My Science School

Meaning: This noun refers to an island consisting of a strip or ring of coral around a central lagoon.

Origin: In use since the 1620s, atoll is said to have been derived from the Malayalam word atolu, meaning reef, which, in turn, is said to be from adal, meaning closing, uniting, etc. The original use was in reference to the Maldives, and the word was popularised in its present form by naturalist Charles Darwin's writings.

Usage:  She's exploring the atoll and taking samples of the marine life there.

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Meaning: A verb, brandish means to wave or shake something aggressively in a threatening manner.

Origin: The earliest usage dates back to the 14th century. The word has a Germanic origin. It is a descendant of the Middle English word 'braundisshen' which traces its root to the Anglo-French 'brant, a Germanic word meaning 'sword'.

Usage: The crowd went silent as the Prince brandished his sword.

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Meaning: The word "privy" can be used as an adjective and a noun. When used as an adjective, it means sharing in the knowledge of something private or secret. It is usually followed by the preposition "to". As a noun, it means a toilet located in a shed outside a house or building.

Origin: The term entered Middle English in the early 13th Century from Old French prive meaning "intimate or private place" which in turn came from Latin privatus meaning "private or personal."

Usage: Ram is not privy to the discussions of the top management.

The farm house is a privy place for the writer to relax and think about his next plot.

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Meaning: The word relief corresponds to a feeling of reassurance and relaxation following release from anxiety or distress. It can also be used to denote financial or practical assistance given to those in special need or difficulty.

Origin: The word has been around since the 14th Century and is derived from Anglo-French relif from Old French relief. The meaning "aid to impoverished persons" is attested from around 1400 and from 19th Century it especially specified assistance from governments.

Apart from a brief spike in usage in the first half of the 20th Century, the usage of this word has remained stable over the last 200 years or so.

Usage: The classroom heaved a collective sigh of relief when the teacher announced that the test would be held later.

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Meaning: This noun refers to the quality or state of being faithful to someone, such as a spouse, or something, such as one's country. Fidelity can also refer to accuracy in details. When applied to electronic devices, fidelity is the degree to which those devices accurately reproduce something, such as sound or images.

Origin: This word came to English by the way of French in the 15th Century and is derived from the Latin root Fidelis which means faithful, loyal or trustworthy. While fidelity was originally exclusively about loyalty, it has for centuries also been used to refer to accuracy.

Usage:  The movie takes full advantage of the film medium while maintaining fidelity to the book.

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Meaning: The word synthetic is used as an adjective as well as a noun. It means artificial, unnatural, or man-made. It is also used to describe a person who is insincere or not genuine. As a noun, it means anything made artificially by chemical synthesis.

Origin: The word is said to have been in use in English since the 17th Century. It is derived from French synthétique or modern Latin syntheticus, which in turn came from the Greek word sunthetikos meaning "skilled in putting together, based on "tithenai" meaning "to place together".

Usage:

• The bag is made of synthetic leather.
• He exudes synthetic compassion, so he cannot be taken seriously.
• It is an organic farm that does not permit use of pesticides or synthetic fertilizers.

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Meaning: This adjective is used to describe someone as excessively particular, difficult to please or fussy.

Origin: This word came about in the 19th Century as an alteration of finical' which means choosy or demanding.

Usage: The finicky student got upset when her teacher switched the organised schedule.

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Meaning: This adjective is a British slang for very tired. It also means broken or too old to use.

Origin: Knackered is derived from the past participle of knacker, a slang term meaning "to kill" as well as "to tire, exhaust, or wear out.” The origins of the verb knacker are uncertain, but the word is perhaps related to an older noun knacker, which originally referred to a harness-maker, and later referred to a buyer of animals no longer able to do farm work.

Usage: I'm never too knackered to go out with friends.

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Meaning: Predilection is used as a noun which refers to an established preference for something. It implies a strong liking deriving from one's experience. For instance, if someone has a predilection for something, they like it a lot.

Origin: It is borrowed from French predilection, which in turn comes from the Latin word ‘praedilect’ meaning 'preferred, from ‘prae’ in advance + ‘diligere’ to select. The term has been in use since the mid-18th Century in English.

Usage:

• She has had a predilection for Thai food ever since she started travelling abroad.
• I have a predilection for ice cream.
• There are two ways to live, by working hard or by taking freebies. They seem to have some predilection for the latter.

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Meaning: The word quirk refers to a particular aspect of a person's character. On occasions, the word is also used for entities, and not just individuals.

Origin:  Even though quirk has been in use since the 1560s, it remains a word of unknown origin. Some believe that it is perhaps originally a technical term for a flourish or twist in weaving. The word has been used from around 1600 to imply the sense of peculiarity.

The 1830s saw a sudden jump in the number of times the word was used, only to fall to its previous levels as quickly as it had risen. A more gradual increase over nearly 150 years has now seen it reach those heady heights again.

Usage: You have to get used to other people's quirks when you are working with them on an everyday basis.

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The universe has always been an enigma. There is so much to learn and experience from nature. Sometimes, nature delights us with some breathtaking spectacles of hers. We take you through some of these wow moments.

MOONBOW

You have seen a rainbow. Have you seen a moonbow? This is a light show like no other. The moonbow is a very rare optical phenomenon. It occurs when the light from the moon gets reflected and refracted through water droplets in the air at a certain angle. Much like how a rainbow forms. But moonbows are faint as the amount of light from the moon, which is reflected sunlight, is less. It is said that the first mention of moonbows was by Aristotle back in 350BC. As there is more light during the full moon phase, the likelihood of seeing a moonbow is more at this time.

Every year, during spring and autumn, the Denmark skies become a canvas of sorts as starling birds whiz through the skies in millions. The birds flock together in large numbers and even the sun gets partially blocked by them. This has earned the phenomenon the name Sort Sol meaning Black Sun in Danish. This spectacle across the skies occurs because of the migrating starlings as they head to their breeding grounds. This can be seen only in Denmark.

SKY MIRROR - BOLIVIA

This is akin to a mirror on the floor. The Salar de Uyuni in Bolivia is the world's largest salt flat. When the lake water flows onto the flat, the water reflects the sky above, just like a mirror. These salt flats are vast and endless and the waters create a reflection that makes for an extremely enigmatic sight.

NORTHERN LIGHTS ICELAND

Sometime between September and April, the skies in Iceland turn theatrical as they put on a spellbinding show of colours. Awe-inspiring patterns form in the sky in hues of green, red and blue. This natural phenomenon is called the Aurora Borealis or the northern lights. They form when the charged particles of the sun interact with atmospheric atoms.

BIOLUMINESCENT SHORES - MALDIVES

Picture this. A beach glowing neon blue at night. If you were to go to the Vaadhoo Island of the Maldives between the months of June and December, you will get to witness a glorious abstract art painted by nature herself on the sea. The waters appear soaked in a blue hue because of the phenomenon called bioluminescence as light gets emitted by a microorganism called phytoplankton present in the sea.

LIQUID RAINBOW-COLOMBIA

Imagine a river full of colours, more like a watercolour palette. The Caño Cristales river in La Macarena turns into a vibrant colourscape between the months of July and October. The river gets bathed in colours of red, yellow, green and blue as a result of the reproduction of the aquatic plant Macarenia clavigera, a species of the river weed family, during that time. The 62.1-mile-long river runs through the Serranía de la Macarena national park in Colombia.

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Meaning: A noun, zeitgeist means the general mood, quality or cultural climate that is representative of an era.

Origin: Zeitgeist derives its origin from German, combining the terms 'Geist’ (spirit) and Zeit (time or historical period). Thus it means the spirit of an era.

Usage: The Woodstock was a poignant moment in history and also represented the zeitgeist of the 1960s America.

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Meaning: A noun, zeitgeist means the general mood, quality or cultural climate that is representative of an era.

Origin: Zeitgeist derives its origin from German, combining the terms 'Geist’ (spirit) and Zeit (time or historical period). Thus it means the spirit of an era.

Usage: The Woodstock was a poignant moment in history and also represented the zeitgeist of the 1960s America.

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Meaning: The word ovation corresponds to a sustained and enthusiastic show of appreciation from a gathered audience, especially in the form of applause.

Origin: The Roman historical sense of the word denotes a processional entrance into Rome by a victorious commander, which is of a lesser honour than a triumph. The word has been around since the 1530s in the Roman historical sense and is from French ovation or directly from Latin ovationem. The figurative sense of an audience bursting into enthusiastic applause is attested by 1831.

Usage: The student received a standing ovation when she completed her speech on the subject of compassion.

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Meaning: Soporific is used as an adjective as well as a noun. It refers to something that tends to induce drowsiness or sleep.

Origin: Soporific comes from Latin sopor meaning "deep sleep" and fic, an adjective forming suffix meaning "making or producing". That root is related to somnus, the Latin word for "sleep." Remember words such as "somnambulism" and "insomnia" also have their roots in somnus. The term soporific has been in use in English since the mid-17th Century.

Usage: The motion of the bus has a soporific effect on some commuters.

A glass of warm milk at bedtime is considered a soporific as it induces sleep

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