One of our favorite books has a list of “World’s Most Interesting Words.”

We’re going to post them here as we have time. Feel free to eMail your favorite word(s) to us: Publisher @ TerraPublishingHouse.come, or post them to our blog.

aardvark A nocturnal animal of Southern Africa Orycteropus after, with a tubular snout and a long extensible tongue, that feeds on termites. Also called ant bear
Afrik: f aarde earth + vark pig

absinthe /absinth/ n. (also ab-sinth) 1 a shrubby plant, Artemisia absinthium, or its essence. Also called wormwood. 2 a green antiseed flavored potent liqueur based on wormwood and turning milky when water is added. [F. absinthe f. L absinthium f. Gk apsinthion}

antediluvian adj. 1 of or belonging to the time before the biblical flood. 2 colloq. very old or out of date [ANTE- + L diluviun DELUGE + -AN]

babel 1 a confused noise, esp of voices. 2 a noisy assembly. 3 a scene of confusion (ME f. Heb babel/Babylon f. Akkad bab ili gate of god (with ref. to the biblical account of the tower that was built to reach heaven but ended in chaos when God confused the builders’ speech; see Gen 11)

bagpipe /bágpïp/ n. (usu. in pl.) a musicial instrument consisting of a windbag connected to two kinds of reeded pipes: drone pipes which produce single sustained notes and a fingered melody pipe or 'chanter'. bag pip-er n.

calamity /kelámitee/ n. (pl. -ties) 1 a disaster, a great misfortune. 2 a adversity. b deep distress. ca-lam-i-tous adj. ca-lam-i-tous-ly adv. [ME f. F calamite f. L calamitas - tatis]

mesmerize /mézmeriz/ v.tr. 1 Psychol. hypnotize; exercise mermerism on. 2 fascinat, spellbind mes-mer-i-za-tion n. mes-mer-i-zing-ly adv.

metamorphosis/métamáwrfsis/ n (pl. met-a-mor-pho-ses/-seez/) 1 a change of form (by natural or supernatural means). 2 a changed form. 3 a change of character, conditions, etc. 4 Zool. the transformation between an immature form and an adult form, e.g., from a pupa to an insect, or from a tadpole to a frog. [L f. Gk metamorphosis f. metamorphoo transform (as META-, morphoo f. morph form)]

scintillate /sintilayt/v.intr. 1 (esp. as scintillating adj.) talk cleverly or wittily; be brilliant. 2 sparkle; twinkle; emit sparks. 3 Physics flouresence momentarily when struck by a charged particle, etc. scin-til-lant adj scin-til-lat-ing-ly adj [L. scintillare (as SCINTILLA)]