Today's Word "Hyponasty"
Published in Vocabulary
hyponasty \HI-peh-naes-ti\ (noun) - The upward curving of leaves caused by faster growth on the bottom than the top.
"Buddy was a hyponastic acquaintance whose curves resulted from ice cream speeding up growth on his bottom."
Greek hypo "below, under" + nastos "pressed close" (from nassein "to press"). Greek "hypo" strangely shares an origin with English "up." The original root had a variant with an initial [s] that resulted in Latin sub "under". This root is also related to its antonym, Greek "hyper" (Latin "super"), extended by the common Indo-European suffix -er. Words often share an origin with their antonym, "cold" and "scald," are an example. A very common slip of the tongue is an antonym substitution, e.g. "I was very cold . . . I mean, hot." Antonyms may be logically antithetical but lexically they form a close relationship.
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