Sunday, 28 February 2010

tatterdemalion

I love this word, even though I could have guessed the meaning:

tatterdemalion n a tattered person, a ragamuffin [Origin from tattered or tatter, with termination of uncertain formation] Chambers, 1998

I don't know where the ending comes from either, but maybe it's something to do with the Latin word malus meaning bad. Or, uh, something do with lions?

No comments:

Post a Comment