Monday, December 04, 2006

WORD OF THE DAY

monomachy-from Prince Caspian by C S Lewis

Looked up in Webster's New World Dictionary Third College Edition

This was an interesting word search. The full word does not appear as an entry word, so I had to split it into mono- and -machy.

-machy is a combining form meaning struggle or contest of, derived from the Greek word for battle.
mono- (in this context) is a prefix meaning one, single, alone.

In the story, two characters are going to fight, each one representing his army. I was amazed to find such a big word in a book meant for children but I guess that is OK if children are taught to use a dictionary. Still, even I had to know enough to break it down. I am sure when I read this book as a child, I just cruised right past monomachy with no idea what it meant.

My sentence: My husband and I went through a whole day without monomachy.

What is your sentence?

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