Today's Word "Anguine"
Published in Vocabulary
anguine \AENG-gwin\ (adjective) - Snake-like, pertaining to a snake or resembling a snake in its long, narrow shape or curviness.
"Anna Rexia's body was so lithe and anguine, it begged the suspicion that she suffered from a severe eating disorder."
Today's word is an alternative to "serpentine" when you wish to refer specifically to snakes rather than to the more fanciful serpent. Latin anguin-us "pertaining to a snake," adjective of anguis "snake." The root goes back to a set of very similar PIE roots meaning "narrow" that resulted in German eng "narrow" and Russian uzkii "narrow" and uzh "grass-snake" from Old Slavic "anzki" and "anzh;" also Latin angustus "tight, narrow." Latin ang(u)ere "to squeeze, tighten" could be related, since tightening often narrows. If so, today's word is distantly related to "anguish," borrowed from Old French anguisse "choking" from Latin angustiae "tightness, distress." It would then also be akin to "hangnail," a folk etymology of Old English ang-nagl "tight, painful nail." Finally, today's word certainly has something in common with anguillous "eel-like."
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