Today's Word

Penurious

puh-NYOOR-ee-uhs

Definition

(adjective) Extremely poor; unwilling to spend money; stingy.

Example

The penurious landlord refused to fix the broken heating system during winter.

Fun Fact

“Penurious” shares roots with the word penury, meaning extreme poverty. But beyond being poor, it also implies miserly behavior—think Ebenezer Scrooge before his Christmas transformation. The word paints a picture of both lack and refusal: having little and holding tight to what little one has.

Previous Words

Chimerical

Today's Word

Chimerical

ky-MAIR-ih-kul

Definition

(adjective) Wildly unrealistic or fanciful; existing only in the imagination and having no basis in reality.

Example

Critics called the startup’s plan to colonize Mars within five years chimerical — bold in vision, impossible in practice.

Word Origin

From the Chimera — a fire-breathing monster of Greek mythology with the head of a lion, body of a goat, and tail of a serpent. From Greek chimaira (“she-goat”), related to kheimon (“winter”) — the creature was associated with seasonal storms. The Chimera was slain by Bellerophon riding Pegasus, and its name became a byword for any fantastical, impossible idea. The adjective chimerical entered English in the 17th century.

Fun Fact

In modern biology, a “chimera” is an organism containing cells from two genetically distinct sources — either naturally (some twins absorb cells from each other in the womb) or through procedures like bone marrow transplants. Human chimeras walk among us, often completely unaware of their dual genetic identity. The mythological monster’s mismatched body parts turned out to be a surprisingly accurate metaphor for a real biological phenomenon — proof that even “impossible” things sometimes turn out to be more real than imagined.

READ MORE...

Penurious

Definition

Example

Previous Words

Chimerical

Chimerical

Definition

Example

Word Origin

Chimerical

Unconscionable

Hermetic

Gossamer

Nexus