This week’s obscure English word is onomastics. This is the term given to the study of proper names. Your challenge? Write a sentence (or two) in the comments using this word. Copyright © Matthew Wright 2017

There are over a million individual words in English. This week’s is thon. It’s an epicene word that never made it into common usage. It was coined by Charles Converse in 1858 as a conflation of ‘that one’, and intended as a gender-neutral pronoun – like ‘they’. Thon first appeared in a dictionary as early … More The obscure word of the week is thon

The obscure English word this week is moue. Really it isn’t an English word, of course. It is stolen from French (along with a lot of other English words) and means a pout. Your challenge? Write a sentence (or two) in the comments using this word. Copyright © Matthew Wright 2017

This week’s really obscure English word is prolix. It means long and tedious. The antonym of this post, really. Your challenge? Write a sentence (or two) in the comments using this word. Copyright © Matthew Wright 2017

This week’s really obscure English word is functor. It means somebody who performs functions: an operator. Your challenge? Write a sentence (or two) in the comments using this word. Copyright © Matthew Wright 2017

This week’s really obscure English word is nainsook. It is an eighteenth century word referring to soft cotton fabric, originally from India. Your challenge? Write a sentence (or two) in the comments using this word. Copyright © Matthew Wright 2017

This week’s totally obscure English word is mure. It is a Middle English word derived from old French and means to confine in prison. Your challenge? Write a sentence (or two) in the comments using this word. Copyright © Matthew Wright 2017