collection of the British Museum," Catalogue of the Birds in the British Museum: Volume X, 1885

Origin

Rufescent was mostly used in zoological descriptions when it entered English in the early 1800s. Its Latin precursor rūfēscent was formed from the Latin term for "red" or "reddish," rūfus, the inchoative element -ēsc-.

Dictionary.com Slideshows