Some more monosyllables

Hone - verb - to move toward, or direct attention to an objective; practice.

Ilk - noun - sort, category.

Thwart -- verb -- prevent, block, defeat, frustrate.

A Few More Monosylables

On this World Hynosis Day, I am pondering 2 monosyllabic words:

girth
and
mirth.

Girth is volume or width. Mirth is silliness or happiness.

Of the 2, I resolve to reduce girth this year and to maximize mirth.

Happy 2010, that's "Twenty-ten," not Two thousand ten!

Mirthful Wishes

Today is Earth Day. And the philolog can not be so mundane as to say Happy Earth Day, so I wish you a Mirthful Earth Day!

Officially, Earth Day was Wednesday, April 22.

Mirth. It's just a silly little word that tickles when you say it. My dictionary says it means spirited gaiety; social merriment. Synonyms: amusement, fun, delight, hilarity, jollity, joyfulness, and my all time favorite, Glee!

Wait a minute... jollity? I don't believe I've ever heard that word spoken or even seen it before in print. Nice to meet you, Jollity. Fortunately, the meaning is apparent as it looks so much like jolly. I guess Jolly is the adjective for the noun, Jollity.

I guess Merry is the adjective for Mirth. In addition to Mirthful, of course.

Mirth is from Old English.
Jollity is from Old French.

Hilarious! Well, maybe not, just slightly amusing, or maybe mildly interesting.

Svelte

Svelte. It means thin, willowy. It sounds much better than "skinny."

It is the only word in my pocket dictionary which starts with s, v, an interesting combination.

It says it comes from Italian!

Avid Plus

I like the word avid. It means passionate, or animated, characterized by enthusiasm or greed (avaricious). From Latin or French.

I have been nonplussed for several weeks now, after learning that nonplussed means speechless or astonished. I had been misinformed or misled, but I think I understand it now. It comes from Latin from non plus, which means no more.

Vim, Vigor and Vitality

Vim. That’s a word. Is that a word? It looks too short. Maybe it’s shortened from something else. It could be an acronym! Sure, Victorious, Impulsive, Magnificent! I just made that up. Let me check.

Vim comes to us from Latin, and means ebullient vitality and energy. So it could be an acronym for Vitality, invigorated motivation! That's what I said, wasn't it?!

How droll!

I left out a very amusing word on my list of monosyllables: droll. I came across this word in one of my son’s chapter books recently. I had to look it up to make sure I knew what it meant. I seem to remember hearing it in some old black and white movies, usually spoken by some sophisticated snob. It’s just a cute little word, which means comical or amusingly odd. I think it should be brought back into current usage.

Droll comes from an Old Dutch word, drol, meaning little man. I thought it might be related to troll, but my dictionary says that comes from an Old Norse word. Nonetheless, I think they share a common ancestor.

I think some of my articles are droll. If not humorous, they are certainly odd.

Monosyllablic Words

Bane, daft, dolt, hurl, irk, squelch, words don’t have to be big, to be interesting!