• mundane • Pronunciation: mên-deyn Part of Speech: Adjective Meaning: 1. Worldly, secular, as opposed to spiritual or heavenly. 2. Pedestrian, commonplace, trite, ordinary. Notes: The adverb for this good adjective is mundanely and you have your choice of two nouns: the mundane mundaneness or the ...

• covet • ———————————————————— Pronunciation: kê-vet Part of Speech: Transitive verb Meaning: 1. To greatly desire. 2. To unnaturally envy someone for something they have. Notes: This Good Word came to English with its whole family. The adjective is covetous and the adverb, covetously. The past par...

Maybe I should take a run at this one. I'll bet there are a lot of people out there who have a sense of this word but have difficulty keeping up with its syllables. It has a noble and interesting ancestry, too; related to 'raptor'.

I'll try to squeeze it into March; otherwise, early April.

Brak means 'salty' in Dutch, so brakish would be 'saltyish'. It is a rather stranded word with few relatives in Dutch. German has Brackwasser but no Brack that I can find.

I think I'll pass on this one but 'etiolate' is an old favorite of mine that I've scheduled for March.

• marshal • Pronunciation: mah(r)-sêl • Hear it! Part of Speech: Noun, Transitive Verb Meaning: 1. [Noun] A federal, state, or other law-enforcement officer. 2. [Noun] The highest military rank in the Armies of some countries, e.g. a field marshal. 3. [Noun] The person in charge of a ceremony, as a...

Stargzer's rule is excellent but one more little point ties it all up nicely:

When you effect something, you cause it.

"Eberntson's question effected an interesting series of replies that affected our understanding of the difference between 'affect' and 'effect'."

• pander • Pronunciation: pæn-dêr Part of Speech: Noun, Intransitive verb Meaning: 1. [Noun] The scientific term for pimp, a procurer of sexual favors. 2. [Noun] A person who complies with the base inclinations of others. 3. [Verb] To lower one's standards or morals for approval or wealth, as to pa...

• doozy • Pronunciation: du-zee Part of Speech: Noun Meaning: A pip, a beaut, a lulu, a humdinger, a lollapalooza, in other words, an epitome, prime example, something truly extraordinary in its class. Notes: Although I've equated lulu, beaut, humdinger, and lollapalooza in today's definition, this...

• lament • Pronunciation: lê-ment • Hear it! Part of Speech: Transitive verb, Noun Meaning: 1. [Verb] To express grief, mourning, sorrow. 2. [Verb] To regret, feel grief or sorrow. 3. [Noun] A written or oral expression of grief or mourning, such as a poem or song. Notes: Today's word has a rich if...

I did, indeed, Apo. Thanks for sharing it--even though it did leave me a bit envious.

• Valentine • Pronunciation: væ-lên-'tayn Part of Speech: Noun, Verb Meaning: 1. The name of St. Valentine. 2. A gift or card sent or given to a sweetheart of loved one on St. Valentine's Day, February 14, a day that celebrates love. 3. The sweetheart or loved one to whom a St. Valentine's Day card...

Tim,

I've bragged about this so many times, I'm not sure if you realized it, but I, too, am from Fayetteville, NC--grew up in the same household as Dr. Language of YDC, in fact. We always had words for each other growing up.

I try to find words that tell a story about us and where we come from, how we really think, what we are currently up to. Other WotDs aim at vocabulary building--and most of our words are chosen for that, too. However, the words of a language draw a map of the people who speak them and, to use your m...

• love • Pronunciation: lêv Part of Speech: Noun & Transitive verb Meaning : 1. A deep affection and respect for. 2. A sexual passion for someone or something. 3. Zero points in tennis scoring. Notes: We picked this Good Word for today to make sure you are ready for tomorrow, St. Valentine's Da...

It comes up only once in a Google search, a Canadian forum message that has been taken down. This suggests that it is idiolectic, i.e. part of the "dialect" of individuals and not widely known.

I never heard of it in North Carolina, Michigan, or Pennsylvania.