Wondrous Words Wednesday is a weekly meme where we share new (to us) words that we’ve encountered in our reading. Feel free to join in the fun. (Don’t forget to leave a link in your comment if you’re participating.)
All of my words this week come from April & Oliver by Tess Callahan.
1. pellucid - “She felt a desire to touch the milky, pellucid scar, but knew enough not to.”
Pellucid means admitting maximum passage of light without diffusion or distortion.
2. merganser – “In the mirror, she sees Bernadette staring up at the stuffed merganser with cigarette holes in its wings, her forehead tense.”
Since wings were mentioned, I guessed that a merganser is a type of bird – it is actually any of various fish eating, diving ducks.
3. rondos – “Wind groans against the side of the house, and Oliver’s rondos rise in her mind, circling there as they have all night .”
A rondo is an instrumental composition typically with a refrain recurring four times in the tonic and with three couplets in contrasting keys.
4. plangent – “The surf echoes in her apartment, plangent as trains.”
Plangent means having a loud reverberating sound.
What new words have you discovered lately?
28 Comments
July 15, 2009 at 7:06 am
Very nice set of new words. I like how I get the flavor of the book just from the words.
You can find my new words at Joyfully Retired. I’m hosting a book blog tour today so scroll through my review first to my Wondrous Words.
July 15, 2009 at 7:40 am
Great words. I would have trouble remembering them to use in my everyday language though. Perhaps I need to participate in this to widen my vocabulary.
July 15, 2009 at 8:00 am
no way! I was just about to post mine and I have plangent, too! It was in Olive Kitteridge.
July 15, 2009 at 8:33 am
Poor merganser!
July 15, 2009 at 8:49 am
I like this – words rarely known, not often used.
I did know one – merganser – as it relates to a duck, anyway.
July 15, 2009 at 8:59 am
New words! Everybody loves new words. It’s a writer’s equivalent of fancy high heels.
Helen
Straight From Hel
July 15, 2009 at 9:43 am
Great words…I will have to try to remember these when I read April and Oliver. My words are here:
http://jo-jolovestoread.blogspot.com/2009/07/wondrous-words-wednesday-july-15.html
July 15, 2009 at 9:54 am
I wonder if I could apply plangent to my grandson. Hmmm. . . . .
July 15, 2009 at 10:03 am
Here are mine: http://wordlily.wordpress.com/2009/07/15/words-from-my-reading-715/
July 15, 2009 at 10:17 am
Pellucid was familiar to me, but I didn’t know its meaning was so precise. And I like plangent. I want to find a way to use it. My new words are here.
July 15, 2009 at 11:13 am
Merganser is the only one I know because my husband is a duck-hunter. And my daughter is a duck-raiser. But they get along fine.
My words are here.
July 15, 2009 at 11:30 am
I knew merganser and I knew that rondo was a musical term, but now I know them more precisely. Good words!
My words are here.
July 15, 2009 at 12:27 pm
I’ve played rondos on the piano!
I’ve come across plangent before and I thought it had a plaintive connotation… I just looked it up on Wikipedia and they define it as “having a loud, mournful sound,” so I guess I was right!
My words are here:
http://shereadsandreads.blogspot.com/2009/07/wondrous-words-wednesday-july-15.html
July 15, 2009 at 12:43 pm
Meant to ask last week – is there a common dictionary everybody is using for this meme?
July 15, 2009 at 12:50 pm
Michael, the answer is no. I generally use my Canadian Oxford, but there are lots of words I have to look up online. Other folks just use online dictionaries. (Kathy, I hope you don’t mind me answering this question!)
July 15, 2009 at 1:19 pm
I have finally done it! My first Wondrous Wednesday post is up. I think it’s a wonderful feature that makes you pay more attention to the words you’re reading.
http://lilly-readingextravaganza.blogspot.com/2009/07/wondrous-words-wednesday.html
July 15, 2009 at 2:35 pm
I’m totally digging “plangent” regarding the waves as I’m headed to the beach, soon. Ah, I can hear the ocean already!
July 15, 2009 at 2:42 pm
This is such a great idea! I just posted my first Wondrous Words on my blog http://bookatopia.blogspot.com/2009/07/wondrous-words-wednesday-july-15-2009.html.
July 15, 2009 at 3:51 pm
There is something about discovering new words that is a lot of fun. I am enjoying reading the answers to this meme as I find it is actually expanding my vocabularly. Which, I guess is the point…
Great words!
Sassy
July 15, 2009 at 4:28 pm
I think your words go to show just how poetic Ms. Callahan’s writing is.
July 15, 2009 at 7:52 pm
I’m so glad that you listed these words because I’m getting this book from the library soon!!
July 15, 2009 at 8:02 pm
Interesting words. I have never heard of those either. I hope to get a chance to read that book as well. Here is my link: http://shannanlovesbooks.blogspot.com/2009/07/wonderous-words-wednesday.html
July 15, 2009 at 8:19 pm
Here’s mine this week. :]
http://www.vombatiformes.com/booklog/?p=529
From your words, I really like “rondos”. It even sounds interesting.
July 15, 2009 at 11:00 pm
My week has been horribly busy, but my post is up, too. Rondo was the only one of yours I was familiar with.
http://carolsnotebook.wordpress.com/2009/07/15/wondrous-words-wednesday-16/
July 16, 2009 at 12:26 am
Great list of words… I love how you do this. It really gives me a sense of how the language of the book would flow.
July 16, 2009 at 7:52 am
Interesting word choices this week. I love reading these posts.
–Anna
July 16, 2009 at 10:16 am
I only have one word this week, so I didn’t create a post for it.
skittle – 1. a pin used in the game of skittles 2. a game played with usually nine wooden pins set up at the end of an alley to be bowled down usually with wooden balls or a wooden disc
Also, I have an award for you here.
July 16, 2009 at 11:13 am
I love it when you have words from a book that I have read. I get to be lazy. A lot of these I went with the context, but it’s good to have confirmation.