Wednesday, June 12, 2013

Wednesday Word: Prurient


prurient |ˈproŏrēənt|adjectivehaving or encouraging an excessive interest in sexual matters she'd been the subject of much prurient curiosity.DERIVATIVESprurience nounpruriency nounpruriently adverbORIGIN late 16th cent. (in the sense [having a mental itching] ): from Latin prurient- ‘itching, longing’ and[being wanton,] from the verb prurire.

6 comments:

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    1. I didn't, till recently. Despite its meaning prurient isn't a sexy word to my ears. Sounds too much like prudent.

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    2. I always think it sounds too much like putrid...

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    3. Putrid is a great word for what it means. Pheew-trid.

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  2. I LOVE this word! Just never have the chance to use it :).

    It's also one where my initial reaction's the very opposite of its real meaning. Makes me think instinctively of prudish! It's like salubrious, which I have to think carefully about before using - it sounds seedy, but in fact means healthy LOL.

    I enjoy your word posts a lot! :)

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    1. You're right about salubrious--it sounds too much like salacious. Imo, salubrious and prurient should switch meaning. I wonder if a petition to Merriam & Webster would do the trick.

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