Wednesday 5 January 2011

Word of the day

I've got a small list of interesting words, and judging by the contents, by 'interesting' I seem to mean 'three or more syllables and had to look up in the dictionary to be sure of the meaning'. Unfortunately, I didn't note where I read them, so now can't give the context. But here's one:
depauperate (di'ppərət)
adj 1. (of a flora, fauna, or ecosystem) Lacking in numbers or variety of species; having a limited biodiversity; impoverished. 2. (of a plant or animal) Imperfectly developed; having stunted growth.
vb 1. To impoverish. 2. To stunt the growth of.
First used in the 15th century from Latin de- + pauperare to impoverish, from pauper poor.
Meanwhile, Google Maps is still showing Mucknell in its depauperate state (you might need to click on Satellite). And when I put "Google" through the MS Word spell checker, it suggested "Go ogle", which I suppose is Microsoft's little revenge.

2 comments:

  1. Surely 'depauperate' should mean 'depopulate your city of paupers?' ie: drive them out of the town gates in case they bring on the Black Death?

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  2. As the ConDem government are aiming to do with the cap on housing benefit, perhaps?

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