glabrous /GLAY-brəs/. adjective. Hairless, smooth. Most often used to refer to skin or leaves. From Latin glaber (hairless, bald).
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palimpsest
palimpsest /PAL-imp-sest/. noun or adjective. A manuscript or artwork which has been erased, scraped or washed off and overwritten, leaving traces of the original. More generally, something that has been reused or altered but bears evidence of the original. Owing to its durability (and expense), most existing written palimpsests are found on parchment or vellum manuscripts. Many texts only survive in this form. Use of the word has expanded into astronomy, medicine, archaeology and even augmented reality.
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sinistral
sinistral /SIN-i-strəl/ adjective. Left-handed. Related to, or located, on the left side of the body. When describing some molluscs, is used to describe a shell that coils clockwise from its apex. In obsolete, but occasionally invoked usage, something unlucky, darkly suspicious or deeply unfavorable. See also: chirality(handedness), of which sinistral is one and dextral the other. From Latin sinistr-, sinister (left).
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falcate
falcate /FOWL-kayt/. adjective. Sickle shaped. Hooked. Curved to a point. From Latin falcem (sickle) + -ate (resembling). Not to be confused with defalcate (to embezzle, sadly not pronounced to rhyme with defecate).
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steenth
steenth /STEENTH/. adjective. The latest in an indefinitely long series. Derived from “sixteenth” > from Old English siextēne (six and ten) and still used that way in stock trading, where it refers to 1/16 of a point in price. See also: umpteenth.
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coreaceous
coriaceous /kor-ee-AY-shəs/. adjective. Leather-like. Resembling leather. From Latin coriaceus (same meaning), from Latin corium (hide, leather, skin) + -aceus (of the nature of). See also scoriaceous (having the nature of scoria (masses, slag, dross)) and cuirass (originally a body armor made of leather).
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rhopalic
rhopalic /rə-PAL-ik/. noun or adjective. A sequence in which each word has one more letter or syllable than the one before it. From Latin rhopalicus > from Greek rhopalos (a tapered club).
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