Tuesday, April 10, 2007

abecedarian

this word came into my inbox, courtesy of one of those word-of-the-day emails. It made me smile after I studied the pronunciation. Words crack me up sometimes.


abecedarian \ay-bee-see-DAIR-ee-uhn\, noun:

1. One who is learning the alphabet; hence, a beginner.
2. One engaged in teaching the alphabet.
3. Pertaining to the letters of the alphabet.
4. Arranged alphabetically.
5. Rudimentary; elementary.

Lorraine Heggessey and executive producer Jeremy Mills adroitly tapped into a national obsession at exactly the right time, presenting the topic in a way that appealed to experts and abecedarians alike.
-- Victor Lewis-Smith, "Lords of the mobile dance", The Evening Standard, June 11, 2001 Best Blogger Tips

5 comments:

January said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
January said...

Sorry, that was me who deleted the first message. Couldn't get the link to work.

What I wanted to say was that poems can be abecedarians. Here's one I wrote recently: Night Work

Yoga Gal said...

Great word! Isn't the English language a beautiful thing? It can be as complex as a Bach Fugue and just as beautiful to listen to. Namaste.

GoGo said...

ha. I just have to say, I love a word those who are learning the alphabet could not spell anyway. Think about it, by the time one could, one would no longer be a beginner.

:)

Repeater said...

That just doesn't seem like a real word at all. Good one! I love this word share business (I think FC started us out?)