How often do you come across a word you don't know?

[drspouse]

I was reading an article about making sure you look up words you come across and don't know. I was trying to work out how often this happens for me (for reference, I have a PhD so without sounding snobby I am fairly well educated). I am not sure I'd fill 20 pages in a year, but maybe I do too much scrolling and not enough actual reading?
I did see a medical term I didn't know on Mumsnet yesterday, though!

www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2025/oct/06/the-one-change-that-worked-i-was-lost-in-the-infinite-scroll-until-a-small-ritual-renewed-my-love-of-reading

Most of the time when I’m reading books. I love my kindle for this as I can look up the meaning there and then.

I heard "micturation" on Endeavour recently, probs from the doctor. Still need to look that one up.
Anyone know?
Looked up. Means to urinate. 😳

Isn't that relating to urine? I read that on a Mumsnet thread about the origin of the phrase "taking the mick"

Not too often. When I do I look it up straight away. I like reading and come into contact with different terms during my work.

Cohen brothers taught me this one.

I think I learned seax from Rosemary Sutcliff (who wrote the Eagle of the Ninth etc.) I know I learned soporific from Beatrix Potter and acolyte from John Christopher. And adamant from Gilbert and Sullivan.

I learned many words through working in a medical library. I also did Latin and French at school, and later did German, which are all reasons why I like knowing the etymology.

Had to look up cynosure and kenosis, though.

I do a daily word game on the NYT and it teaches me new words almost every single day albeit some are specific to the US.

Quite often! I looked up "debouched" the other day after reading it on a thread about Edinburgh Waverley station (emerging from an enclosed space). It was a new one on me and thought it was a great word!

I think how often you look up new words depends on the type and variety of sources that you read from. I'd class myself as reasonably intelligent (masters degree, professional job), but there's always more to learn. If you only ever read one newspaper / news site the scope for growth is probably limited. If you read a range of sources and push the boundaries of your knowledge you're inevitably going to come across new concepts and words.

I do love the idea of writing down the new words though - I find my memory is increasingly goldfish-esque these days so it would be good to remember them and use them myself!

Erstwhile was a shock to me, too! (edited to say I thought it meant trusty / reliable)

More often than I thought. I'm an avid fiction reader, but I'll read words that I recognise and it's probably only by doing crosswords, that I realise without context that I wouldn't recognise the word.

I did think about writing them all down in a little notebook as part of still learning over 50 - but then I conk out and all is forgotten!

That's me all over. I must look up that word. Ten minutes later , what word was that now?

Erstwhile was quite common in my family. My mother would often say things like, "she was the erstwhile Mrs Fred Bloggs," when talking about whoever had once been married to Fred Bloggs.

It's micturate but micturition ('i' not 'a').

Not very often but I do look words up if I’m not sure about the meaning as I simply can’t stand not knowing.

It’s like a brain itch that means I can’t seem to just skim over it and be content with getting the gist of the sentence through the context of its usage.

Very rarely as I tend to read quite ‘light’ novels. However, reading something recently which did contain quite a lot of words I didn’t know, I was pleased to discover the dictionary on my kindle, so much easier to check the word out, instead of just guessing from context.

Daily. I read a lot and am amazed by how many words are new to me.
Educated to post-graduate level (STEM).

I haven't looked up a word's meaning today.

I read one today - timeous (I guessed it means the same as "timely" and I was right - but it threw me because I was thinking of "timorous".)

Rarely. Like you, it tends to be a medical term for some health condition I've never heard of before.

My late dad used to take the Reader's Digest and I spent a good few of my younger years doing their 'It Pays to Increase Your Word Power' quiz every month.

I remember checking that one. It doesn't get used much.

Timeous means done quickly or before the time when it needed to be done. It rhymes with thymus.

Every time I read The Economist I have to look up something!

I had to look up a specific meaning of ‘pantography’ while reading an Irish Times extract from a David McWilliams book about money.

Not that often, but occasionally. DH (Oxbridge) and I (non-Oxbridge but degree; both very big readers) do a cryptic crossword daily and once in a while there’s something really obscure, but between us we’re reasonably good on vocabulary.

Always pleased to discover a new word, though.

Such an eventuality is wholly alien to my experience; being prodigiously sapient and a voracious bibliophage, I possess an encyclopaedic lexical omniscience.

Occasionally. I read voraciously when younger in addition to learning a number of languages. Probably the most helpful language was Latin as it is the root of many others. Any I didn't know, I check in a dictionary. I also like to check the derivation, sad I know!