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irascible: msg#00028culture.language.word-of-the-day
***************************************************************** Bee a winner with our Unabridged Dictionary--the official reference of the Scripps Howard National Spelling Bee. http://www.merriam-webster.com/cgi-bin/book.pl?w3.htm&1 ***************************************************************** The Word of the Day for May 29 is: irascible \ih-RASS-uh-bul\ adjective : marked by hot temper and easily provoked anger Example sentence: The boys knew they'd have to endure a tirade from their irascible coach if they were late to football practice again. Did you know? If you try to take apart "irascible" in the same manner as "irrational," "irresistible," or "irresponsible," you might find yourself wondering what "ascible" means -- but that's not how "irascible" came to be. The key to the meaning of "irascible" isn't the negative prefix "ir-" (which is used before words that begin with "r"), but the Latin noun "ira," meaning "anger." From "ira," which is also the root of "irate" and "ire," came the Latin verb "irasci" ("to become angry"), which led to the French "irascible." English speakers borrowed the word from French in the 16th century. |
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