Tuesday, February 3, 2009

Two

of my favorite words:

Precise
Pronunciation: \pri-ˈsīs\
Function: adjective

Etymology:
Middle English, from Middle French
precis, from Latin praecisus, past participle of praecidere to cut off, from prae- + caedere to cut
Date: 15th century

1 : exactly or sharply defined or stated
2 : minutely exact
3 : strictly conforming to a pattern, standard, or convention
4 : distinguished from every other

Concise
Pronunciation: \kən-ˈsīs\
Function: adjective

Etymology:
Latin
concisus, from past participle of concidere to cut up, from com- + caedere to cut, strike
Date: circa 1590

: marked by brevity of expression or statement : free from all elaboration and superfluous detail

Reference from Merriam-Webster Dictionary Online.