Appreciable

 WORD OF THE DAY

appreciable / adjective / uh-PREE-shuh-bul

Definition
: capable of being perceived or measured

Examples
"In fact, frozen water molecules detected at both poles have no appreciable order to their arrangement…."
— NASA.gov, 22 July 2020

"Nelson heard The Faerie Queen as a very long bedtime story, lasting an appreciable portion of his young life, and Shakespeare all the way through kindergarten and first grade."
— James Hynes, The Lecturer’s Tale, 2001

Did You Know?
Appreciable, like the verb appreciate, comes from the Late Latin verb appretiare ("to appraise" or "to put a price on").
It is one of several English adjectives that can be applied to something that can be detected, felt, or measured. Specifically, appreciable applies to what is highly noticeable or definitely measurable, whereas perceptible, which is often paired with barely or scarcely, applies to what can be discerned to a minimal extent.
Sensible refers to something that is clearly perceived; a sensible difference in someone's expression is easily detected.
Palpable applies to something that, if it doesn't have actual physical substance, is nevertheless quite noticeable via the senses ("a palpable chill in the air").
Tangible is used for something capable of being handled or grasped, either physically or mentally ("tangible evidence").

Pachyderm

 WORD OF THE DAY

pachyderm / noun / PAK-ih-derm

Definition
: any of various non-ruminant mammals (such as an elephant, a rhinoceros, or a hippopotamus) of a former group (Pachydermata) that have hooves or nails resembling hooves and usually thick skin, especially an elephant

Examples
"'Rhino births are significant events at the Zoo so we are thrilled to share news of Niki's pregnancy and cannot wait to welcome this new addition to our herd,' said Rachel Emory, OKC Zoo curator of pachyderms."
— The Oklahoman (Oklahoma City), 15 Feb. 2020

"The elephants, though, still needed to reach the river. They hewed close to the old route, the one imprinted on generations of pachyderm brains…."
— Hannah Beech and Muktita Suhartono, The New York Times, 16 July 2020

Did You Know?
Pachydermos in Greek means literally "having thick skin" (figuratively, it means "dull" or "stupid").
It's from pachys, meaning "thick," and derma, meaning "skin."
In the late 1700s, the French naturalist Georges Cuvier adapted the Greek term as pachyderme for any one of a whole assemblage of hoofed animals having thickish skin: elephants, hippopotamuses, rhinoceroses, tapirs, horses, pigs, and more.
English speakers learned the word from French in the early 1800s. The adjective pachydermatous means "of or relating to the pachyderms" or "thickened" (referring to skin).
Not too surprisingly, it also means "callous" or "insensitive" (somewhat unfairly especially to elephants, which are actually known to be rather sensitive).

Inordinate

 WORD OF THE DAY

inordinate / adjective / in-OR-dun-ut

Definition
1a: exceeding reasonable limits
1b: immoderate
2 (archaic): disorderly, unregulated

Examples
"The goalie in hockey, like a quarterback in football, has an inordinate amount of influence on a game."
— Dave Hyde, The South Florida Sun-Sentinel, 31 July 2020

"… we had arrived with our first-ever outdoor grill. However, it was not yet an assembled first-ever outdoor grill. The uncles, assigned to grill duty, gathered in serious conference to study an array of parts. They were intent on putting these parts together, a task that will take them an inordinate amount of time. They were not practiced in construction."
— Ruth Charney, The Recorder (Greenfield, Massachusetts), 27 Aug. 2020

Did You Know?
At one time, if something was "inordinate," it did not conform to the expected or desired order of things. That sense, synonymous with disorderly or unregulated, is now archaic, but it offers a hint as to the origins of inordinate.
The word traces back to the Latin verb ordinare, meaning "to arrange," combined with the negative prefix in-.
Ordinare is also the ancestor of such English words as coordination, ordain, ordination, and subordinate.
The Latin root is a derivative of the noun ordo, meaning "order" or "arrangement," from which the English order and its derivatives originate.