Today's words

Finally, more WOTD entries I don't already know. Three in a row! Can we get whoever they have doing October appointed permanently? (Warning: be careful of the delightful rabbit hole in the first entry . . . )

empyreal /em pye REE ul/ - 1. of or relating to the heavens or firmament : celestial  2. sublime

I love this word, enough that by its second definition I consider it autological (though I acknowledge that others might not) - a word which I had to look up by searching on "word that describes itself." That led me to this wonderful article on the applicability of the concepts of autology and heterology on the word "heterological" and its synonyms, and their conditional germaneness to words like "loud" and "quiet," or "big" versus "big." The Grelling-Nelson paradox's relationship to Russell's paradox is also delightful!

I am such a geek! 

deliquesce /del ih KWESS/ - 1. to dissolve or melt away  2. to become soft or liquid with age or maturity—used of some fungal structures (as the gills of a mushroom)

I've heard of this one, I think, but rarely, and I certainly didn't know it well enough to have used it.

guerdon /GUR dun/ - reward, recompense

The first example used in the WOTD write-up makes it clear that they're not referring to an Army, Marine, or Air Force captain. This is clearly a Navy or Coastie reference. But I hope that the omitted text makes it clear that this came somewhere during the quarter century, not at the end of it, or it still wouldn't be very "early."

 I could see all of these words finding their way into my active vocabulary.