3rd Vocab Words

Here are some more interesting vocab words:

alfalfa |alˈfalfə|

noun

a leguminous plant with cloverlike leaves and bluish flowers. Native to southwestern Asia, it is widely grown for fodder(food usually dry hay for livestock). Also called lucerne . • Medicago sativa, family Leguminosae.

ORIGIN mid 19th cent.: from Spanish, from Arabic al-faṣfaṣa, a green fodder.

Australasia |ˌôstrəˈlā zh ə|

the region that consists of Australia, New Zealand, New Guinea, and the neighboring islands of the Pacific Ocean.

DERIVATIVES

Australasian adjective & noun

kylix |ˈkīliks; ˈkiliks|

noun ( pl. kylikes |kīliˌkēz; kili-|or kylixes)

an ancient Greek cup with a shallow bowl and a tall stem.

ORIGIN from Greek kulix.

harridan |ˈharidn|

noun

a strict, bossy, or belligerent old woman : a bullying old harridan.

ORIGIN late 17th cent. (originally slang): perhaps from French haridelle ‘old horse.’

incarnadine |inˈkärnəˌdīn; -ˌdēn| poetic/literary

noun

a bright crimson or pinkish-red color.

adjective

of a crimson or pinkish-red color.

verb [ trans. ]

color (something) a bright crimson or pinkish-red.

ORIGIN late 16th cent.: from French incarnadin(e), from Italian incarnadino, variant of incarnatino ‘flesh color,’ based on Latin incarnare (see incarnate ).

ambiguous |amˈbigyoōəs|

adjective

(of language) open to more than one interpretation; having a double meaning : the question is rather ambiguous | ambiguous phrases. See note at doubtful .

• unclear or inexact because a choice between alternatives has not been made : this whole society is morally ambiguous | the election result was ambiguous.

DERIVATIVES

ambiguously adverb

ORIGIN early 16th cent. (in the sense [indistinct, obscure] ): from Latin ambiguus ‘doubtful’ (from ambigere ‘waver, go around,’ from ambi- ‘both ways’ + agere ‘to drive’ ) + -ous

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