Words for a Wednesday ~ February 1

Week One!

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

Our first word is platen. When I saw this played by an opponent in Words with Friends, I thought to myself, “Is that a real word?” Answer: yes indeed it is!

Platen: The roller in a typewriter or printer against which the type bar/print head strikes or the glass surface of a flatbed scanner. Word origin: from the French word platine, meaning metal plate.  Who knew? (Did you?)

Our second word is woof. I’ll be honest. If that word was to come up in my house (currently), it would be safe to assume, it would be used in a playful way, creating the sounds of a dog barking (woof woof). However, there is a real meaning to the word!

Woof: woven fabric/the texture of a fabric or a basic or essential element or material.
Word origin: A combination of the Middle English word oof, from Old English ōwef, + wefan to weave.

And finally, our third word is a two letter word! (And might I add, worth a good number of points if strategically placed in a word game!).

Za: Slang for pizza. Word origin unknown. First known use circa 1970. (Note: I will add that I did find a bit of back and forth conversing online, debating whether or not there are additional definitions for this word, but at this time, all official dictionary/word sources showed only the definition mentioned here.)

Sources: All definitions listed above were determined in part or entirety by researching definitions in the Encarta, Merriam-Webster, and The Free Dictionary by Farlex, or their online versions/websites.