Words I Love (that are sorely underused)

As a writer, I obviously love words. Yet, I feel that as a people we don't even begin to utilize the really cool verbiage at our disposal. Hence, I'm sharing some of my very favorite words that I try to drop into conversation every now and again, just to keep life interesting.

fruition
The condition of bearing fruit.

fecund
To be productive or able to produce live gametes or offspring, bearing, pregnant fecundity, fertile; fertility, potent.

bedazzle
To dazzle so completely as to make blind.

jejune
Not interesting; dull.

germane
relevant

pulchritude (I also love pulchritudinous.)
That quality of appearance which pleases the eye; beauty; comeliness; grace; loveliness.

putrid
Tender to the touch; susceptible of pain from pressure; inflamed; painful; -- said of the body or its parts; as, a sore hand.

sobriquet
(so-brik-kay', so-brik-ket') a descriptive name or epithet, a nickname. [from French

fug
(fugg) n. an odorous emanation, especially, the stuffy atmosphere of a poorly ventilated space. adj. fuggy. v.i. to loll indoors in a stuffy atmosphere. v.t. to make fuggy.

naff
(naff) adj. 1: unstylish, clichéd, or outmoded. 2: to fool around or go about. naff off rude imperative. go away! [British slang.]

oikology ) or (or oinkology as I prefer to call it.)
(oy-koll'-uh-jee) n. the study, or science of housekeeping. [from Greek oikos "house, dwelling."]

pelf
(pelf) n. money, riches. [from Middle French pelfre "booty".]


foofaraw (This must be where froo froo comes from.)
foo'-fa-raw) n. 1: frills and fancy finery. 2: a disturbance or to-do over a trifle.

lubricious
(loob-rish'-us) adj. 1: having a smooth or slippery quality. 2: marked by wantonness; salacious.

jactation (Doesn’t this sound dirty?)
(jack-tay'-shun) n. boasting; bragging

weazen
(wee'-zen) v.i. to shrink or shrivel, to cause to shrink.

pawky
(paw'-kee) adj. artfully shrewd; canny.

petard ( brings to mind Hamlet, “hoist on my own petard!”)
(pet-tard') n. 1: a small bell-shaped bomb used to breach a gate or wall. 2: a loud firecracker. [from French pétard "a fart", or a type of bomb, from Old French pet "a fart," from Latin pdere "to fart," from the Indo-European root pezd "fart"].

dingle
(ding'-gull) or dimble (dim'-bull) n. a narrow wooded dale or valley between hills; a small secluded valley.


pyknic (I guess if he’s tall and skinny you could say, “He was no pyknic!)
(pik'-nik) adj. characterized by shortness of stature; broadness of girth, and powerful muscularity; endomorphic. [from Greek pyknos "dense, stocky"].

hoyden
(hoy'-den) n. a girl or woman of saucy, boisterous or carefree behavior.


peculate
(peck'-yuh-late) v.t. embezzle

juggernaut
(jug'-er-not) n. 1: a massive inexorable force that crushes whatever is in its path. 2: (chiefly Brit.) a large heavy truck. 3: (an older definition from the OED) (figurative) an institution, practice, or notion to which persons blindly devote themselves, or are ruthlessly sacrificed. [all these derived from the first OED definition 4: in Hindu mythology, a title of Krishna, the eighth avatar of Vishnu; specifically, the idol of this deity, annually dragged in procession on an enormous car, under the wheels of which many devotees would throw themselves to be crushed.]

salubrious
(sal-oo'-bree-us) adj. favorable to or promoting health or well being.

zaftig (Juicy! Succulent! Is it any wonder I LOVE this word?)
(zoff'-tig) adj. (of a woman) having a full rounded figure; pleasingly plump [from Yiddish zaftik "juicy, succulent"].

fungible
(fun'-ji-bul) adj. 1: of such a kind or nature that one specimen or part may be used in place of another specimen or equal part in the satisfaction of an obligation. 2: interchangeable.

famulus (My poor famulus would have to do the oikology… if I had one.)
(fam'-yuh-lus) n. a private secretary or attendant.