Wednesday, July 11, 2007

Word Of The Week

embellie

Today's word was suggested by my friend CHM. Its origins are maritime in nature, but it has come to be used by landlubbers as well. You may know its more common sister word, éclaircie.

If you've been in France any time during the last two months, you crave les embellies. They're the breaks in the clouds when the sun pokes through. A temporary improvement in the otherwise dismal weather.

The noun derives from the verb embellir which means to make something better looking. I'm sure that's where English gets the word embellish.

Image from : http://naturelle.canalblog.com
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This week is Word of the Week's one-year anniversary. The following is an alphabetic list of the 46 words that have appeared in this space in the past year - I did miss a week here and there. Do you remember what they mean ?
  1. antipodes
  2. b.a.-ba
  3. bourriche
  4. buanderie
  5. butinage
  6. calotte
  7. canicule
  8. couac
  9. cran
  10. crevé
  11. crosnes
  12. décousu
  13. déjanter
  14. éboulement
  15. échelonner
  16. écrin
  17. embellie
  18. étrenne
  19. fastoche
  20. feu
  21. filou
  22. fleuron
  23. gamelle
  24. gazon
  25. gribouillage
  26. instar
  27. kifer
  28. maussade
  29. motte
  30. patauger
  31. péplum
  32. rameau
  33. rassasier
  34. ressac
  35. riper
  36. s’évertuer
  37. sangsue
  38. scélérat
  39. scrutin
  40. socle
  41. timoré
  42. tomber dans les pommes
  43. tramontane
  44. trouble
  45. victoire
  46. wapiti

2 comments:

  1. Don't remember all of the words, but am totally impressed that you have published a list! Vive le mot de la semaine!

    ReplyDelete
  2. I do! ;)
    I think 'embellie' is what our UK neighbours on the BBC call a 'sunny spell'
    They are pretty scarce this year.

    ReplyDelete

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