Word - 78

TETCHY \TETCH-ee\ adjective

: irritably or peevishly sensitive : touchy

Example sentence:

Nico sensed that his sister was in a tetchy mood, so he decided to wait until the next day to ask to borrow her car.

Did you know?

"Tetchy" is a word that may have been coined by Shakespeare -- its first known use in English occurs in Romeo and Juliet (1592). Etymologists are not certain how the word came about, but some have suggested that it derives from "tetch," an obsolete noun meaning "habit." The similarity both in meaning and pronunciation to "touchy" might lead you to conclude that "tetchy" is related to that word, but there is no conclusive evidence to suggest such a connection. The adjectives "teched" and "tetched," meaning "mentally unbalanced," are variations of "touched," and are probably also unrelated to "tetchy."

Word - 77

EUPHONY \YOO-fuh-nee\ noun

*1 : pleasing or sweet sound; especially : the acoustic effect produced by words so formed or combined as to please the ear
2 : a harmonious succession of words having a pleasing sound

Example sentence:
The poet chose words for the sake of euphony and rhythm as well as rhyme.

Did you know?

"Euphony" was borrowed from French at the beginning of the 17th century; the French word ("euphonie") itself derives from the Late Latin "euphonia," which in turn traces back to the Greek adjective "euphonos," meaning "sweet-voiced" or "musical." "Euphonos" was formed by combining the prefix "eu-" ("good") and "phone" ("voice"). In addition to its more commonly recognized senses, "euphony" also has a more specific meaning in the field of linguistics, where it can refer to the preference for words that are easy to pronounce; this preference may be the cause of an observed trend of people altering the pronunciation of certain words apparently in favor of sound combinations that are simpler and faster to say out loud.