Saint Ignatius High School

Etymology Word of the Week

Director of Admissions Pat O'Rourke '90, a self-proclaimed "word nerd," brings you his Etymology Word of the Week. Every other week he presents an online Etymology lesson just for fun!

Etymology Word of the Week – As some of you know, in addition to working in the Admissions Office, I also teach Latin at Saint Ignatius and am something of a "word nerd."  Thus, each week, I’ll sneak a vocabulary word (sometimes derived from Latin, sometimes not) into the e-blast. Here, then, is this week’s edition of the Etymology Word of the Week.  

Orthodontics - "branch of dentistry dealing with the prevention and correction of irregular teeth, as by means of braces.”  From the Greek roots ortho meaning “straight, regular, true, correct” and odon, odontos meaning “tooth, teeth.”  (All information is from www.wikipedia.org, www.etymonline.com and/or www.dictionary.com).

RELATED WORDS/PHRASES – orthopedic, orthodox (“correct teaching”), megalodon (“huge tooth”)

FINISH THE PHRASE:  There’s many a slip…


















Answer: …’twixt the cup and the lip.