Pedicure

Pedicure: care for the feet. From the Latin words pes, (the genitive is pedis), and the verb curare, which means, to care for. Some time ago, one of my high school students held her hands out in front of herself for a long time. She was clearly not paying attention in...

Peddler

Peddler: a walking salesman; a traveling trader; one who travels about, retailing small wares; a hawker; a huckster; a street vendor. These days, the word peddler may describe someone who sells illegal drugs, or stolen goods. Peddler shows up in English in the 1200’s....

Foot words

I am increasingly stunned by the debt English owes to Latin and Greek.  Perhaps this is simply because I never seriously studied vocabulary as a child.  Perhaps this, for everyone else, is general knowledge.  Perhaps everyone knows Latin and Greek dumped boatloads of...