TODAY’S WORD

heteroclite

● PRONUNCIATION: (HET-uhr-uhklyt)

● MEANING: noun: 1. A person who is unconventional; a maverick. 2. A word that is irregularly formed. adjective: 1. Deviating from the ordinary rule; eccentric. 2. (In grammar) Irregularly inflected.

● ETYMOLOGY: From Latin heteroclitus, from Greek heteroklitos, from hetero(different) + klinein (to lean, inflect). Ultimately from the IndoEuropean root klei- (to lean), which also gave us decline, incline, recline, lean, client, climax, and ladder. Earliest documented use: 1580

● USAGE: “South Africa indeed repeated before the executive organ of the UN a heteroclite set of tropes that mixed bad faith with ideological dogmatism from a bygone era.” Zweli Matshelwa;

The Flagrant Isolation of South Africa; New Zimbabwe; Apr 11, 2020.