Pinguid

What is going on, fellow words worms? Welcome to today’s installment of An Assemblage of Grandiose and Bombastic Grandiloquents! Now before we begin, I need you to understand something, listeners. Today’s word is not penguin. Though today’s word bears an audible resemblance, we are not discussing the cute, flightless birds. Listen closely, for today’s word is: pinguid.

Pinguid is a word from the 1630s that means ‘resembling fat, oily or greasy, or unctuous’. Hopefully one is not using this word to refer to someone personally. It comes from the Latin ‘pinguis’ which means ‘fat, juicy’, or figuratively, it can mean ‘dull, gross, heavy or comfortable’. For example, you might say ‘My goodness, what a pinguid steak they’ve served me!’ but you could also say, ‘Oh my, this bed setting is awfully pinguid.’ In ‘Sylva, Volume 1’, John Evelyn wrote, ‘They thrive (as we said) in the most sterile places, yet will grow in better, but not in over-rich, and pinguid.’

It comes from the stem of ‘pinguere’ which has many definitions including:

fat, plump;

Thick or dense;

dull, insipid, not pungent - when relating to taste;

oily, rich, full-bodied - when relating wine;

fertile or rich - when relating to land and

heavy, dull, stupid, obtuse - in relation to the mind, figuratively.

It can also mean figuratively bold or strong, or quiet, comfortable or easy. Pinguere as a word is really quite versatile!

Pinguid’s antonym is ‘exīlis’ which is a Latin word meaning ‘small, thin or slender’. It can also mean ‘lank, meagre, feeble or inadequate’. The word ‘exile’ meaning ‘to bar someone from their native country’ is a descendant of this word.

Isn’t language wonderful?

Written by Taylor Davidson, Read by Zane C Weber

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