Word of the Day

: May 28, 2014

toxophilite

noun tahk-SAH-fuh-lyte

What It Means

: a person fond of or expert at archery

toxophilite in Context

"With this weekend's smashing debut of the movie Hunger Games, Katniss Everdeen's power with a bow and arrow has made toxophilites (archery-lovers) of us all." - Rebecca J. Rosen, Atlantic Online, March 26, 2012

"Behold, the archer! Perhaps there is no more heroic pose known to man ... [a]nd perhaps there is no other weapon as romantic, as toxophilites will tell you." - Mark Holmberg, WTVR CBS 6, November 27, 2013

Did You Know?

"Toxophilite" became established in the language as the name for a late 18th-century English archery society. The word derives from Greek "toxon," which referred to both a bow and arrow, and "philos," meaning "loving." Today, "toxophilite" is a rarely used word but often occurs in vocabulary games and puzzles and in spelling bees. A more ubiquitous descendant of "toxon" is "toxic." "Toxic" is an anglicization of Latin's word for "poison," "toxicum," which originally meant "poison for arrows" and is a borrowing from Greek "toxikon," meaning "arrow."