• sophomore •
Printable Version Pronunciation: sahf-ê-mor • Hear it!
Part of Speech: Noun
Meaning: 1. A second-year student in a U.S. 4-year college or a 4-year high school curriculum. 2. Someone in the second year of any activity that lasts more than 2 years.
Notes: Although in the US the middle vowel, [o], is usually ignored in this good word, it is still there to be pronounced. Don't forget it. But the interesting twist is found in this word's family: the adjective, sophomoric, which means "puerile, exhibiting immature behavior or thought"—far removed from its mother, sophomore, a young scholar. Since freshmen have even less exposure to education, we might expect this meaning to be attached to some word freshmanly (a possible word, by the way, but meaning only "freshmanlike"). The meaning of sophomoric seems a reflection of the wisdom in the old adage, a little knowledge is a dangerous thing.
In Play: The two adjectives based on Greek sophos "wise" in this sentence might seem unrelated: "My Elvira a sophisticated sophomore and not the sophomoric freshman your Egbert is." But then how often have we seen words take weirder routes? It would be sophomoric to think such wild deviations from the original impossible.
Word History: The stems underlying today's good word support the suggestion that the meaning of sophomoric fits the adage mentioned above. It is a compound containing Greek sophos "wise" and moron, the neuter (neither masculine nor feminine) of moros "stupid". Obviously, we also use moron straight out of the Grecian box and sophos is also prominent in the name of those who love wisdom, philosophers. One of them once said, "The more I know, the more I realize how little I know." (Today's word comes from Steward the French Geek, a very sophisticated sophomore studying in Belfast, Maine, when he is not sharing his love of words in the Alpha Agora.)
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