I was reading The Master and Margarita, and it had the word homunculus in it, and I've been thinking:

We all learn new words when we read books. Sometimes it's a big word (like sanguinolent or senectitude); sometimes it's a more old-fashioned word (like simulties or fere); sometimes it's just a word we've somehow missed (like gregarious or rancor). Maybe it's a British or American or Canadian or Australian word that's just not familiar (like whinge or boonies or tuque or bikie). Sometimes it's a word we didn't know when we were young, but it doesn't seem so unusual now; sometimes it's one we first encountered yesterday. Encountering a word we don't know can be fun and intriguing or jarring and annoying.

1. What are some words that particularly stand out in your mind that you learned from a book?

2. And, if you can remember, which book did you learn the word from?

EDIT: I've compiled a list of all the excellent words people have commented (wow!). (If you've come late to the party but still want to participate, I'll keep an eye on this post to add your word to the list.)

abattoir, ablution, acerbic, acquiescence, acrostic, acrosticise, acteonizing, addlepate, albeit, alcana, alforja, alkahest, amatory, ambivalent, amidships, anathema, anchorite, anent, anneal, anodyne, antediluvian, antipodes, aphoristic, apocatastasis, apologue, apophthegm/apothegm, apoplectic, apotheosis (2 times), appanage, appurtenance, apropos, aquiline, arcane, archipelago, archivolt, ardent, ardour, argot, arrant, arriviste, ascetic, asseveration, assiduous (2 times), assoil, atavism, atavistic (4 times), authoress, autumnal, avuncular (3 times), awry, baldric, banal, bane, bastide, bathos (2 times), batrachian, beadle, beard (v), beatification, beatify, beaux, bedlam, bestial, biased, bifurcating, bivouacked, bonhommie, bota, bower, boustrophedon, brasier (2 times), brobdingnagian, buckram, bucolic, caballero, cachou, cacodaemonical, cacophony (3 times), cadaverous, caitiff, calumniate, calumny, camaun, caparison, capon, capricious (2 times), caryatid, cassone, casuistry, catabasis, catafalque (2 times), catamite (2 times), catarrh, catonian, cavil, cavitation, celadon, cerise, cerulean, cesspool, c'est la vie, chagrin (2 times), chagrined, chamois, chaos (5 times), charnel, chartreuse, chasm, chasuble, cherubim, chiaroscuro, chitinous, chortle, chthonic (3 times), chuck, chuffed, ciborium, circuitous, circumvallation, civet, clandestine, coagulated, codicil, coeval, coitus, cojones, colloquy, colonel (2 times), colophon, condign, condole, conk, connubial, consilience, consternation, contingent, contumely (2 times), coquelicot, corpulent, corsair, corse, coruscating, corybantic, countenance, courbash/kourbash, courgette and manouri fritters, crapulous, crenelations, crepitations, crepitatious, crepuscular (3 times), croup, cryptic, cuadrillero, cur, curate, cwm, cyclopean, cynosure, dais, dastardly, defenestration, deictic, deliquesce, dell, demeanor, demesne, depredation, descry, detritus, diadem, diaphanous, diktat, dingle, disheveled, distaff, dolmen, doughty, drachm, dree, drisheen, ductile, duenna, dulcet (2 times), durance, duress, dyssynchronous, ebullient, ecclesiastical, eclogue, ecstatic, ejaculated (2 times), ejaculation, eldritch, elflock, emunctory, ennui (5 times), entropic, epicaricacy, epithalame, epitome (2 times), equanimity, equerry, ersatz (2 times), eruct, eschatology, escheat, etesian, eudaemonia, euristic, evidentiary, excoriate, execration, exocets, extemporaneous, exurbs, facetious (2 times), fain, Faraday cage, façade, fecundity, fernweh, ferrule, ferule, fetch, fey, figuratively, fillip, finikin, flambeau (2 times), flinders, flitch, floodlight, flotsam, foetid, forsooth, Forsythean tricks, frisson, froward, fulsome, galliot, galloon, gambado, garrulous (2 times), gasogene, gauche, gaucherie, gloaming, glosa, glossolalia, gloze, glutting, gnomon, gossip (in the meaning "godparent"), grist, gudgeon, guerdon, Guillain-Barré, gummous, hagridden, hansom, haptic, harbinger, haruspex (3 times), haughty, hautboy, hearsay, hegemon, hermetic, hibernal, hierophant, higgledy-piggledy, hight, hirsute, hoary (2 times), hors d'oeuvres (2 times), humus, hypocrite, ichthyophagoi, iconoclastic, idiosyncrasy, imago, immolation, immure, impecunious, importune, inchoate, inclement, incognito, incorrigible, indefatigable, ineffable (2 times), ineluctable, inequity, ineradicable, infinitesimal, infrared (2 times), innocuous, insalubrious, insouciance, inter alia, intercalate, interlocutor, intermittent, intriguing, intrinsically, inveigh, inveigle, inveterate, island, isthmus (2 times), ithyphallic (2 times), itinerant, Jackeen, jetsam, jocund, juxtaposition, kairos, kine, kirtle, kith, krugerrand, labyrinthine, lachrymose (2 times), lackadaisical, laconic (2 times), lacuna, lapidary, latifundium, latter, laxity, lethargy, lief, liminal, limn, limpet, literally, lithe, livery, locus, losel, loupe, lucubration, macabre (2 times), macadam, machination, m'aidez, maladroit, malady, malediction (2 times), malevolent, manqué, manse, mantic, marl gray, mataglap, meed, melancholy, mephitic, miasma, mien (2 times), misologue, mollificative, moniker, montera, morganatic, moribund, morion, morisco, moue, muezzin, mulct, muniment, myoushu, myriad, myrmidon, nacre, nebulous, necrophilia, niggardly (2 times), nonpareil, nulliparous, nyas/eyas, obdurate (3 times), obeisance (2 times), obfuscate, objurgation, oblate, oblivious, obscurantist, obsequies, obsequious, occiput, ochre, odious, odoriferous, ogham, omnipotent, omniveillant, omphalos, oneiric (2 times), oneirogen, oneiromancy, ontology, ophidian, opulent, ordure, oread, orison, orpiment, ostensibly, ostranenie, ouroboros, palaver, palimpsest, panegyric, pannel, panoply (3 times), pantherine, paradigm (2 times), paranymph, parapet, paraphernalia, pard, pareidolia, paroxysm, parsimonious, paternoster, pathos, pavonian, pedant, pedantic, penultimate (4 times), perdu/perdue, perfidy (2 times), peripatetic, periphrasis, peristalsis, perspicacious (2 times), pestiferous, petite, petrichor, phantasmagoria, phlegm, phthisic, phylactery, pinion, piquant, pince-nez, plainsong, plight, pogrom, polemic, pompous, porcine, postilion, postprandial, potemkin, preclude, prepossessing, prescient (2 times), priapist, primadonna, princox, probably, probity (2 times), procumbent, profusion, prolixity, prologue, prorogue, proscenium, provender, prurient, puce, pudendum, pugilism, puissant (2 times), pulchritude, pulchritudinous (2 times), punctilious, purloin, pusillanimous, quaquaversal, querulous, quiescent, quincunx, quinoa, quipu, quoit, rapine, ravelin, recalcitrant (2 times), rede, redolence, redolent, redound, refusenik, remonstrate, rendezvous (2 times), reticent, reverie, rogation, rood, Rubicon, ruddle, rudiments, sacristan, sacristy, salubrious (2 times), salutiferous, sanbenito, sanguine, scaphoid, schadenfreude, schema, scrimshander, scutelliphily, secateurs, sedition, segue (2 times), semiotics, several, shamus, shibboleth, shrift, simulacrum (2 times), sinecure, sinewy, singular, siphonophore, skein, slatternly, sloughing, sluice, smaragdine, snaffle, sodality, solder, solipsism, somnambulist (2 times), soogans, spuddle, steganography, stetson, stool, stoop, strangury, striation, stricture, strigil, stroll, strumpet, suadency, sumptuous, superb, supercilious, superfluous, supplication, surd, surplice (2 times), surreptitiously (3 times), susurration, susurrus (2 times), suzerainty, swain, syce, sylvan, synecdoche (2 times), Tagalog, targe, taro, tenuki, tergiversate, thalassic, thermocline, thersitical, thrapple, thurible, thylacine, timbrel, timorous, titivate, tittle, toasted boss, tommyknockers, trammel, transept, trice, triptych, trow, trull, Turkish delight, tutelary god, ululate, undulating, unhermeneuticable, ursine, valetudinarian, valise, vapouringly, vehemently, veil, verisimilitude, verklempt, vermiculate, vermilion, vernal, verpixelungsrecht, vespertine, vex, viand, vicissitude, victuals/vittles (4 times), vitiligo, vituperative, wag, wand, wane, warp and woof/weft, weal, wend, widdershins (2 times), winsome, wis, withal, wont, wool gathering, xenia, yard (in the meaning "urinal"), yore, zaffre, zagal, zoetrope

From fiction, from critical essays, anything really.

I do a Word a Day thing as one of my daily habits (I just love having words for things!) and i’ve run out of places to look for good ones online.

‘Dubious’ was today’s from the app I use. Not very inspiring!

Last week, I learned ‘elflock’, which is an Old English phrase that comes with its own mini myth. It means a tangle of hair. When little girls woke in the morning with tangled hair, it was common for mothers to say that elves had mischievously tangled it up in the night.

Happy to share more of my own examples. Just wondering what yours may be!