Word | Meaning | Derivation | ||
Dactylogram | fingerprint | Gk Daktylos (“finger”) + -gramma (“that which is written/drawn”) | ||
Daedalist | aviator; pilot
| Gk from Didalos, L Daedalus (“skilfully wrought”) | ||
Dapifer | one who brings meat to the table | origin unknown | ||
Defenestration | throw someone through a window; remove or dismiss someone from a position of authority | L de “down from” + fenestra (“window”)
| ||
Deipnosophist | learned amateur | Gk deipnon (“dinner”) + sophistēs (“knowledgeable in the arts” (from Athenaeus's ‘Deipnosophistaí’) | ||
Depontification | throw someone off a bridge | L de + pons (“bridge), der. from ling. pattern of defenestration | ||
Didascalar | Didactic; pertaining to teaching | origin unknown | ||
Diddicoy | caravan-living travellers pursuing a gypsy-like lifestyle (Brit.) | origin unknown | ||
Diestrus | a period of sexual inactivity | New L dia + estrus from Gk Oistros (“gadfly”, “sting”) | ||
Digladiator | swordfighter | origin unknown | ||
Dithyrambic | wildly irregular in form | Gk dithyrambos (unknown, pre-Hellenic?) | ||
Diversiloquent | able to speak on different topics; in different ways | L diversi (“diversus”) + loquēns (“to speak”) | ||
Docent | an academic immediately below the professorial rank; a voluntary guide at a museum, zoo or art gallery | L docēns (“to teach”) | ||
Doctiloquent | speaking learnedly | L from doceō (“I teach”) + loquēns (“to speak”) | ||
Domatologist | professional housekeeper | origin unknown | ||
Dontopedology | science of putting your foot in your mouth | Gk odoús (“tooth”) + pes (“foot”) + -logos (“word”) | ||
Douanier | customs official | origin unknown | ||
Doulocracy | rule by slaves
| Gk doûlos (“servant”, “slave”) + -kratéō (“rule) | ||
Doxastic | of, pertaining to or depending on opinion; conjectural | Gk doxasía (“belief”, “opinion”, “conviction”) | ||
Dragoman | interpreter, translator and guide | Gk dragumanus from Arab targuman (“interpreter”) | ||
Dulciloquent | speaking is a sweet, pleasant and agreeable way | L dulcis (“sweet”) + loquēns (“to speak”) | ||
Durative | describing an action that is continuing, incomplete; transforming | L durare (“to harden”) | ||
Dysania | Difficult to wake up in the morning | origin unknown | ||
Dyschromatopic | colour-blind | Gk dys (“bad”) + chroma (“colour”) + ops (“eye”) | ||
Dysphemism | using an offensive word in the place of an inoffensive one | Gk dys (“bad”) + pheme “speech”, voice”) | ||
Dysteloology | doctrine of purposelessness; existence lacks a design purpose | Gk dys (“bad”) + télos (“end”, “purpose”, “goal”) + -logos | ||
ADDENDUM | ||||
| Decussate | when two or more things cross or intersect each other to form an X; shaped like an X | L decussātus (“divide crosswise”; “mark with a cross”) from decem (“ten”) + as | ||
Demivierge | someone actively sexually promiscuous while technically remaining a virgin | Fr (lit. “half virgin”) from L virgo |
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