A Logolept’s Diet of Obscure, Obsolete, Curious and Downright Odd “C” Words

Adult education, Creative Writing, Literary & Linguistics, Popular Culture

“C” change?

Continuing the A–Z series of out-of-the-norm, non-mainstream quirky words…this time exploring lexical items starting with the ostentatiously curvy letter “C“, the third letter and second consonant of the modern English alphabet. “C” comes from the same letter as “G”. The Semites named it gimel. The sign is possibly adapted from an Egyptian hieroglyph for a staff sling, which may have been the meaning of the name gimel. Another possibility, contested by some classical scholars, is that it depicted a camel, the Semitic name for which was gamal. The utility of “C” extends to the Romans’ numeral system where it represents the number for “100”, “C” for century!

Word 

Meaning

Derivation

Cacodoxy

bad doctrine or wrong opinion

Gk caco ("bad") + -doxia ("opinion")

Cacogen

an anti-social person

Gk caco ("bad") + -genēs ("offspring")

Cacophemism

a perjorative expression used  instead of a mild one

Gk caco ("bad") + -logía ("speech")

Cagamosis


an unhappy marriage

origin unknown

Calcographer

one who draws with crayons and pastels✍️

L calco ("thread", "trample on") + graphe ("write")

Callpygous

having beautiful buttocks

Gk kallos ("beautiful") + -pūgē ("buttocks")

Camelot

newspaper vendor ️ 

F origin unknown

Carpophagous

fruit-eating    

Gk karpós ("fruit") + -phágous ("eating")

Catapedamania

an impulse to jump from high places

Gk cata ("downward") + -ped ("ground") ⛰️ 

Catchpole

sheriff's deputy, esp one who makes an arrest for failure to pay a debt

OE cace ("catch") + Med L pullus (a chick")

Celerity

swiftness of movement  

L celer ("speedy"; "swift")

Celsitude

loftiness, esp in rel. to position or standing

L celsus ("high"; "lofty")  

Cenobite

monk; member of religious order

Gk koinos ("common") + -bios ("life")

Cereologist

someone who studies crop circles, esp one who believes they are not man-made or formed by other terrestrial processes ⭕️ 

L Ceres (Roman goddess of agriculture ") + -logy ("study")

Chaetophorous

having bristles

Gk khaítē ("hair") + -phoros ("bearing")

Chasmaphilous

fond of nooks & crannies

Gk chasma ("abyss"; "cleft") + phil 

Chiliad

divide into parts of 1,000; Millennium

Gk khilioi ("thousand")

Chorizent

someone who challenges the authorship of a major work, esp one who believes that the Iliad & the Odyssey were not penned by Homer ✍️ 

origin unknown

Chryosophist

a lover of gold ⚱️

Gk chrys ("gold") + -philos ("phile")

Cicisbeo

male companion of a married woman

origin unknown

Cicerone

a guide for tourism information ℹ️ 

L from Cicero, agnomen of Roman orator, (2th BCE

Clerisy

class of the intelligentsia; group of learned & literary people

Gk klēros ("heritage")

Concision

tenseness & brevity of speech & writing; saying much in a few words

L concīsus ("cut short")

Consign

deserved & appropriate, esp a fair & fitting punishment 

L con ("altogether") + -dignus ("worthy"; "appropriate"

Copacetic

completely satisfactory; in good order

origin unknown

Coruscating

sparkling; glittering

L coruscatus ("to vibrate", "glitter")

Cosmocracy

rulership of the world; global government ️ 

Gk cosmo ("universe") -krátos ("rule"; "power")

Coterminous

having the same boundaries

Eng, (18th.

Crepuscular

resembling or rel to twilight

L crepusculum ("twilight")

Cruciverbalist

one who is skilled at or enjoys solving crosswords  里 

L cruci ("cross" + -verbum ("word"). Neologism, 1977)

Cryptarcy

secret government or rulership 

Gk kryptos ("hidden"; "secret")

Cryptogenic

(disease) of unknown origin

Gk kryptos ("hidden"; "secret") + genēs ("offspring")

Cryptonym

a code or secret name 

Gk kryptos ("hidden"; "secret") + -nym ("name")

Cumbent 

"lying down"; "reclining"

L incumbere ("lie or lean on")

Curiosa

pornographic books

L curiosus ("curious")

Curlicue

calligraphic twist or curl in the design object; decorative

Eng, (18th. "Curly" + "cue" ("pigtail")

Cursoril

limbs adapted to running (zool.)

Med L cursorius ("of running")

Cyesolagnia

attracted to pregnant women

Gk cyeso(?)

+ -lagnia ("lust")

Cynoid 

dog-like; canine  

Gk kyn ("dog") + oid ("resembling")

Cynosure 

anything that attracts attention; object of interest   

Gk kunosoura (lit. "dog's tail") an association der. from the shape of the constellation Ursa Minor

Cereologist: pondering the enigma of the crop circle ⭕️

Chorizent: Not Homer!

The Cruciverbalist’s playground
Cynosure: all eyes on Ursa Minor, aka “the Little Dipper”