amphiscians | Word of the Day

February 11, 2019 amphiscians [am-fish-ee-uhnz, -fish-uhnz] plural noun 1. Archaic. inhabitants of the tropics. word-trends The Most Searched Words Of 2018 On Dictionary.com grammar Why We Need The Serial Comma: 10 Hilarious Real-World Examples WORD OF THE DAY amphiscians continued... QUOTES The amphiscians, whose noon shadows fall on both sides, are the people who live between the two tropics, in the region which the ancients call the middle zone. -- Nicholas Copernicus (1473–1543), On the Revolutions, translated by Edward Rosen, 1978 ORIGIN Amphiscians is an altogether strange word, at least in its meaning. The English word, a plural noun, comes from Medieval Latin Amphisciī "those who cast a shadow on both sides," i.e., in the tropics a person's shadow will fall towards the north or towards the south depending on whether the sun is above or below the equator. Amphisciī is a straightforward borrowing of Greek amphískioi (a plural adjective used as a noun) "casting a shadow or shadowy on both sides," formed from the preposition and prefix amphí, amphi- "around, about" (akin to Latin ambi- with the same meaning) and the noun skiá "shadow, shade, specter" (from the same Proto-Indo-European root from which English has shine). (Heteroscians is, of course, the opposite of amphiscians.) Amphiscians entered English in the 17th century. MORE FOR YOU 1 Is It Time For All Couples To Use The Term "Partner"? There are a lot of different words one could use to describe the person with whom they're in a romantic relationship. But, the one word that is most quickly redefining the way we talk about relationships is partner. 2 Adrenalize Your Intellect With This Week's Quiz Feeling shirty? Sashay through this week's soothing Word of the Day Quiz. | January 21 – 27, 2019 3 These Words Can Be VERY Awkward To Explain To Kids Kids are like sponges. They soak in the words they hear and see around them, and slowly their vocabularies build. But, sometimes, the words kids see and hear are not exactly PG. 4 There's Nothing Pawky About This Week's Quiz Tired from terraforming all weekend? Heal thyself with this week's salvific Word of the Day Quiz. 5 Sorry, Not Sorry! Quotes About Apologizing These authors have written the book on how to make a graceful apology. © 2018 Dictionary.com, LLC. ABOUT CONTACT