My Science School

Vie

Meaning:

Used as a verb, vie means to compete with someone for something or to strive for superiority.

Origin:

The first-known use of the term "vie" in English can be traced back to the 16th Century. It was initially used as a noun in the sense "make a vie" meaning "make a bet" especially in the card game. But this sense of the word has become obsolete now. Vie is probably a short form of envie in Middle English which has many meanings: to make a challenge, envy, hostility towards others which arises from their superior advantages. This in turn came from the Old French term envier meaning "to compete, or invite for a challenge). It originated from the Latin invitare meaning "to invite".

Usage:

Athletes from many countries are vying for the title. He vies with his classmates to get the first rank in the upcoming exam.

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Roil

Roil is a verb used to refer to churning or making a liquid muddy by stirring up the sediment or making something move fast in a circular motion. Figuratively, it means to perturb or annoy.

Origin:

Of uncertain origin, the first-known use of roil in English was recorded in 1590. It perhaps came from Old French ruiler ‘to mix mortar’, from late Latin regulare ‘regulate’.

Usage:

Violent winds roiled the sea. The announcement of Omicron, the new variant of COVID-19, created panic globally, roiling markets.

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Deleterious

Meaning:

An adjective, "deleterious" means harmful or damaging, often in a subtle or unexpected way.

Origin:

The term originated from the Greek deleterias meaning "noxious or destructive" via Medieval Latin deleterius. It is derived from deleter meaning "destroyer." It came into English in the mid-17th Century.

Usage:

Carbon emissions have a deleterious impact on us and our planet.

The lack of sleep can have a deleterious effect on the body's ability to recover from illness.

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Mulligatawny

This noun refers to a rich soup usually of chicken stock seasoned with curry.

Origin:

The word, said to have been used first in the 18th Century, has an interesting origin. It is an anglicised version of the Tamil words milagu (pepper) and thanni (water), which were used to prepare soup. The soup, and as a consequence the word mulligatawny, became popular during the British rule.

Example:

Our family's jealously guarded recipe of mulligatawny includes a generous portion of roasted cumin.

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Beefy

An adjective, beefy means hefty, or strongly built with large muscles. It also means something like beef (meat from cattle).

Origin:

The term beefy has been in use in English since the mid-18th Century. It derives from Old French boef which in turn came from Latin bos or bov meaning "ox". The adjective is a combination of "beef (noun) in the colloquial sense of human muscle" +"y" (adjective suffix meaning "characterised by").

Usage:

The stranger who came home last night, was a big, beefy man with hardly any neck.

The child who initially felt intimidated by the presence of beefy bodyguards at the entrance soon became friendly with them.

 Picture Credit : Google

Bourgeois

The adjective refers to the characteristic of the social middle class, or something marked by a concern for material interests.

Origin:

This is a French word commonly used in English now. It is derived from the Old French words "burgeis "borjois, meaning town dweller. Gradually it extended to tradespeople or citizens of middle rank in other nations. Around the end of the 19th Century, as a noun it was used in communist and socialist writing to refer to a capitalist.

Usage

She loathed the bourgeois notions of acceptable behaviour.

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Wry

Meaning:

Wry, pronounced rai, is used as an adjective meaning witty, twisted, contorted. It is often used to convey mockery or disdain, usually by distorting one's facial muscles to express the feeling.

 Origin:

The term "wry" comes from the Old English wrigian, meaning "to turn or distort. It was first used in English as a verb meaning "to twist or turn". It came to be used as an adjective from the 16th Century to convey the meaning "disdainfully ironic

Usage:

The play has a wry sense of humour. She gave a wry smile.

She made a wry remark on hearing the politician's tall promises.

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Accolade

The word accolade corresponds to an award or privilege that is granted as a special honour or as acknowledgement of merit. It also denotes touching a person's shoulders with a sword as the bestowing of a knighthood..

Origin:

The word, which has been around since the 1620s, is from French accolade "an embrace, a kiss". The original sense is of an embrace about the neck then the tapping of a sword on the shoulders to confer knighthood. The current popular meaning of "praise award" is registered from 1851. The word saw a steady rise in usage in the 20th Century, but has reduced slightly in the past few years.

Usage

The teacher won accolades for the distinct manner in which she conducted her classes.

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Emoji

The word is a noun that refers to any of the small images, symbols, or icons used in text messages, email, and social media) to express the emotional attitude of the writer, convey information succinctly, communicate a message playfully without using words, etc.

Origin:

The word has an interesting origin. Though emojis are similar in function to emoticons (smiley and frowny faces created using letters, numbers, and punctuations), the word emoji does not originate from the word emotion. It is a Japanese word-'e' (picture, drawing) + 'moji' (letter, character) - that means "pictograph".

Example:

Did you know that the Oxford Word of the Year 2015 was actually not a word but the "Face with Tears of Joy" emoji?

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Terracotta

This noun refers to a type of fired clay, typically of a brownish-red colour and unglazed, used as an omamental building material and in modelling. It also refers to a strong brownish-red or brownish-orange colour.

Origin:

The word is said to have originated in the early 18th Century. It originates from the Italian terra cotta, literally "cooked earth". This has its roots in ters meaning "to dry" and from Latin cocta, the past participle of the word coquere meaning "to cook". The word terracotta has been used to referred to the colour since the end of the 19 Century.

Example:

The comforting green of the succulents and the blazing red of the terracotta pots were a study in contrast.

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