areal

I was familiar with the word "area," of course, but I didn't know 'til recently that the adjective form is "areal." ...you can get the same volume of magnetic dipoles...

ischemia

A recent story in Asimov's referred to a character having an "ischemic defect" in his heart. MW11 says that "ischemia" is a "deficient supply of blood to a body part...

sneeze

Related to that last entry, the etymology of "sneeze" is pretty cool: MW11 says it's from Middle English "snesen," alteration of "fnesen,"; related to Middle High German "pfnusen," to snort...

fnug

Will Q. recently introduced me to the word "fnug," also spelled "fnuck"; it's a Danish word meaning "fluff" or "speck." Presumably if you have a big pile of fnucks, they're...

pietist

"Pietism" was "a 17th century religious movement originating in Germany in reaction to formalism and intellectualism" (sez MW11); I guess a "Pietist" was a member of that movement, but I've...

parget

To "parget" is "to coat with plaster," especially ornamental or waterproofing plaster. I'm surprised that we have a word for such a thing, and particularly that it's been around since...

satnav

This is one of those words that I'm reluctant to list because it's such an obvious alteration of well-known words. On the other hand, it's one of the few words...

pessary

A "pessary" is a vaginal suppository, or any of various devices worn in the vagina for various purposes. Ultimately from Greek "pessos," which MW11 says is an "oval stone for...

chook

I'm sorry for the hiatus. One of those things where the longer I went without posting here, the more uncertain I got about the whole enterprise. I have some ideas...