The Words of the Week - Sept. 26
Dictionary lookups from autumn, Mars, and Fat Bear Week
‘Chonky’
This week has been Fat Bear Week, leading to a rise in lookups for chonky, a word which is oft-invoked this time of year.
The chonkiest challenge of the year is here. Fat Bear Week begins Sept. 23. Each year, the burly bears of Katmai National Park and Preserve [in Alaska] capture global attention in a March Madness-style bracket challenge, where fans pick who advances in each round. “The bears have been working so hard all season long to get fat,” Sarah Bruce, a park ranger at Katmai, told USA TODAY.
—Eve Chen, USA TODAY, 22 Sept. 2025
We define the relevant sense of chonky as “plump or chubby especially in an endearing way”; it is usually used to describe animals of such delightful physique. Chonky is also sometimes used to describe things—such as headphones, chairs, etc.—that are bulky or oversize. Chonky is an alteration of chunky that first appeared in print in the early 2000s.
‘Acetaminophen’
Lookups for acetaminophen were high following a White House press conference held about the drug.
President Trump ... declared without offering new evidence that there was a link between rising autism rates and the use of acetaminophen, the active ingredient in Tylenol.
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Acetaminophen is a crystalline compound used in chemical synthesis and in medicine to relieve pain and fever. Shortened from N-acetyl-p-aminophenol. Acetaminophen was introduced as a generic name roughly coincident with the introduction of the trademark preparation Tylenol, which was first marketed as “Children's Tylenol Elixir” in 1955 by McNeil Laboratories.
‘Biosignature’
Lookups for biosignature have been high since the discovery of a potential biosignature on Mars, representing the strongest evidence to date that life once existed on the planet.
Last summer, Perseverance picked up something with a “potential biosignature.” What [Melissa] Rice and others saw were tiny specks in mudstone collected from the dry river bed, something that they thought resembled poppyseeds and leopard spots. On Earth, geologists know that those kinds of markings in rock are the remains of microbes that feed on organic matter such as oxidized iron—rust, Rice said.
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We define biosignature as “something (such as a chemical compound, isotope, or cellular component) that indicates or suggests the presence of a biological process indicative of life.” Its first-known use in print dates to the mid-1990s.
‘Rapture’
Lookups for rapture (often capitalized Rapture) were higher than usual concurrent with predictions made by a South African pastor that the Rapture would occur on September 23.
News of the alleged impending rapture was even shared to a Facebook group … where a user asked whether the biblical end of the world would happen. The user was soundly shutdown by respondents, most of which cited Matthew 24:36, which states “But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.”
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We define the relevant sense of rapture as “the final assumption of Christians into heaven during the end-time according to Christian theology.” Rapture can also refer to an expression or manifestation of ecstasy or passion, a state or experience of being carried away by overwhelming emotion, or a mystical experience in which the spirit is exalted to a knowledge of divine things.
‘Equinox’
While the rapture did not occur this week, the autumnal equinox did, leading to a spike in lookups for equinox.
Twice a year, Earth tilts just right, giving nearly equal amounts of day and night across the globe. One of those moments arrives Monday: the fall equinox, officially ushering in the arrival of autumn.
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There are two equinoxes: the autumnal (fall) and the vernal (spring). They are the times each year (about March 21 and September 23) when the sun crosses the equator and day and night are everywhere on earth of approximately equal length. The etymology of the word matches its meaning nicely: equinox comes from aequus, the Latin word for “equal” or “even,” and nox, the Latin word for “night.”
Word Worth Knowing: ‘Rebarbative’
Rebarbative is a synonym of the adjectives repellent and irritating. You may be surprised to learn that rebarbative traces back to the Latin word for “beard,” barba, making it a very distant relative of the English word beard. But there is some sense to the connection. After all, beards may not be repellent, but they can be prickly and scratchy! Another descendant of Latin barba is the English word barb, which can refer to a sharp projection (as found on barbed wire) or a biting critical remark, both of which can discourage others from getting too close.
… HBO’s hardbitten Batman spin-off [The Penguin], named after his oily, beaked nemesis, goes into this weekend’s Emmy Awards ceremony with a shot in seven major categories, among them Lead Actor, for Colin Farrell. … Before the series premiered, audiences had already got acquainted with Farrell’s craggy and rebarbative Penguin get-up, thanks to a handful of memorable scenes in 2022’s The Batman.
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