means "resembling or pertaining to the leaf of a plant." Folio, which has somehow come to mean a book or page number, among other things, is a related word. If you're unsure of your company, you might find leaflike a less daring choice.

is an auto-immune skin disease characterized by large thin-walled blisters on the skin that itch and burn. The ultimate root is the Greek word for bubble.

means "ready to resort to violence." Ultimately from the Latin words that mean fist (pugnus) and fight (pugnare), which also give us pugilist -- a fancy name for a boxer.

a figure of speech in which you say what you mean by negating the opposite of it; like saying "She's no small cheese" to indicate that she's a big shot. Not a bad thing, huh?

an irresistible urge to pull out your own hair. Yes, we've all tried it, but with age you tend to realize that tearing your hair out not only fails to bring the results you seek but also creates an amusing spectacle for others.

a large-caliber, short-barreled pistol. You could hardly film in noir without one. Named for its inventor, Mr. Henry Deringer, who died in 1869. The double-r spelling mirrors refinements to his original invention which was widely copied because of its great success.

The fact that so many English reduplicative words mean "nonsense" seems to detract from people taking them seriously; but reduplication appears in all human languages, and part of the reason has got to be that the words are fun to say!

This delectable pudding, made with currants, suet, and bread crumbs, is a staple of comfort food in the British Isles and is nearly indispensable on hospital menus, where comfort food is much in demand. Dick is probably a corruption of "dough."

The frank part is an obsolete sense of the adjective we use today to mean "direct and unreserved." The substance itself comes from the gum of a Middle Eastern tree, as does myrrh, the other aromatic offering made to baby Jesus.

A genus of weedy plants including chamomile, corn mayweed, and turfing daisy. The Latin root matrix, "womb," reflects the fact that the plants were sometimes used against women's disorders.

They're generously baggy from waist to knee and skin-tight thereafter. Named after Jodhpur, India where they were allegedly first spotted. The black ones that Joan Crawford wears didn't serve her very well as she stumbled to her gunshot death in Johnny Guitar.

You're not mistaken if you see a connection with hedonism here, but hedonic has a social-scientific ring to it, and so comes in very handy when you want to do something just for fun but don't really want to own up to it.

a detailed explanation or interpretation, especially of a text. It's from Greek roots that mean "lead out," the idea being that you take what's inside something and bring it to the light of day.

It's a German coinage and is actually the inspiration of our superman. But since that word has gradually sunk to the level of cliché, beginning with the comic book character and continuing its descent thereafter, übermensch still comes in handy when you want to leave no doubts about whom you look up to.

the monster with everything: a fire-breathing dragon with the tail of a snake, along with two wings and legs. Mostly likely place to encounter one: a coat of arms. If you're a serious word detective you may note a common origin with viper.

a circular prison with cells distributed around a central surveillance station. Philosopher Jeremy Bentham dreamed up the idea and was kind enough to bequeath us the word as well.

is an advanced stage of pregnancy. It's from the Latin for "heavy" or "burdened" which also gives us the adjective grave and the nouns gravitas and gravity. You can alternate this with enceinte, which has the same meaning but goes ultimately back to Sanskrit for "swelling."

People often use this word in a business setting -- mistakenly -- to mean "something you can take action on." In fact, actionable means giving grounds for legal action. So the next time your boss hands you an "actionable" item, call your lawyer.