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CYMOTRICHOUS

Bysuehar

Wild Word Friday!

Last week 14-year-old Sukanya Roy won the 84th Scripps National Spelling Bee by spelling the word CYMOTRICHOUS. If you saw the video clip, you probably  noticed that she had a little twinkle in her eye as she spelled the word, which I took to mean that she knew how to spell it right from the start – no guessing involved.   Some kids just blow me away. Congratulations, Sukanya!

When I hear or see a word I don’t know, I’m immediately curious. I had to look up CYMOTRICHOUS.  I thought the definition would be something technical and beyond my understanding, so I was surprised to find that CYMOTRICHOUS means to have wavy hair.

Wow, I’m CYMOTRICHOUS and didn’t even know it. It makes me feel a bit better to know there’s a huge word for the reason I’ve had bad hair days all my life!

We have the Greek language to thank for the word CYMOTRICHOUS. It is a compound noun made up of two Greek words. Kyma – which means wavy or swollen.  (Anybody out there with CYMOTRICHOUS hair on a humid day understands that connection.) The second word is thrix or tricho– which means hair.

So what about you? Are you CYMOTRICHOUS?

Blessings!

Sue

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