cacuminous

Aug. 19th, 2010 07:45 am
prettygoodword: text: words are sexy (Default)
[personal profile] prettygoodword
cacuminous (ka-KYUU-mi-nuhs) - adj., having a pointed or pyramidal end.


Like an obelisk. This apparently applies only to long thin objects. Origin is obscure -- clearly Latin, but which word? Per the OED, it's from cacūmen, tree-top -- but they think its first use is 1871, and this blogger finds a use from 1633; this dictionary of etymology traces it instead to cacuminis, limit, which I can't find in Lewis & Short. So who knows. Either way, we now know there's a word for it.

---L.
This account has disabled anonymous posting.
If you don't have an account you can create one now.
HTML doesn't work in the subject.
More info about formatting

June 2025

S M T W T F S
1 2 3 4 5 67
8 91011121314
15161718192021
22232425262728
2930     

Style Credit

Expand Cut Tags

No cut tags
Page generated Jun. 9th, 2025 04:07 pm
Powered by Dreamwidth Studios