The fifth letter and second vowel in the modern English alphabet, “E” can trace its ancestry to the ancient Greek letter epsilon, which in turn has its source in the Semitic letter hê. Words beginning with “E” can be positive and affirmative—energetic, empathetic, etc—but they can also exclude, excise and excommunicate. Here’s some fairly unorthodox, non-mainstream “E” words you possibly have not encountered before.
Eccendentesiast: an insincere person who fakes a smile [L. ecce (“I present to you’) + –dentes (“teeth”) + –iast (“performer”)]
Ecdysiast: a striptease artist; erotic dancer [Gk. ekdysis (“a stripping or casting off”). Coined 1940 by HL Mencken]
Ectomorph: a person with a lean and delicate build of body; also can refer to someone with an introverted, thoughtful personality [Gk. ecto (“outside”, “external”) + –derm (“skin”) + –morphē (“form”; “shape”). Coined 1940 by WH Sheldon]
Eleemosynary: relating to or depending on charity; charitable [Gk. eleos (“mercy”; “pity”; “compassion”; (pertaining to alms)]
Encomium: a speech or piece of writing which praise someone or something highly (cf. eulogy) [Gk. en (“within”) + –komos (“revel”)]
Endomorph: a person with a heavy, rounded (big-boned) build of body [Gk. endon (“in”; “within”) + –morphē (WH Sheldon 1940)]
Endonym: (also known as Autonym) the native name for a national group, an individual, geographical place, language or dialect; used inside a particular group or linguistic community for self-identification [Gk. endon (“within) + –ónoma (“name”)]
Ennad: any group of nine; orig. a group of 9 deities in Egyptian mythology [Gk. ennea (the number 9)]
Epeolatry: the worship of words [Gk. epos (“word”) + -latry (“worship”)]
Epicrisis: something that follows a crisis, specifically a secondary crisis; a critical or analytical study, evaluation or summing up, esp of medical case [Gk. epíkrisis, (“determination”, “judgment”, “award”)]
Epigamic: attractive to the opposite sex, esp in zoological context [Gk. epi (“upon”; “on”; “near”) + –gamus (“wedding”; “marriage”)]
Epistolographer: a writer of epistles (elegant, formal didactic letters); a letter writer [Gk. epistellein (“send news”) + –graphe (“write”)] ✍️📝
Ergatocracy: rule by the workers [Gk. ergátēs (“workman”) + –crazy]
Eschatological: theological considerations relating to death, judgement and the finality of the soul and humankind [Gk. éskhatos (“last”) + -logy]
Excoriate: to denounce or berate severely; verbally flay; to strip or remove the skin (Gk. ex (“out”) + –coríum (“skin”; “hide”)
Excursus: a diversion or digression in a book from the main subject which involves a detailed side-discussion [L. excurrere (“run out”)]
Exonym: (also known as Xenonym) the non-native name for a national group, an individual, geographical place, language or dialect [Gk. exo (“outside) + –ónoma (“name”)]; eg, the exonym for Deutschland (Germany) in Spanish is Alemania
Expiscate: to find out thru scrupulous examination or detailed investigation; fish out (something) (usage Scot.) [L. expicatus from Gk. ex (“out”) + –piscari (“to fish”)] 🎣 🐠
❘༻༺༻༺❘༻༺༻༺❘༻༺༻༺❘༻༺༻༺❘༻༺༻༺❘༻༺༻
APPENDIX “F” words
Famulus
An assistant or servant to a scholar or magician (L. famelos “slave”)
Fashimite
Someone who is a slave to fashion
Festinate
To walk fast or to move rapidly (L. festinare “to hasten”
Fideism
Reliance upon one’s religion instead or reason for beliefs and truths (L. fides “faith” + -ism)
Fumifugist
Something or someone which expels smoke (fumus “smoke, fume” + -ist)
Appendix:
Eccedentesiast person who present a fake smile to hide his or her true feelings {Derivation ???}
Eleutheromaniac mania or frantic zeal for freedom
{Gk. eleuthera, (“freedom”) + -maniac}
Emacity urge to but or spend money
{L. emācitās desire to buy things}
Enosiophobia fear of commuting an unpardonable sin {Derivation ???}
Eroteme symbol ? for question mark
{Gk. erōtaein to ask}
Eudemonics the study or the science of happiness {Gk. eu “good” +-daimōn “guardian, genius”}
Eximious
Choice, select or excellent
{L. eximere to take out}
To which I would add the adjective Elliptical
2 meanings:
➗ shaped like a flattened circle
➗ using few words and therefore hard to understand
Etymology: Greek. elleiptikós, from elleípō (“I leave out”; “omit”)]
While we’re wading in the shallow tides of the effing “E’s” I might mention this … that lovely lady Merriam Webster edifies me as to the following:
▪️Etymon means “origin of a word” in Latin, and comes from the Greek word etymon, meaning “literal meaning of a word according to its origin.” Greek etymon in turn comes from etymos, which means “true.”
▪️Etymology is different to entomology
▪️Entomon (from which we get Entomology) means “insect” in Greek – to which the polymath Bettina Britannica expands upon thus: the literal meaning of entomon is “notched”, referring to the segmented body plan of an insect.