Agathokakological Means Made of Good and Evil

Hello, you have A Way with Words.

Hi, this is Rachel Nations from Orlando, Florida.

Hi, Rachel. Welcome.

Hello, Rachel.

What do you do there in Orlando?

I’m an eighth grade student.

Oh, awesome. Awesome.

Well, what would you like to talk with us about today, Rachel?

Well, I have a question about a word that I saw when I was studying for the spelling bee, the Scripps Howard’s spelling bee, two years ago.

I made it to regionals, and I was looking at the Paideia book.

-huh.

And I saw a word I believe is pronounced agathicological.

It’s spelled A-G-A-T-H-A-K-A-K-O-L-O-G-I-C-A-L.

Are you sure it’s spelled that way?

Yes, I memorized it.

I saw it and I didn’t know what it means and then thought it looked fascinating.

It sounds like it.

And say that more slowly for us.

Agatha Cockological.

Agatha Cockological.

Wow.

All right.

Well, and you want to know if Agatha Cockological is real?

Yes.

And what it means.

-huh.

So they didn’t even tell you what it means?

I thought they included that stuff.

No, it doesn’t tell you what it means.

It just gives you the words.

Oh, my goodness.

Now, what do you think about that, Rachel?

Because, you know, some people criticize spelling bees because people simply memorize stuff and don’t really understand the words.

What do you think about that?

I wanted to know what it means because it’s not really having a point knowing it if you don’t know what it means.

Right on, Rachel.

You’re a fellow word nerd just like us, aren’t you?

Yes.

That’s how you got to regionals.

Mm—

Way to go.

Well, good for you and good for your curiosity about this word.

So let’s break this down as a team because I think Martha has got the Greek knowledge here.

You are a spelling champion, and I’m the gadfly who can crack jokes, all right?

Who’s the comic relief?

Now, here’s the thing is, I think actually there are two spellings for this, and the one that is most common is A-G-A-T-H-O-K-A-K-O-L-O-G-I-C-A-L.

And you spelled it A-G-A-T-H-A, so that if you were hunting for it in books or the internet, that might have affected your ability to find the word, alright?

Okay.

So, if we break it down after the O, A-G-A-T-H-O, that first part is probably from the Greek word agathos meaning good, right, Martha?

You got it, agathos.

And then we have the K-A-K-O or the K-A-K, but K-A-K-O comes from kakos meaning bad, which is also Greek, right?

Kakos meaning bad, right?

Like, Rachel, you know the word kakophony?

Yes.

And it means what?

And it’s like a symphony.

It’s almost a symphony, but it sounds bad.

Exactly, exactly.

And the kakos in there.

Yeah, yeah, the caco in cacophony is the same cacos here.

It means bad.

Okay.

And then, of course, the logical, which is a common ending that turns the previous part into an adjective, more or less, right?

And so what we have is something that’s described as being good and bad, and that’s exactly what this word means.

It means being made of both good and evil.

Okay.

For all those times that you need it.

Well, you know, you might say, you know, somebody says, yeah, exactly, you love him and hate him, right?

He’s made it both good and bad.

Very good.

All right.

Well, Rachel, I want to thank you for two things.

I want to thank you for loving language, and I want to thank you for calling us.

Well, thank you.

All right.

Keep listening.

Okay.

Bye-bye.

Bye-bye.

Wow.

I was in a spelling bee in the fourth grade, and I went out on the word kindergarten.

You did?

And it’s burned into my brain, yeah.

Oh.

It was the classic.

I spelled it with a D instead of a T.

Oh, really?

Really? Kindergarten?

You’re nine. What are you going to do?

Right, right. When I was in second grade, I went out on the word city.

Can you believe that? I could see it. I could see the word in front of me, but for some reason I said S.

I said S-I-T-Y, and I was so traumatized. I can still remember walking back to my little seat.

I think these are formative experiences for people like you and me and Rachel.

Clearly.

No, seriously, I think that it makes us pay more attention to what we’re writing, what we’re reading, what’s coming out of our mouths.

It does affect our behavior.

Yeah, I think spelling bees are agathicacological.

I mean, you know, there’s some good in there, you know.

It exercises your brain, but it’s kind of silly, too.

If you’ve got a question about a really long Greek word that’s hard to spell, give us a call, 1-877-929-WORD.

Or you can send us an email to words@waywordradio.org.