by Dwane | Apr 11, 2015 | English, Latin, Vocabulary
Pedestrian: a walker; someone who journeys on foot. As an adjective, something pedestrian describes a going on foot; walking; made on foot; as a pedestrian journey. Interestingly, pedestrian also means boring, mundane, banal, prosaic, or commonplace. When we use the...
by Dwane | Apr 11, 2015 | Education, Greek, Vocabulary
Gastropod: Snails and slugs. These guys are members of a class of mollusks (Gastropoda) that use their stomachs as a foot. I used to work with some guys like that. A scientist named Georges Cuvier coined the word in 1795. Cuvier created the word by combining the Greek...
by Dwane | Apr 9, 2015 | Education, English, Greek, Vocabulary
Chiropodist: a podiatrist. The word chiropodist has essentially dropped from English. It lost its job to podiatrist. A chiropodist was a hand and foot doctor. The word comes from the Greek words for hand, χείρ (pronounced, kheir) and foot, ποδός (pronounced,...
by Dwane | Apr 9, 2015 | Education, English, Latin, Vocabulary
Pedestal: In architecture, the lowest part of a column or pillar. The pedestal sustains a column and serves as its “foot.” A pedestal is a support structure, a base. We can use the word pedestal figuratively as well. When we put someone “on a pedestal,” we are...
by Dwane | Apr 7, 2015 | Education, English, Greek, Vocabulary
Cephalopod: the squid, the octopus, or the cuttlefish. The Greek word, κεφαλή (kephale) means, head. Combine this word with the Greek word for foot, ποδός (podos), and you’ve got a cephalopod. That’s right. A cephalopod is a “head-footed” creature. Or, perhaps a...
