My Science School

Visage

Meaning:

Visage is used as a noun and it means face or countenance. It also means the appearance of an individual as conveyed by his face, like "a stern visage." It can be used to refer to the appearance of inanimate things too.

Origin:

The term visage entered Middle English via Old French vis meaning face from the Latin visus meaning "sight, appearance" which again came from videre meaning "to see". Its first usage can be traced to the 14th Century.

Usage:

She is a young girl with a happy visage. The investors were put off by the dirty visage of the factory.

Picture Credit : Google

Impale

Meaning:

Impale means to pierce with something sharp. It is used as a verb.

Origin:

The term could have been derived from Middle French empaler or Medieval Latin impalare meaning "to push on to a stake" (in meaning into + palus meaning a stake, post or pole). The term has been in use since the early 17th Century.

Usage:

She impaled the marinated paneer and vegetables on the skewer before cooking them on a grill.

Picture Credit : Google

Shenanigans

This noun, used in informal contexts and as a plural, refers to secret or dishonest activities that people find interesting or amusing.

Origin:

The origin of the word is not clear though there are a few theories.

Suggestions include the Spanish word chanada, a shortened form of charranada that meant "trick, deceit". Also, the German word schenigelei, a slang for "work, craft". Another guess is the Irish word sionnach meaning "fox".

One thing that's certain is it has been in use since the mid-19th Century because the earliest known use of the word in print appeared in an 1855-issue of San Francisco's periodical "Town Talk".

Example:

He knew she's never put up with his shenanigans.

Picture Credit : Google

Mansplain

This verb is used to refer to the act of a man explaining something to a woman needlessly and in a condescending way that assumes she has no knowledge about the topic.

Origin:

A word coined in the 21st Century, it combines the words man and explain. It is said that the form 'splain, to mean explain, has been used at least since the 1960s as a colloquialism. The word is said to have gained popularity after Rebecca Solnits 2008 essay "Men Explain Things to Me", in which she points out to the condescension without actually using the word mansplaining.

Example:

It was good that he did not mansplain tennis to her.

Picture Credit : Google

Fastidious

Fastidious is an adjective with two meanings. One is giving too much attention to small details and wanting everything to be accurate and in good order. If you call someone fastidious it means he or she has a meticulous, sensitive, or demanding attitude. The other meaning is being excessively concerned about keeping everything clean. A fastidious person has a strong dislike for anything dirty or unpleasant.

Origin:

The word came from Latin fastidiosus, from fastidium loathing'. The word originally meant 'disagreeable', later 'disgusted'. Current senses date from the 17th century.

Usage:

Her fastidious attention to detail can sometime be irksome to her friends.

Picture Credit : Google

Cryogenic

Meaning:

Cryogenic is an adjective and it means "relating to very low temperatures." For instance, cryogenic liquids are liquefied gases kept in their liquid state at very low temperatures.

Origin:

It comes from the Greek cryos meaning cold or freezing and genis meaning generating or having to do with production. The term has been in use since the late 19th Century.

Usage:

All cryogenic liquids are extremely cold. Liquid medical oxygen was transported in cryogenic tankers across the country.

Picture Credit : Google

Visage

Meaning:

Visage is used as a noun and it means face or countenance. It also means the appearance of an individual as conveyed by his face, like "a stern visage." It can be used to refer to the appearance of inanimate things too.

Origin:

The term visage entered Middle English via Old French vis meaning face from the Latin visus meaning "sight, appearance" which again came from videre meaning "to see". Its first usage can be traced to the 14th Century.

Usage:

She is a young girl with a happy visage. The investors were put off by the dirty visage of the factory.

Picture Credit : Google