My Science School

Gregarious (adjective)

Someone who is gregarious enjoys the company of others. He or she is sociable. In biology, the word is used to refer to those animals and birds that live in large groups.

Origin

The word gregarious comes from the Latin word grex which means herd or flock. In the 17th Century, the English word gregarious was used to refer to social animals and birds. But by the 18th Century, it was being used for social human beings as well.

Usage:

Being gregarious, she was able to make friends in the new city.

Locusts are usually solitary insects, but at a certain point in their lifecycle they become gregarious and form massive swarms.

Picture Credit : Google

Prescience

As a noun, the word 'prescience' means knowing something before it happens.It is similar to foresight.

Origins

"Science" is derived from the Latin verb 'scire', which means "to know". It is the source of many English words such as omniscience and conscience. "Prescience" comes from the Latin verb 'praescire, which means "to know beforehand."

Examples:

1. Charles Darwin's prescience as a scientist is remarkable.

2. George Orwell showed keen prescience in "1984".

Picture Credit : Google

Paroxysm

The word paroxysm was first used in medicine and refers to either a severe fit, attack or a sudden increase or recurrence of symptoms of a disease. It does have a non-medical meaning as well and corresponds to a sudden, violent outburst of an action or emotion.

Origin

The use of the word, which has been around since the early 15th Century, has tapered to a minimum these days after enjoying the highs of the 18th and 19th Centuries.

The word is derived from the Old French paroxysme, Medieval Latin paroxysmus (irritation, fit of a disease) and Greek paroxysmos (irritation, exasperation). The non-medical sense of the word was seen in use from around 1600.

Usage:

His paroxysms of rage are a terrible sight to behold.

Picture Credit : Google

Duplex

The word duplex is predominantly used as an adjective and a noun. As an adjective it refers to any segment comprising two parts. and as a noun, it refers to a house with two floors.

Origin

It is not uncommon to see people pronounce the word "due-play". This is because of the presence of the last letter x making it appear as a French word, and hence the need to render it silent. However, it is pronounced "doo-pleks". The word duplex has its origins in the 16th Century from the Latin word duo (meaning) two) and plicare (meaning to fold).

Example

We found an eco-friendly duplex residence near the beach.

Picture Credit : Google

Juggernaut

The word juggernaut is a noun that refers to a massive force so huge that it can destroy anything in its path. The British use it to refer to large trucks.

Origin

The word has a fascinating history tied deeply to India. In the 14th Century, a missionary who witnessed the street procession of the Jagannath's huge chariot (perhaps in present-day Puri) is said to have returned to Europe and narrated the event - assumed to be greatly exaggerated -as an occurrence where people deliberately put themselves under the chariot's massive wheels, and getting destroyed in the process. Another version attributes a similar negative sentiment harboured by a Scottish missionary in India during the 18th Century. Irrespective of the attributes, the word Jagannath was anglicised to Juggernaut, and since the 19th Century has had the present meaning.

Example

Even a two-month advertisement juggernaut could not make the product a success.

Picture Credit : Google

Manifesto

Manifesto corresponds to a public declaration of policy and aims. While it can generally apply to any walk of life, it is particularly used in the political sphere, wherein a party or a candidate issue their political manifesto before an election.

Origin

The word is from Italian manifesto that means "public declaration explaining past actions and announcing the motive for forthcoming ones". The original meaning "proof' is from Latin manifestus, which is also used to mean "clear, apparent, evident'.

The word, which has been around since the 1640s, has been consistently popular owing to its political connections.

Usage

Environmental issues like clean energy, air and water, and waste management are increasingly finding their way into political manifestos.

Picture Credit : Google

Salubrious

Meaning:

Salubrious is used as an adjective and it means pleasant or favourable to health or well-being. It applies mainly to the beneficial effects of climate or air.

Origin:

The term originated in the mid 16th Century from the Latin salubris meaning "safe or healthy" and English suffix "-ous" meaning "characterised by".

Example sentence:

In peak summer, many people from Chennai head to Kodaikanal for its salubrious climate and scenic beauty.

Picture Credit : Google

Petrichor

This noun refers to the earthy and pleasant smell that is produced when rain falls on dry ground. The smell is said to emanate from the molecule geosmin, produced by a type of bacteria called streptomyces.

Origin:

Pronounced petri-khor, the word has Greek origins - 'petra' means stone and 'ichor refers to the liquid the flows in the body of gods. It was coined by two Australian chemists in 1964.

Example:

The petrichor always transports me to another time and place.

Picture Credit : Google

Speckled

The word speckled can be used both as a verb and as an adjective. While the verb corresponds to marking with a large number of small spots or patches of colour, the adjective refers to being covered or marked in the same manner.

Origin

The word has been in usage since the middle of the 15th Century. Speckled is probably related to Old English specca meaning small spot or specks. The word could also be from a related Middle Dutch or Middle High German word. In the last 200 years or so, speckled has enjoyed consistent popularity, with sizeable crests (increase in usage) and roughs (decrease in usage).

Usage:

The students bent down near the marsh to have a closer look at the speckled frog.

Picture Credit : Google

Whooping (v)

Whooping is a verb. It means to give a loud, excited shout especially to show your enjoyment of or agreement with something. In medicine, whooping cough is a contagious disease, mainly a etching children.

Origin

The word "whooping" has been derived partly from Old French words "huper, houper', which means "to cry out shout”.

Examples

Here's how whooping can be used in a sentence:

1. Gita whooped for joy as she won 1st prize in the spelling bee.

2. Loud cheers and whoops echoed from the stands as Rohit Sharma scored a century against Sri Lanka.

Picture Credit : Google

Conjecture

Meaning

The word “conjecture” means speculation, guess or formation of an opinion based on insufficient information or evidence available. In other words, it is a guess about something based on how it seems and not on proof. The term can be used both as a noun and verb.

Origin

The term originated from the Latin conicere meaning “put together in thought” (con: “together” + iacere: “throw”). “Conjecture” entered English in the 14th century as a noun to refer to the act of interpreting omens from the signs. By the 16th century, it had acquired the meaning of speculation, which is what we follow today. It can be used as both noun and verb.

Example sentences

Conjecture about the leader’s health has grown since his conspicuous absence from the country’s Independence Day celebration.

I have never counted the number of mails, but I conjecture that there are more than 20 today.

Picture Credit : Google

Humility

Humility means the quality of being humble it is an attitude of not being proud or not thinking you are better than others.

Origin

The term “humility” comes from the Latin word humilitas which may be translated as a “humble”, or “grounded”, or “from the earth”, as the term is derived from humus (earth).

Examples

The actor accepted the Oscar award with humility by acknowledging that it was the film‘s crew who deserved the trophy.

The sportsperson showed lack of humility and blamed his teammates for the loss.

Picture Credit : Google

Humanism

Humanism refers to the belief that as humans we are responsible for how we shape our lives and the world around us. This view places importance on democratic thinking, liberty, reasoning, advancement and being humane to ensure a fulfilling life and a more ethics-driven world. This inclusive philosophy is embraced by several people across the world. It is nonreligious, believes in the natural world and does not accept supernatural views.

Origin

The origin of the word is attributed to German philosopher Frederich Niethammer. He is believed to have come up with the word in early 19th century. It is derived from the Latin word humanitas, which refers to human nature.

Example

In our recent online social science class, we discussed how embracing humanism can make the world more peaceful.

Picture Credit : Google

Premier

The word Premier can be used both as an adjective and as a noun. As an adjective, the word implies first in importance, rank, order or position and can also be used for someone or something that is leading. As a noun, it is used to indicate the prime minister or other head of a government.

Origin

The word has been around for centuries and has gained prominence in the last hundred years or so, when its usage has increased drastically. The word is derived from Latin primarius, meaning “of the first rank, chief, principal, excellent”.

Primarius in turn is derived from primus, meaning first, and also the root word for prime.

While Premier as a word has been used as an adjective since the 15th century, it was only in the start of the 18th century that it came to be used in the political sense and hence gained ground as a noun.

Usage

The reason why they chose the name “Indian Premier League” is simple – they wanted to signal to one and all that it is the best T20 franchise league, in the country and the world.

Picture Credit : Google

Identifying the longest words in the English language is not an easy task. There are many contenders. However, some cannot be considered ‘words’ per se, as they are chemical formulas, or archaic terms that are no longer used. Now, let’s look at some of the unusually long words…

Methionylthreonylthreonyl

The chemical name for protein titin, found in muscle tissue, which begins with methionylthreonylthreonyl, has 189,819 letters. The characters in the word can fill up as many as 70 pages and takes there and a half hours to pronounce. So in terms of length, it can be considered the longest. However, it’s a formula that represents the protein’s chemical composition and cannot be considered a word.

Something fishy!

That brings us to an exotic stew! Aristophanes, a poet from ancient Greece, made up a fictional dish in his comedy “Assemblywomen”. The dish made of some interesting ingredients – fish, pigeons, and honey, was given a longish name consisting of 182 letters. The name is quite a mouthful.

‘Lopadotemachoselachogaleokranioleipsanodrimhypotrimmatosilphiokarabomelitokatakechymenokichlepikossyphophattoperisteralektryonoptekephalliokigklopeleiolagoiosiraiobaphetraganopterygon’

Slurp on that!

Sound of thunder

Author James Joyce too was quite a wordsmith. He coined nine 100-letter words and one 101-letter word to represent different types of sounds in his novel “Finnegan’s Wake”. One of the words is ‘bababadalgharaghtakamminarronnkonnbronntonnerronntuonnthunntrovarrhounawnskawntoohoohoordenenthurnuk’. It refers to the sound of the thunder when Adam fell from God’s grace. Did you know it is made up of words imitating the sounds “thunder” in different languages? This indeed leaves us thunderstruck!

A spoonful of sugar

Not surprisingly, one of the longest words in English was popularized by a magical nanny. The word ‘supercalifragilisticexpialidocious’, consisting of 34 letters, was part of a song in the 1964 film “Mary Poppins” and is also one of the contenders for the longest words. Dictionaries refer to it as a ‘nonsense word used by children for something extremely good’. It is often used as an expression to devote extreme joy over something.

Worth its weight

At 29 letters, floccinaucinihilipilification – “the act of estimating something to be worthless” – is considered to be one of the longest words. The word as coined in the 18th Century by students at Eton, a boarding school in Britain, by linking four Latin words for “nothing”.

Disease and disorders

Another longest word in the English language is the scientific term – pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis.  The 45-letter word refers to a lung disease contracted from the inhalation of silica particles, specifically from a volcano.

Pseudopseudohypoparathyroidism, an inherited disorder, too, is regarded as one of the longest words.

The longest name

• According to the Guinness Book of World Records, the longest personal name is 747 characters long, it belongs to Hubert Blaine Wolfeschlegelsteinhausenbergerdorff Sr., who was born in August 1914, Germany, who passed away on October 24, 1997, in Philidelphia in the U.S. It was verified on January 1, 2021.
• Hubert’s name in full in English is Adolph Blaine Charles David Earl Fredrick Gerald Hubert Irvin John Kenneth Lloyd Martin Nero Oliver Paul Quincy Randolph Sherman Thomas Uncas Victor William Xerxes Yancy Zeus.

Picture Credit : Google