This week’s little-used English word is credal. It’s sometimes also spelt ‘creedal’, and means ‘relating to a creed’. 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 gerb. It’s sometimes also spelt ‘gerbe’, and means ‘something resembling a sheaf of wheat’. Your challenge? Write a sentence (or two) in the comments using this word. Copyright © Matthew Wright 2017

The obscure word this week is fig. No really. Let me explain. Yes, it’s a well known type of fruit. But it had a meaning in the nineteenth century in reference to military uniform – from ‘figure’, as in ‘cut a fine figure’. It was also used to mean ‘condition’, as in ‘fine fig’. I’ve … More The obscure word of the week is ‘fig’, but not ‘fig’ as in fruit

This week’s obscure English word is lairage. It means a place where cattle can be rested on the way to slaughter (ewwww). 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 fecundate. It’s another word English has – er – borrowed from French and was first used in the late 17th century. It means ‘to make eloquent’. 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 dysphemism. This is when a derogatory word has been obviously used instead of a pleasant one in a sentence. 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. Most of them are quite obscure and deserve better attention than they get. This week’s is flagitious. It means criminally evil, a word deriving from Middle English and thence Latin, ‘flagitium (‘a shameful crime’). Your challenge? Write a sentence (or two) in the comments using this … More The obscure word of the week is flagitious