Wordsmith – Bizarre English Words
English is a language with a huge vocabulary with many words that the average person is unaware exist. We’ve gathered here a few of the more unusual ones for you to test your wordpower (or ability to give a good guess) against. So see how you do by matching each of the, bizarre but real, words below to one of the multiple possible definitions.
| Vocabulary Ratings | ||
| 15-14 correct | …………………………… | excellent |
| 13-11 correct | …………………………… | good |
| 10-9 correct | …………………………… | fair |
(1) crambazzled adj A: exhausted after shopping. B: aged by drink. C: full after a big breakfast.B: prematurely aged by drinking. “Keith Floyd looked crambazzled after a lifetime in the kitchen.” Yorkshire slang, 19th century.
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(2) ostrobogulous adj A: bizarre. B:large-mouthed. C: crunchy.A: bizarre. Derivation unknown.
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(3) fornale {four-nali} v A: bake at low heat. B: kiss without enthusiasm. C: spend unearned money.C: spend money before you’ve earned it “When the ship docked, the sailors fornaled two days before payday.” 15th-century English.
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(4) cagg n A: miner' cough. B: climber's penknife. C: vow to stay sober.C: solemn vow not to get drunk. 19th-century English military slang.
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(5) macrology {mack-rol-ojee} n A; tedious and empty talk. B: long view. C: marine science.A: tedious and empty talk.”The party was rich in macrology.” Greek macros (long) and logos (word).
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(6) accidie {acid-ee} n A: stale white wine. B: apathy. C: spiteful gossip.B: apathy.”His accidie deepened as he waited on Platform 8″
Latin accidia (listlessness).
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(7) quidnunc n A: charming scrounger. B: corrupt priest. C: someone desperate for news.C: someone desperate toknow what’s going on. Latin quid nunc (what now).
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(8) dudgeon {dudj-un} n A: damp basement. B: belt buckle. C. resentful anger.C: resentful anger. “He stormed off the X-Factor set in high dudgeon.”
Old English (the wood used to make dagger hilts).
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(9) deipnosophist {dayp-noh-sofhst} n A: sleepwalker. B: lightning conductor. C: dining companion.C: brilliant dining companion. “The deipnosophist made up for the salmon mousse.” Greek dapnon (dinner) and sophos (wise).
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(10) cachinnate {kak-in-ate} v A: shake uncontrollably. B: hoard money. C: laugh loudly.C: laugh loudly. Latin cachinare (laugh loudly).
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(11) dundrearies n A: side-whiskers. B: hidden rocks at sea. C: extreme terror.A: long side-whiskers. Victorian English, from the character Lord Dundreary in the 1858 play Our American Cousin.
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(12) godwottery {god-what-eree} n A: old-fashioned language. B: missionary's speech. C: Elizabethan maze.A: pretentious use of old language. “Stephen Fry likes to mockgodwottery.” From the 19th-century English
exclamation.”God wot”
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(13) philtrum n A: poisonous powder. B: groove below the nose. C: sail cotton.B: groove below the nose. “There was a thin moustache nestling on his philtrum. Latin philtrum.
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(14) smidsy n A: soap dispenser. B: motorbike accident. C: love song.B: a motorbike accident. “The greasy road surface led to a boom In smidsies.” 20th-century acronym-Sorry, Mate, I Didn’t See You.
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(15) brendice {bren-diss} n A: toasting cup. B: French beer waitress. C: canal boat.A: cup used to drink to another’s health. “We raised a brendice to absent friends” 17th-century English
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