Words for a Wednesday - February 15

Week Three!  Instead of calling it Words for a Wednesday, perhaps it should be called Weird Words for a Wednesday this week.  During a few heated matches of Words with Friends, my teenager manipulated tiles (in search of high score words) and came up with a few words that made us wonder if they were legitimate.  The answer is yes, and you'll find them here today (and they're not actually weird).

Here are a few words to help you build your vocabulary and/or build your score in the games Scrabble or Words with Friends.

The first word is wadis.  Yes, this is a real word.

Wadis: The plural form of wadi.  Wadi: a valley, gully or stream bed in regions of southwestern Asia and northern Africa that is usually dry except during the rainy season (and often forms an oasis).  Word origin:  First known use 1828 for the Arabic word wādi.

Next is the word inarch.  Any horticulturists or serious gardeners out there?  Where are my wine industry readers?  Did anyone see the movie, "Walking with the Clouds"?  If so, this definition may remind you of an important scene in the movie.

Inarch: To graft a plant by uniting a growing branch to a stock without separating it from its parent stock; both continue growing independently.   Word origin:  This word dates back to early 17th century combining the words in + arch.  I did not find a country of origin for this word.  In fact, I found very little, so I took a quick internet journey over to see what Wikipedia might have.

Wikipedia showed only the term "inarch grafting" which redirected to the word grafting.  Their description also added: "In most cases, one plant is selected for its roots and this is called the stock or rootstock. The other plant is selected for its stems, leaves, flowers, or fruits and is called the scion or cion."

As an individual who grew up in the Napa Valley and based on years of watching my Grandmother's creative gardening (she has roses that are very old!), I found the search for inarch to be quite enjoyable.

Finishing up this week, we have our two letter word.  Today's word is xi.

Xi (or XI):  The cardinal number that is the sum of ten plus one or/also the 14th letter of the Greek alphabet.  (It is also the name of a river in China.)  Plural version shown as xis.  Word origin: 15th century; Greek from the word xei.

So there you have it!  I hope you are growing your "vocab" or your scores ~ have a great week!

Sources: All definitions listed above were determined in part or entirety by researching definitions in the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, The Free Dictionary by Farlex, or their online versions/websites.  This week we also used information from Wikipedia.