WORD OF THE WEEK: Antithalian

Summary: If you're a word nerd like me, this week's WOW definition will be a lot of fun--just the opposite of its meaning ...

Let's start the week off with a little fun! This week's word comes from the name of a mythical Greek muse: Thalia, who inspired comedy and rhyming poetry--both specialties of William Shakespeare, who came much later, and the less exalted mortals of today. The second part of our weekly word was the ancient Greek thalian, meaning comic.

However, the first part of this week's word comes from another ancient Greek one: anti. You likely already know that anti became a prefix in many languages (Italian, Spanish, Norwegian and of course, English) that contemporarily it means opposed to, or against. And if you know that, it's no surprise to you that antithalian, this week's word, means "opposed to fun or festivity." It's anti-Thalia.

It's an adjective, this word antithalian (AN - tih - THAYL - ee - an). And it's relatively antiquated (or should I say, "It's antediluvian"?). So much so that there aren't any recorded versions of its pronunciation online. If you'd like to be the very first to do so, visit wordnik now!

© KiKi Productions, Inc. 2010