Thursday, March 28, 2013
Word of the Day,
pharaonic \fair-ey-ON-ik, far-\,
adjective:
1. (usually lowercase) impressively or overwhelmingly large, luxurious, etc.: a construction project of pharaonic proportions.
2. (sometimes lowercase) of or like a Pharaoh: living in Pharaonic splendor.
3. (lowercase) cruelly oppressive; tyrannical: pharaonic tax laws.
Next to it a picture of a gold-and-silver-threaded pharaonic tapestry with a band around it showing ducks flying and their wings like crowns, very pretty Islamic thing.
-- Joseph McElroy, "Night Soul and Other Stories," 2011
At La Chacarita, the wealthy are laid to rest in huge pharaonic tombs; mausoleums are styled after famous chapels.
-- Lloyd Jones, "Here at the End of the World We Learn to Dance," 2008
Pharaonic's root can be traced back to the Egyptian pr-Ężo, literally meaning "great house." While the noun Pharaoh entered the language though Old English, English speakers didn’t use this particular adjectival form until the late eighteenth century.
Dictionary.com Word of the Day
