Thanks to Bermudaonion’s Weblog for hosting this weekly event. Head over there to play along.
My first word is from Extreme Animals: The Toughest Creatures on Earth by Nicola Davies.
qiviut– the soft, dense, light-brown woolly undercoat of the musk ox, used in making fabrics.
“Arctic musk oxen have the warmest wooly coats. Their wool grows right down to their ankles and is eight times warmer than sheep’s wool. (It even has a special name: qiviut, pronounced KEE-vee-ut.)”
My other word is from Dark Hunger by Rita Herron.
turgid- swollen; distended; tumid. swollen or distended, as from a fluid; bloated.
“To feel the turgid peaks of her nipples against the pads of his thumbs.”
I understand what she was saying but personally think it was not the best choice of wording. What do you think?
What new words did you run across this week?
You’ve been reading quite the variety of books here lately! Somehow I don’t think I’ll have the opportunity to use either of those words. Thanks for playing along!
Yikes. I’m glad you had the pronunciation key for qiviut–that’s a toughie to sound out. “Extreme Animals” sounds like a cool book.
I like the sound of that first word!
Wednesday: Wondrous Words/A-Z wednesday
When we were visiting Alaska I wanted to buy some Qiviut yarn. (I knit.) One little ball was in the $75 to $100 range. But, it was so soft and wonderful. I regret being a spendthrift.
Quiviut is new to me (and, yes, I was saying it out loud, since you gave us the pronunciation).
I agree, “turgid” doesn’t sound attractive!
Turgid is standard romance novel fare! And I knew qiviut, but I never knew how it was pronounced – thanks for posting that!
My words are here.
So glad you liked qiviut in my book Extreme Animals…my ambition is to have a sweater made of it as it’s eight times warmer than sheep’s wool.