Wednesday, December 5, 2012

Word of the Day for Wednesday, December 5, 2012

erinaceous \er-uh-NEY-shuhs\,
adjective:
Of the hedgehog kind or family.

At times even more ruthless, their erinaceous fingernails used as claws, as dangerous as any blade.
-- Richard W. Hoffman, "The Bamboo American"

[Thoreau was] the most erinaceous of American writers. Ideas stuck out from his writings like porcupine quills, guaranteed to prick the hide of even the most thick-skinned, reader.
-- Walter Harding, "The Days of Henry Thoreau: A Biography"

Erinaceous originates from the Latin ērināceus for hedgehog, followed by the suffix -ous referring to the possession of a quality.

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