I love words that have unique sounds (and no, that doesn’t mean I dislike homophones, I just really love words that are fun to say).  I have a whole collection of them, in fact, but this one turned up in my inbox this morning and I decided I had to share.

Definition and quotes courtesy of Anu Garg over at A Word A Day

steenth

MEANING:

adjective:
1. Latest in an indefinitely long sequence.
2. One sixteenth.

ETYMOLOGY:

Alteration of the word sixteenth.

NOTES:

The formation of the word “steenth” from “sixteenth” took place through a process called aphesis (from Greek, literally “a letting go”). Aphesis is when an unstressed sound from the beginning of a word get lost over time. Some other examples are:
“cute” from “acute”
“’tis” from “it is”
“gypsy” from “Egyptian”, from the belief that Gypsies came from Egypt (they actually came from India).USAGE:

“And for the steenth time I wondered why he hadn’t phoned me.”
Robert A. Heinlein; The Cat Who Walks Through Walls; Putnam Publishing; 1985.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:

The highest result of education is tolerance. -Helen Keller, author and lecturer (1880-1968)