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Today I learned what kangaroo words are, and they're freaking awesome. The term refers to a word that contains its synonym in alphabetical order hidden inside it. For example, masculine contains the word male, blossom contains bloom, chicken contains hen, fabrication contains fiction, and much, much more. A comprehensive list of these words can be found at this Wikipedia page. A lot of these words are formed because they share an etymological root, so some sticklers mandate that a proper kangaroo word needs not be related to its "joey" word. Yep, it's called a "joey", just like a kangaroo baby is called a"joey"- that metaphor of carrying a smaller version of itself is how the term got applied. Equally interesting, if not more so, are "anti-kangaroo" words, which contain their antonym (such as comunicative, pest, and convent). Language is so awesome!!!
3 Comments
Lane
2/27/2019 04:05:27 pm
When you say that it contains its synonyms in alphabetical order, what does that mean? 2/27/2019 06:57:34 pm
So it can't be an anagram, but a hidden word that reads left to right, like in the examples
Bill Crabtree
2/28/2019 12:57:16 am
Pearl District in Portland. https://www.wweek.com/culture/olde-portland/2017/02/14/the-sad-fate-of-the-oyster-slug-or-why-we-dont-salt-the-roads Your comment will be posted after it is approved.
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AUTHOR
Adam Aleksic has been described as the internet's sixth most famous etymologist. He loves writing about himself in the third person, he's a freshman at Harvard University, and he has disturbing interests in linguistics, vexillology, geography, board games, limericks, and law.
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