Nictate
Posted: Sat Aug 20, 2005 4:30 pm
• nictate •
Pronunciation: nik-teyt • Hear it!
Part of Speech: Verb, intransitive
Meaning: To wink, to blink.
Notes:
Just something in my eye.Today's Good Word is a reduction of the verb nictitate by a process known as 'haplology'. Haplology is the collapse of two similar or identical syllables into one, for example, probably is usually reduced to probly when pronounced because of the two instances of the sound [ahb] in its middle. Nictitate has a [tê] and a [tey] which, apparently, are similar enough for haplology. Nictation is the noun. For an adjective you have to go back to nictitate: it is nictitant "blinking".
In Play: Ladies, here is a good way to handle someone who comes on too strong: "Are you making a pass at me or does your eye nictate involuntarily?" Your vocabulary alone should deter him. Nictation is not limited to eyes, though, "They loved to sit together on a susurrous, moonlit beach and watch the slowly nictating lighthouse across the bay."
Word History: Today's Good Word comes from Latin nictat(us), the past participial stem of nictare "to wink or blink", a cognate with Old High German hnigan "to bow", neigen in Modern German today. Another relative is connive, which comes from Latin connivere "to close the eyes".
I suspect that this word is most often encountered in the term «nictating membrane», possessed by many animals, but alas, at least when it starts to blow in dusty regions, not by H sap sap. One can't have it all....
Henri
Pronunciation: nik-teyt • Hear it!
Part of Speech: Verb, intransitive
Meaning: To wink, to blink.
Notes:
Just something in my eye.Today's Good Word is a reduction of the verb nictitate by a process known as 'haplology'. Haplology is the collapse of two similar or identical syllables into one, for example, probably is usually reduced to probly when pronounced because of the two instances of the sound [ahb] in its middle. Nictitate has a [tê] and a [tey] which, apparently, are similar enough for haplology. Nictation is the noun. For an adjective you have to go back to nictitate: it is nictitant "blinking".
In Play: Ladies, here is a good way to handle someone who comes on too strong: "Are you making a pass at me or does your eye nictate involuntarily?" Your vocabulary alone should deter him. Nictation is not limited to eyes, though, "They loved to sit together on a susurrous, moonlit beach and watch the slowly nictating lighthouse across the bay."
Word History: Today's Good Word comes from Latin nictat(us), the past participial stem of nictare "to wink or blink", a cognate with Old High German hnigan "to bow", neigen in Modern German today. Another relative is connive, which comes from Latin connivere "to close the eyes".
I suspect that this word is most often encountered in the term «nictating membrane», possessed by many animals, but alas, at least when it starts to blow in dusty regions, not by H sap sap. One can't have it all....
Henri