The Spanish expression dar a luz literally means to give to the light, and it’s the usual way to say to give birth. A woman in labor may be described as alumbrando, from the same luminous family of words, with the image of a baby moving from...
The glow in the eyes of some animals is called eyeshine, and the adjective that describes such shimmering in a cat’s eyes is chatoyant, from French for “cat.” This is part of a complete episode. Transcript of “Eyeshine”...
Sharing a secret language. Did you ever speak in gibberish with a childhood pal, adding extra syllables to words so the adults couldn’t understand what you were saying? Such wordplay isn’t just for kids—and it’s not just limited to...
Martha went on an overnight backpacking trip and came back with a new word: triboluminescence, which refers to the glow created by rubbing together two pieces of quartz. The tribo- is from a Greek root meaning “to rub,” the source also...
The death of Martha’s favorite cat Typo prompts her to reminisce about him, and about one of her favorite ailurophilic words, chatoyant.
balloon glow n.— «The race features a “balloon glow” spectacular the evening before. The competing balloons set up before sunset, blowing their torches up into the expanded balloons just as night falls while still sitting on...