auriferous

****************************************************************
Do you enjoy challenging word games? Try WORD SWEEP!, the new board game 
featuring official Merriam-Webster definitions!
http://gifts.barnesandnoble.com/search/product.asp?ISBN=9780971348769&z=y&TYP=T
****************************************************************

The Word of the Day for August 26 is:

auriferous   \aw-RIF-uh-russ\   adjective 
     : containing gold

Example sentence: 
     The discovery of an auriferous region in California sparked the famous 
gold rush of 1849.

Did you know? 
     Students in chemistry class learn that the chemical symbol for gold is 
"Au." That symbol is based on "aurum," the Latin word for the element. In the 
17th century, English speakers  coined "auriferous" by appending the "-ous" 
ending to the Latin adjective "aurifer," an offspring of "aurum" that means 
"containing gold" or "producing gold." (The "-fer" is from "ferre," a Latin 
verb meaning "to produce" or "to bear.") Not surprisingly, "auriferous" is a 
term that shows up in geological contexts. Some other descendants of "aurum" 
include "aureate" ("of a golden color" or "marked by grandiloquent style"), 
"auric" ("of, relating to, or derived from gold"), and the noun "or" ("the 
heraldic color gold or yellow").





You Are Subscribed As: gclw-mw-wod7@xxxxxxxxx
To unsubscribe, change your e-mail address or to subscribe to the html
version of Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day, featuring audio
pronunciations, please visit:

http://mw.drhinternet.net/sm/wod/changeofaddress.iphtml

(c) 2007 by Merriam-Webster, Incorporated

Merriam-Webster, Inc.
47 Federal Street
P.O. Box 281
Springfield, MA 01102