Thursday, February 11, 2010

Word of the day

Word of the day is indumentum.

This rhododendron leaf has an indumentum. I'm not sure what type of indumentum it is - according to Wikipedia, your indumentum can be pubescent, hirsute, pilose, villous, tomentose, stellate, scabrous or scurfy. Most of those sound rather unpleasant.

See if you can use the word indumentum in conversation today!

17 comments:

Anonymous said...

Dear HM, I think probably I shall avoid conversation with anyone today! What a mouthful and, as you remark, rather unpleasant sounding.

Bay Area Tendrils said...

One of my very favorite terms since dipping into the world of horticulture. Get such a kick out of pronouncing it... as for the other descriptive words, I'd say more challenging ;-D
Alice

Nutty Gnome said...

I feel the urge to try to get 'scabrous indumentum' in somewhere ....I love a good challenge!

I also love your hellebore header and the cyclamen photo - both are gorgeous! :)

Rob said...

Do you play any indumentum? I play the piano.

Martyn Cox said...

Scurfy indumentum sounds the most unpleasant - even a course of antibiotics would fail to cure it.

Joanne said...

I wondered whether Butterflies had indumentum and had to look back at my last post to check but no they haven't.

I keep meaning tosay how much I love your header.

Anna said...

Sounds as if it is something to sweep under the carpet. Will have to mutter it softly to myself for the time being but will try it out on himself later when he is back home from the pub :)

HappyMouffetard said...

Hi Edith - yes, it's not a word that you can casually drop into the conversation.

Hi Alice- there's something about the way it rolls around the mouth, isn't there? A good word.

NG - now there's a challenge. Thanks for the comments.

Rob - +10 points for effort, -15 points for pun.

Martyn - sounds perhaps like an affliction one of your hamsters might succumb to.

Joanne - thank you. Those are beautiful photos of butterflies on your blog.

Anna - did you manager to confuse the poor chap when he returned from the pub?

Andrea said...

Now i am too excited to search for what is indumentum. Our inelegant teachers have not taught us that!

Plant Mad Nige said...

What's the difference between an 'indumentum' and a 'farina,' that's what I'd like to know. Primula farinacea has a floury farina - but is it also an indumentum?

Also, I think I'd prefer to be described as 'tomentose' rather than 'scabrous' or 'scurfy.'

Ditto, on your header, by the way. Gorgeous hellebores, and not an indumentum in sight!

Lavender and Vanilla Friends of the Gardens said...

What a great word, I am glad my Latin is perfect! I think Rhodos have "hairy" leaves, at least here, so it must be hirsute, haha I do not think it is comatose!

HappyMouffetard said...

Andrea - Thanks for visiting. I think it is quite a specialist word, so I'm not surprised you have not been taught it!

Nigel - a good point. Perhaps a farina is a farinaceous indumentum. Or maybe it's a different sort of structure. Is farina easy to wipe off, i.e. loose on the surface, and indumentum (indumenta?) attached?

Hi Titania - yes, I think hirsute s by far the most suitable, although it does conjure up rather more of a beard than there is in reality.

Juliet said...

Oh no, I have only just stopped singing "phenomenon de de de de de" - now I will be singing it again, substituting indumentum for phenomenon ::)

chaiselongue said...

What a lovely new (to me) word! It'll be difficult, but I'll try and use it. As I'm just going to cook mussels for supper, I hope they haven't got it!

Dirty Girl Gardening said...

Fabulous

Commonweeder said...

I love all those hairy words, unpleasant as they are. Makes my mouth kind of fuzzy though.

HappyMouffetard said...

Juliet - ooops - sorry!

Chaiselongue - I suppose mussels have a sort of indumentum - their beard?

DGG - thank you, and thanks for visiting.

Commonweeder - yes, now you've mentioned it, it does produce a sort of fuzzy mouth feeling.