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• furcate •

Pronunciation: fêr-kayt • Hear it!

Part of Speech: Verb, adjective

Meaning: To fork, divide into two parts

Notes: In case you need a syllable less in your poem, this is to let you know that furcate is a synonym of bifurcate. Here is a verb with an adjective formed by (optionally) reducing the vowel in the second syllable: furcate [fêr-kêt] "forked", like elaborate (verb) - elaborate (adjective) and many others. This verb also has a regular action noun furcation.

In Play: This word is most comfortable in scientific discussions: "The tail of the Mackinaw salmon is furcated, and the dorsal fin is rather large." However, it can be useful when talking about anything fitting its meaning: "The tree furcated above the main trunk." Remember the adjective: "The tongue of most snakes is furcate and contains heat-sensitive nerves."

Word History: Today's Good Word is based on the past participle, furcatus of Latin furcare "to fork", from furca "(two-pronged) fork). The origins proposed for furca are all questionable. According to Wiktionary, the origin is PIE gherk- "fork", which Proto-Germanic somehow turned into furkaz "stick, pole, post". This word fits the story of Latin furca, but not Dutch vork and English fork, where PIE [gh] usually turned up as [g]. Pokorny thought it might have come from perkwu- "oak". This works for Germanic languages. If Latin borrowed its word from one of those, that would explain Latin furca, but this theory has semantical problems. So, we are left in the dark by either of these ideas. (Now many thanks to wordmaster George Kovac for discovering this perfectly good Good Word and sharing it with us.)

Perhaps we could use it to tell people where to go, too: "Why don't you just furcate!"

On the other hand, "Oh, go bifurcate yourself!" works nicely, too.