Machiavellianism and (A Whole Lot) More

Top 10 Unusually Long and Interesting Words, Vol. 1
words at play unusually long words volume1 hemidemisemiquaver

Definition:

sixty-fourth note

About the word:

In this appropriately musical-sounding word, hemi-, demi- and semi- all mean half. So how does halving something three times get you to a sixty-fourth note? Because you're halving the quaver, which is an eighth note. Divide that in half, in half again, and in half a third time and you get a sixty-fourth note.

words at play unusually long words volume1 hypervitaminosis

Definition:

an abnormal state resulting from excessive intake of one or more vitamins

About the word:

The word vitamin (in part from Latin vita, meaning "life") dates back only to 1912. The study of vitamins was still in its infancy when the word hypervitaminosis emerged in 1928. (Hyper means "excessive.").

Two vitamins commonly implicated in hypervitaminosis are A and D, both of which are stored in the body, rather than excreted.

words at play unusually long words volume1 gedankenexperiment

Definition:

an experiment carried out in thought only

About the word:

Gedanken means "thoughts" in German. The term was popularized by Albert Einstein, who applied gedankenexperiment to his work conceptualizing the theory of relativity.

words at play unusually long words volume1 triskaidekaphobia

Definition:

fear of the number 13

About the word:

Every Friday the 13th, lookups on triskaidekaphobia spike on Merriam-Webster.com.

The word comes from the Greek word for thirteen and the New Latin word "phobia."

The origin of this fear is murky. Some trace it to ancient Hindu beliefs, others to Norse mythology, and still others to the Last Supper, after which Jesus was betrayed by one of the thirteen people present. Interestingly enough, known mention of the fear of thirteen in print dates back only to the late 1800s.

words at play unusually long words volume1 machiavellianism

Definition:

the view that politics is amoral and that any means, however unscrupulous, can justifiably be used in achieving political power

About the word:

In 1513, Niccolò Machiavelli wrote Il Principe ("The Prince") to advise and impress the new Florentine ruler, Prince Lorenzo de' Medici. The book's instructions on obtaining and wielding power - e.g., "It is better to be feared than loved" - suggest the cynicism that gave its author a place in the language.

words at play unusually long words volume1 prestidigitation

Definition:

sleight of hand

About the word:

This word conjures something grand from a simple phrase. Prestidigitation ultimately comes from the Italian word presto, meaning "quick" or "quickly," and digitus, the Latin word for finger.

So at its root, prestidigitation basically means "quick fingers."

words at play unusually long words volume1 plenipotentiary

Definition:

invested with full power

About the word:

Since the mid-17th century a plenipotentiary has been "a person and especially a diplomatic agent invested with full power to transact business". (In Latin, plenus means full; potent means powerful). The term is rarely used these days in regular communication, but it endures in the diplomatic corps, where the minister plenipotentiary ranks below ambassador.

words at play unusually long words volume1 buckminsterfullerene

Definition:

an extremely stable form of pure carbon whose structure consists of interconnected pentagons and hexagons suggestive of the geometry of a geodesic dome

About the word:

Buckminsterfullerene, discovered in 1985, was named in honor of the engineer R. Buckminster Fuller. He developed the geodesic dome - which, like a molecule of buckminsterfullerene, resembles a soccer ball. A molecule of buckminsterfullerene is also called a buckyball.

words at play unusually long words volume1 quattuordecillion

Definition:

a number equal to 1 followed by 45 zeros (or 10 to the 45th power)

About the word:

The -illion part is modeled on million; the quattuordec comes from the Latin word for fourteen. Why 14? Because there are 14 groups of three zeros after the number 1,000 in quattuordecillion. (Note that in the British number system a quattuordecillion is somewhat bigger: it's a 1 followed by 84 zeroes.)

Many denominations above one million have names that indicate the number of groups of three zeros after the number 1,000. Centillion, for instance, represents 100 groups of three zeros after 1,000 (303 zeros).

words at play unusually long words volume1 tintinnabulation

Definition:

the ringing or sounding of bells

About the word:

This word's Latin source, tintinnabulum, means "bell" and evokes the sound of one.

The word was popularized in the mid 1800s by Edgar Allan Poe's poem "The Bells": "Keeping time, time, time, / In a sort of Runic rhyme, / To the tintinnabulation that so musically wells / from the bells, bells, bells, bells, / Bells, bells, bells...."