ectoplasm (noun) = a wispy cloud (pronounced ‘ek-tuh-plaz-uhm’) from the Greek, ektos: outside + plasma: something moulded; an ‘ectoplasm’ originally referred – in the 19th century – to a supernatural substance that allegedly rose up, out of the body of a medium during a séance, and then went on to take the shape of a spirit
e.g. When you exhale a cigarette in the sun, the smoke turns straight into ectoplasm in the light
Eeyorish (adj.) = gloomy (the direct opposite of Tiggerish, see later entry) (pronounced ‘ee-or-ish’) from Eeyore, the old grey donkey in Winnie the Pooh (1926) by A.A. Milne; Eeyore was marked by his gloomy outlook, living in an area labelled on the map in The House at Pooh Corner as ‘Eeyore’s Gloomy Place: Rather Boggy and Sad’
e.g. Many comedians who are upbeat in public are in fact Eeyorish in private
efflorescence (noun) = blossoming (pronounced ‘ef-luh-resuhns’) from the Latin, efflorescere: to blossom, from e-: out + florescere: to begin to bloom, from flos, flor-: a flower
e.g. She wore glasses and braces during her teenage years: but when she hit 20, she removed both items, and many commented on the overnight efflorescence of her beauty
eidolon (noun) = an apparition of a person (pronounced ‘ahy-doh-lun’) from the Greek, eidos: form; in ancient Greek literature (such as the Odyssey ), eidolons appear after death, as ghostly lookalikes of a dead human
e.g. Whilst tidying, she stumbled across an old love letter from her first boyfriend, and, reading it, she recalled with amusement her 17-year-old eidolon
eleemosynary (adj.) = relating to charity (pronounced ‘el-uh-mos-uh-ner-ee’) from the Latin, eleemosyna: alms, from the Greek, eleemosune: compassion
e.g. Centuries of Christianity have ensured an eleemosynary impulse is ingrained in us
Elysium (noun) = a place of complete bliss (pronounced ‘ih-lizh-ee-uhm’) from the Greek, Elusion (pedion): (plain) of the blessed; in Greek mythology, ‘Elysium’ was the equivalent of the Christian heaven
e.g. For tennis lovers, Wimbledon is Elysium
embrocation (noun) = a liquid rubbed into the skin to relieve pain (pronounced ‘em-broh-kay-shuhn’) from the Greek, embrokhe: lotion
e.g. His wife’s compliments were an essential embrocation for his ego
emeritus (adj. that can go before, or after, the noun) = (of a person) retired but retaining an honorary title equivalent to that held immediately before retirement (pronounced ‘ih-mer-i-tuhs’) from the Latin, past participle of emereri: to earn one’s discharge by service, from e-: out + mereri: to earn
e.g. In his memoir Don’t Mind if I Do, Hollywood playboy emeritus George Hamilton – now well into his seventies – reviewed his life and loves
emissary (noun) = someone who has been sent on a special mission (pronounced ‘em-uh-ser-ee’) from the Latin, emissarius: scout, from emittere: to send out
e.g. On her wedding day, clad in radiant white, Grace Kelly looked like an emissary from a finer world
emollient (adj.) = (of someone’s manner) soothing (pronounced ‘ih-mol-yuhnt’) from the Latin, emollire: to make soft, from e-: out + mollis: soft
e.g. Obama decided to avoid using phrases like ‘axis of evil’, and instead referred to other countries in more emollient tones
to emote (verb) = (of a person) to display emotions openly (pronounced ‘ih-moht’) from the early 20th century, a back formation from ‘emotion’
e.g. Over the last decade, it has become the norm for politicians to emote during TV interviews
(the) empyrean (noun) = the heavens (pronounced ‘em-pir-ee-uhn’) from the Greek, empurious: from heaven, from en-: in + pur: fire (because the ancient Greeks believed heaven was a realm of pure fire)
e.g. The aeroplane rose into the empyrean and disappeared from sight
(an) encomium (to someone / something) (noun) = a tribute (to someone / something) (pronounced ‘en-koh-mee-uhm’) from the Greek, enkomion: eulogy, from en-: within + komos: revel
e.g. After the wedding dinner was over, the groom delivered a gushing encomium to his wife
endogenous (adj.) = having an internal cause (as opposed to exogenous: having an external cause) (pronounced ‘en-doj-uh-nuhs’) ‘endogenous’ derives from the Greek, ‘endo-’: ‘within’ + ‘-genous’: ‘producing’; whereas ‘exogenous’ is from the Greek ‘exo-’: ‘outside’ + ‘-genous’
e.g. Sometimes an aeroplane’s engine failure is exogenous (such as when geese fly into the engine, disrupting it); and sometimes, a plane falls out of the sky for endogenous reasons (such as when a wire inside the engine snaps owing to wear and tear)
enormity (noun) = a grave crime; note that, to convey vast size, the correct word is ‘enormousness’ from the Latin, ‘enormitas’, from ‘e-’: ‘out of’ + ‘norma’: ‘standard’; thus ‘enormity’ literally means ‘deviation from (moral) standards’
e.g. Hitler’s murder of the Jews was an enormity beyond belief
entente (noun) = a friendly understanding between different factions (pronounced ‘ahn-tahnt’) from the French, entente (cordiale): (friendly) understanding
e.g. Nadal and Federer may be intense rivals on court; but it’s clear from interviews off court that they enjoy an entente
entropy (noun) = (of a society left to itself) a gradual decline into mayhem (pronounced ‘en-truh-pee’) for full explanation, see box below
e.g. Believers argue that, if religion disappears, entropy will result
‘entropy’ derives from the Greek, ‘en-’: ‘inside’ + ‘trope’: ‘transformation’. In physics, ‘entropy’ is the tendency towards ‘equilibrium’, or ‘sameness’, within a situation, i.e. hotter areas of a system will, with time, lose heat, while cooler areas will get warmer; in the same way, organisms which are now alive, will die; and the universe, which is now hot, will eventually cool down (a process that has already started). The classic example of entropy in action is that of cold ice melting in your (slightly warmer) gin and tonic.
In other words, because ‘entropy’ determines that thermal energy always flows spontaneously from regions of higher temperature to regions of lower temperature (in the form of heat), it can be said that ‘entropy’ changes the ‘order’ of the initial systems (from one patch of hot and one patch of cold, into one larger area of exactly the same temperature), and, therefore, that ‘entropy’ is an expression of ‘disorder’ (as the initial ‘order’ has been changed). Hence ‘entropy’ gradually acquired its metaphorical meaning, when applied to society as a whole, of ‘a gradual descent into disorder’. The facts are bleak: entropy – like time – runs in one direction only, and you cannot turn back the clock on the process.
One of Sir Tom Stoppard’s most lauded plays, Arcadia (1993), is partially about ‘entropy’: in it, one character explains that her steam engine operates under the principle of ‘entropy’ (in this case, of heat transference, as cold water is turned into hot steam); and that the universe itself does too – for the universe is also changing states and winding down.
epicene (adj.) = effeminate (pronounced ‘ep-i-seen’) from the Greek, epikoinos, from koinos: common
e.g. Starved male models on the catwalk all sport the same epicene look
epigone (noun) = an inferior imitator (pronounced ‘ep-i-gohne’) from the Greek, epugonoi: those born afterwards
e.g. Critics of David Cameron say he is merely the ‘heir to Blair’: nothing more than an epigone of Tony
epistemological (adj.) = relating to the study of knowledge (specifically what distinguishes warranted belief from mere opinion) (pronounced ‘ih-pis-tuh-muh-loj-i-kuhl’) from the Greek, epistasthai: to know how to do
e.g. Imagine if newspaper editors stopped checking their facts: the public would be plunged into an epistemological nightmare
errant (adj.) = straying from the proper course (pronounced ‘er-uhnt’) from the Latin, errant-: erring, ultimately from iterare: to go on a journey, from iter: journey
e.g. After the dust had settled on the financial crisis, the witchhunt began for the errant bankers responsible
eschatological (adj.) = concerning death and judgement day (pronounced ‘es-kah-tol-uh-ji-kal’) from the Greek, eskhatos: last, extreme
e.g. It’s a waste of time to discuss eschatological matters, say militant atheists, who are 100 per cent convinced there is no life after death
esprit de corps (noun) = (of a group) a shared spirit of comradeship (pronounced ‘e-spree duh kawr’) from the French, esprit de corps: spirit of the body
e.g. When it became clear that Gadaffi’s regime was foundering, the esprit de corps amongst his supporters evaporated
esprit de l’escalier (noun) = the feeling you get when the perfect riposte comes to you too late (pronounced ‘e-spree des-kal-i-ey’) for full explanation, see box below
e.g. Hours after the TV debate with Obama had ended, Romney’s esprit de l’escalier kicked in, and he realised exactly what he should have said
The phrase derives from the French expression, ‘l’esprit de l’escalier’, meaning ‘staircase wit’. It was French philosopher Denis Diderot (1713–84) who invented the term during a description of a dinner party. (Diderot is the French philosopher best known for his work Encyclopaedia or a Systematic Dictionary of the Sciences, Arts and Crafts, which sets down in one book the work of scientists and intellectuals during the Enlightenment, as they sought to combat superstition.) During this dinner at the home of a wealthy politician, a remark was directed to Diderot which rendered him dumbfounded because, he explains,
‘…a sensitive man, such as myself, knocked sideways by the argument levelled against him, becomes confused and can only think clearly once more, when he gets to the bottom of the staircase.’
In the house Diderot was referring to in the above quotation, the dining room was located on the first floor, so that to have reached – in Diderot’s words – ‘the bottom of the staircase’ (or ‘l’escalier’ in French) means you were on your way out of the house: at this stage, the dinner party was definitively over, and any retort that occurred to you then, had come to you too late to be useful in the argument (that was now over). Today, ‘esprit de l’escalier’ continues to refer to the feeling of any such comebacks that strike you long after an argument has come to an end.
etiology (noun) = (of a disease or problem) the cause (pronounced ‘ee-tee-ol-uh-jee’) from the Greek, aitiologia, from aitia: a cause + -logia: a speaking
e.g. His troubled childhood was almost certainly the etiology of his alcoholism
ex ante (set phrase) = (of the expected results of a future event) predicted before the event in question takes place (pronounced ‘eks an-tee’) from the Latin, ex ante: before the event
e.g. Government officials predict the effect of tax rises ex ante – rather than just going ahead and implementing rises, to see what happens – so as to know in advance how much extra revenue they can expect to earn from the increase
ex post (set phrase) = (of the expected results of a future event) predicted based on extrapolating from past occurrences (pronounced ‘eks pohst’) from the Latin, ex post: after the fact
e.g. After the financial crisis, banks realised that the traditional way of working out their maxium losses – which involved using ex-post markets data to forecast future losses – was wrong, as this method failed everyone in 2008
excrescence (noun) = an outgrowth (pronounced ‘iks-kres-uhns’) from the Latin, excrescentia: an outgrowth, from excrescere: to grow out, from ex-: out + crescere: to grow; ‘excrescence’ literally refers – in medical terminology – to an abnormal outgrowth on the body, such as a wart
e.g. The public views the average banker as an excrescence on the body of capitalism
exegesis (noun) = an analysis (pronounced ‘ek-si-jee-sis’) from the Greek, exegeisthai: to interpret, from ex-: out + hegeisthai: to guide
e.g. James Joyce’s Ulysses is not the sort of book you can hope to understand first time around, for it requires considerable exegesis
exigencies (pl. noun) = urgent requirements (pronounced ‘ek-si-juhn-sees’) from the Latin, exigentia: a demand, from exigere: to enforce, from ex-: thoroughly + agere: to perform
e.g. He was married to a manic depressive, and the exigencies of supporting his wife meant his work life was beginning to suffer
exiguous (adj.) = very small in size (pronounced ‘i-zig-yoo-uhs’) from the Latin, exiguus: scanty, from exigere: to weigh exactly
e.g. Celebrity magazines are teeming with photos of actresses on beaches, wearing exiguous bikinis
expectoration (noun) = (of words or mucus) that which has been discharged from your chest (pronounced ‘ik-spek-tuh-rey-shuhn’) from the Latin, expectorare: to expel from the chest, from ex-: out + pectus: the breast
e.g. The letter that the serial killer sent to the police was bursting with his twisted expectorations
to explicate (a concept) (verb) = to explain (a concept) from the Latin, explicare: to unfold, from ex-: out + plicare: to fold
e.g. If a US President is accused of adultery, he will – guilty or not – rapidly hold a press conference to explicate the situation
to extenuate (a crime or bad situation) (verb) = to lessen (a crime or bad situation) from the Latin, extenuare: to make small, from ex-: out + tenuare: to make thin, based on tenuis: thin
e.g. To extenuate her grief, her friend came around with a basket of muffins
to have an eye on the main chance (set phrase) = to be constantly looking for an opportunity to make money ‘The main chance’ is a phrase that was invented in 1579 by John Luly in his book Eupheus, the Anatomy of Wyt, as a way of referring to ‘the best chance for financial gain’
e.g. Richard Branson made his billions by having an eye on the main chance
eyrie (noun) = a high-up place (pronounced ‘air-ee’) from the Latin, area: nest of a bird of prey; an eyrie literally refers to the nest of an eagle high up in a tree
e.g. Many people dream of going to Paris, renting some Left Bank eyrie and finally writing that novel