Word of the Day:

: scorched, burned

The adust landscape of volcanic rock and sand can be particularly beautiful at sunset.

"Adust" comes from Latin "adustus," the past participle of "adurere" ("to set fire to"), a verb formed from the Latin prefix "ad-" and the verb "urere" ("to burn"). It entered the English language in the early 15th century as a medical term related to the four bodily humors -- black bile, blood, phlegm, and yellow bile -- which were believed at the time to determine a person's health and temperament. "Adust" was used to describe a condition of the humors in which they supposedly became heated or combusted. Adust black bile in particular was believed to be a source of melancholy. The association with melancholy gave rise to an adjectival sense of "adust" meaning "of a gloomy appearance or disposition," but that sense is now considered archaic.