Keep learning new words.

[upinaballoon]

I have used some words without knowing exactly what they meant but had gleaned how to use them. Later, I've found out more about them. Examples are 'candid meaning white' and 'halcyon meaning a kingfisher'.
A week ago I could have pronounced and spelled 'coruscate' but I didn't really know what it meant. So I looked it up, and now I know.
Are there any words you've learned later in life?

(We had an English teacher who used to say, "Look it up, girl.")

Crepuscular

The difference between practice and practise, and licence and license, discreet and discrete

Surely you should write, 'candid', meaning 'white'?

Halcyon comes from the Greek myth of Ceyx and Alycone. IIRC they are reunited in death as birds after angering the gods. The expression "Halcyon days" also has the same root.

I always try to remember to look up expressions if I don't know where they come from. The answer is often really interesting! I could spend hours lost in Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable! ❤️

I had known 'halcyon' as in 'halcyon days' for years. I can't remember what it was that caused me to know that it is a word for a kingfisher, but something sent me reaching for the dictionaries not all that long ago.

All right:- 'candid', meaning 'white' and 'halcyon', meaning 'a kingfisher'.

I edited to move ', which was the wrong place.

I recently learnt the words numinous, boreal and exiguous - from a 12-year-old!

I reached for dictionaries again. Ah, Aurora Borealis.

I used to have lists of words to learn pinned on my wall. I have since stopped that (and stopped being a studious student). However I recently bought at a local auction the compact OED. Now if only I could source a good magnifying glass I might become studious again.

I love the dictionary function on my kindle and regularly look up words I don’t know.