It’s interesting to go back and look at my 100 day word challenge …

Over the 100 days, grouped as 20 sets of five words, I chose one word in each group as a favourite. Some of these were chosen because of their meaning, while others were chosen because I just like the word itself. Here are those favourites, in alphabetical order:
alopecoid: of, or resembling, a fox
belomancy: divination by means of arrows
bloomery: the first forge in an iron-works through which the metal passes after having been melted from the ore, and in which it is made into blooms
chiru: Tibetan antelope with a thick, reddish-brown woolly coat, and (in the male) very long straight horns
circumjacent: bordering on every side, surrounding
hieromonach: a monk who also serves as a priest
hwyl: emotional state capable of arousing intense eloquence
limaciform: having the form of a slug
pegomancy: divination by the examination of springs or fountains
plenicorn: of a ruminant: having horns that are solid rather than hollow
polemarch: Ancient Greek military commander or an official with certain civil or ritual duties
pourpointerie: quilted material with studs at the seams, worn in the Middle Ages as armour
prasinous: a leek-green colour
quinticlave: upright brass-wind instrument like a keyed bugle
scop: an Old English poet or minstrel
squarrose: having scales sticking out at right angles
tonitruone: musical instrument that imitates sound of thunder
vervecine: of or pertaining to a sheep
yellowplush: a footman, esp. one who wears breeches made of yellow plush; an underling, a lackey
yelt: a young sow

Of these 20 I think my very favourite might be yellowplush; it’s just so “off the wall” but brilliantly descriptive while being slightly, but politely, derogatory. And it always reminds me of Sir John Tenniel’s brilliant illustration of the Frog and Fish Footmen, from Alice in Wonderland (below).

Needless to say there are others I particularly like; here are another dozen:
cabasset: light iron helmet
cicisbeo: the male companion of a married woman
ecdysiast: a striptease performer
ketjak: traditional Balinese dance accompanied by male chorus
labiomancy: lip reading
megachiropteran: of, like, or pertaining to fruit bats
orf: an infectious disease of sheep and goats caused by a pox virus
pongee: A soft, usually unbleached kind of Chinese silk fabric, woven from uneven threads of raw silk
pubarche: the first appearance of pubic hair
yatzy: A dice game popular in Scandinavian countries
zenana: system of segregating women away from men in harems
zenzizenzizenzic: the square of a square of a square number; the eighth power of a number

I’ve also taken a look at the subject matter covered by the words. I am slightly surprisedd at the top three categories:
Pertaining to Animals: 16 words
Pertaining to People: 14
Pertaining to Science: 12
The people and science categories don’t surprise me so much, but I would not have expected the animals to come out on top. I would probably have that things historical would be much higher than languishing in the bottom half.

What else can we learn? Quite by chance I managed to pick at least one word beginning with each letter of the alphabet. Some initial letters were more popular than others: of the 100 words, 13 begin with S, 11 with P and 8 with C; all the rest tag along behind. Slightly unexpectedly both D and E occur as initial letters only once; less unexpectedly they’re joined by K and W. I suppose that given the dependency of English on Latin and Greek that the proponderance of S, P and C isn’t hugely surprising.

Anyway, there we are. 100 words which I didn’t know – and along the way I must have passed over at least 10 times that number I did know. How many of them will I remember and use? If only a couple stick it will have been worth doing.

Yes, we made it! Here’s the final episode (days 96 to 100), of my 100 day challenge to find words I don’t know. I’ve been scraping words from https://randomword.com/ and each day picking one that I find interesting and which is also in the OED.

** My favourite of the words presented.

So that’s it for this 100 day challenge. I’ll try to write a summary in the next few days. And look out for another challenge – I’ve got some ideas lined up but we’ll maybe have a break first.

We’re almost at the end! Here’s episode 19 (days 91 to 95), the penultimate summary of my 100 day challenge to find words I don’t know. I’m scraping words from https://randomword.com/ and each day picking one that I find interesting and which is also in the OED.

** My favourite of the words presented.

The final episode on Sunday!

Episode 18 (days 86 to 90), the antepenultimate summary of my 100 day challenge to find words I don’t know. I’m scraping words from https://randomword.com/ and each day picking one that I find interesting and which is also in the OED.

** My favourite of the words presented.

Next episode in a few days!

Episode 17 (days 81 to 85) of my 100 day challenge to find words I don’t know. I’m scraping words from https://randomword.com/ and each day picking one that I find interesting and which is also in the OED.

** My favourite of the words presented.

Next episode in a few days!

Episode 16 (days 76 to 80) of my 100 day challenge to find words I don’t know. I’m scraping words from https://randomword.com/ and each day picking one that I find interesting and which is also in the OED.

** My favourite of the words presented.

Next episode in a few days!

Episode 15 (days 71 to 75) of my 100 day challenge to find words I don’t know. I’m scraping words from https://randomword.com/ and each day picking one that I find interesting and which is also in the OED.

** My favourite of the words presented.

Next episode in a few days!

Episode 14 (days 66 to 70) of my 100 day challenge to find words I don’t know. I’m scraping words from https://randomword.com/ and each day picking one that I find interesting and which is also in the OED.

** My favourite of the words presented.

Next episode in a few days!