This week’s obscure English word is lampyridine. It’s to do with glow-worms. Your challenge: write a sentence or two in the comments using this word. Copyright © Matthew Wright 2019 Advertisements

This week’s obscure English word is scumbling. It’s a wonderful sounding word, isn’t it. All kinds of potential for scurrilous onomatopaea – maybe. Actually, it has a fairly ordinary meaning, if it a bit technical. It’s an art term and means to alter the image, either by adding a thin layer of opaque or patchy … More The obscure word of the week is scumbling

This week’s obscure English word is murage. It’s the name of an archaic tax levied from townsfolk to pay for the walls around their town. Your challenge: write a sentence using murage in the comments. Copyright © Matthew Wright 2019

This week’s obscure English word is pasquinade. It’s a style of satire usually delivered in a public place. The word originated in the sixteenth century. Your challenge: go into a public place and deliver a pasquinade. Go on – I double-dog dare ya! Copyright © Matthew Wright 2019

This week’s obscure English word is relict. It’s a biological term referring to a surviving species from archaic times, implicitly with a small population. My second favourite is the Coelecanth, a lobe-finned fish thought to have gone extinct at the end of the Cretaceous, but which was discovered to be still living off Madagascar in … More The obscure word of the week is relict

This week’s obscure English word is cacidrosis. It means bad smelling sweat. Your challenge: write a sentence or two in the comments using this word. Copyright © Matthew Wright 2019

This week’s obscure English word is rapparee. And yes, it might sound like some kind of jamboree for rappers. Actually it’s a seventeenth century term for an Irish bandit or malfeasant. Your challenge: write a comment using the word. Copyright © Matthew Wright 2019