Lexemes from Left Field: A Selection of Uncommon, Obscure and Archaic “A” Words

Word	Meaning	Derivation
Abactor	Cattle thief or rustler	Late Latin abigō (“drive away”)
Achloropsia	colour-blind green	Gk a + clor (“green”) +  -opsia (relating to “sight”)
Acephalous	lacking a head or one that is clearly defined	Gk akephalous (“headless”)
Acersecomic	person who has never had his or her hair cut	Gk akersekómēs (“young with unshorn hair”)
Acrologic	pertaining to the use of initials; using a sign primarily representing a word to denote its initial letter or sound; associated with hieroglyphics and acronyms	French acrologique
Acyanopsia	colour-blind blue	Cyan, from Gk kuáneos (“dark blue”) + -opia (“eye”, “vision”)
Adelphogamy	marriage of two or more brothers and one or more wives , a form of polyandry. Applied originally in contexts of royal marriages in Ancient Egypt (usually between siblings)	Gk adelph + Gk gamus (“wedding”, “marriage”) Ptolemy II & Arsinoe II: siblings in an adelphogamous relationship
Adventitious	an occurring as a result of an external factor or by chance, rather than by design or inherent nature; coming from outside, not native	Latin adventicius (“coming to  us from abroad”)
Afinal	related by marriage	Origin unknown (Port?)
Agelast	someone who never laughs; a humourless person	Middle Fr agélastos (“not laughing”)
Agersia	not growing old in appearance	Gk a (“not”) + geras (“age”)
Agnomen	an epithet, an appellation appended to a name (eg, Rufus the Indolent)	Ancient Rome – a fourth name bestowed occasionally on a citizen in honour of some achievement
Agnosy	ignorance especially universal ignorance; unenlightened; a lack of spiritual understanding or insight	Gk agnōsia (ignorance)
Aleatory	something dependent on the throw of dice or on chance; random [Mod usage: for insurance contracts, primarily as a descriptive term relating to the occurrence of a fortuitous event]	L Alea a kind of dice game
Amanuensis	literary or artistic assistant, in particular one who takes dictation or copies manuscripts	L a manu + -ensis  “slave at handwriting” + “belonging to “
Ambivert	someone with a balance of extrovert and introvert features in their personality	L ambi (“on both sides”)  + L vertere (“to turn”)
Aneabil	unmarried; single	Origin unknown
Anecdotage	old age, especially in someone with a tendency to be garrulous; anecdotes collectively	Gk anekdota (“unpublished”) + -age
Anemocracy	government by the wind or whim	Gk anemo  (“wind”)
Anhedonia	inability to feel pleasure in normally pleasurable activities	F anhédonie (“without pleasure”)
Animadvert	criticise or censure; speak out against	L adimadvertere (“ to notice or remark on a subject”)
Antelucan	pre-dawn	L ante (“before”) L luc (“light”)
Antemundane	existing before the creation of the world	L ante (“before”) + F mondain (“of this world”)
Antipudic	covering one’s private parts	anti + L pudendum  (“genitals”“shame”)
Apodysophilia	feverish desire to undress; a form of exhibitionism	Origin unknown
Aptronym§	the name of a person which neatly matches or is amusingly appropriate to their occupation or character (eg, Marilyn vos Savant, possessor of the world’s highest recorded IQ, Marina Stepanova, Russian hurdler)	neologism purportedly coined by American columnist Franklin P Adams
Archimage	great magician, wizard  or enchanter	New Latin from Late Gk archimagus
Aristarch	a severe critic	after Aristarchus of Samothrace, a Greek grammarian, fl. 165 BC
Appurtenance	accessory associated with particular activity or lifestyle, eg, luxury	OF from L appertinere (“belong to”)

§ a corollary of the aptronym is nominative determinism, a hypothesis that states that people tend to gravitate towards jobs that fit their name, eg, a BBC weather person with the name Sara Blizzard

The Blognik’s Pick

Lexemes, morphemes, logos…