• calender •
Pronunciation: kæl-in-dêr • Hear it!
Part of Speech: Noun
Meaning: A machine designed to make paper or cloth slick or glossy by pressing it through rollers.
Notes: 
No, we haven't misspelled calendar. Today's word is the most common misspelling of calendar, but it is a word itself, only a different one. This word may be used as a verb, to calender, with all the various forms of a verb: calenders, calendering, calendered. This makes a personal noun possible: calenderer.
In Play: Whatever you do, do not spell calendar calender; it may mislead people who know the difference: "What a lovely sheen this material has; it must have passed through the calender several times." This word also applies to processing paper: "This paper is too rough; it would have benefitted from a calender."
Word History: This surprisingly interesting word comes from Medieval Latin celendra (later yet calendre), a derivative of Classical Latin cylindrus, which English borrowed as cylinder. Latin got this word from Greek kylindros "roller, cylinder", which comes from the same source as English wheel. In Old English we meet this word as hweogol, which soon became hweal. You can figure it out from there. Hint: the letters WH are pronounced [hw] in English. (We are happy that Jeremy Busch was not thrown off by the spelling of calender and discovered another absolutely fascinating Good Word.
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