zaftig

zaf•tig (ZAHF-tik, -tig)  adj
also zoftig

Definition:
1. (of a woman) having a pleasantly plump figure
2. full-bodied; well-proportioned



Origin:

1937; from Yiddish zaftik, lit. "juicy," from zaft "juice," from Middle High German saft "juice," from Old High German saf

Related:
Synonyms: buxom, ample, built, busty, chubby, comely, curvaceous, curvy, full-bosomed, full-figured, healthy, hearty, lusty, plump, robust, shapely, stacked, voluptuous
Related Words: sap

Sentence Examples:
• The phase is familiar, and Raquel Welch is going through it. "People think of me as some zaftig lady with two stereo nose cones staring everyone in the face," she admits. "The American idea of sex is two outsized mammary glands." - Time, 1969

• When I started out, I was kind of zaftig. I would have had to get anorexia. They would have said, "She is way too chubby." - Out, 2006

• Artist Piet Parra animates the song's explicit cheekiness with a menu of salaciously dancing zaftig female forms being spooned out of cereal bowls and slurped out of straws, and having their breasts tweaked to the beat. - Spin, 2008

Sources: Dictionary.com, Online Etymology

Word-E: A Word-A-Day

zoophyte

zo•o•phyte (ZOH-uh-fahyt)  n

Definition:
any of various invertebrate animals that superficially resemble plants, such as a sea anemone or sponge

zoophytic, zoophytical adjective

Origin:
1615–25;  from Neo-Latin zoophyton  from Greek zoióphyton from Greek zoion "an animal," lit. "a living being," from PIE base *gwei- "to live, life"   +  phyte "plant from Gk. phyton "plant," lit. "that which has grown," from phyein "to grow"; literally animal-plant

Related:
Related Words: aerophyte, epiphyte, sporophyte; also see entry for zoopery

Sentence Examples:
• No small portion of the ocean’s tale this, comprising many chapters of deeds of daring, blood, villainy, heroism, and enterprise. But with this portion of its story we have nothing to do just now. It tells us, also, of God’s myriad and multiform creatures, that dwell in its depths, from the vast whale, whose speed is so great, that it might, if it chose, circle round the world in a few days, to the languid zoophyte, which clings to the rock, and bears more resemblance to a plant than to a living animal. - The Ocean and its Wonders, R.M. Ballantyne

• The aquarium presents a field for delightful and ever-varying study, as its inhabitants belong to the most curious and interesting of ocean and fresh-water creatures. Fishes alone are well worthy of close observation; and when to these are added odd little reptiles, queer shell-fish, and different classes of the wonderful zoophytes, an aquarium presents a constantly changing picture of the marvels of ocean life. - Harper's Young People, 1880

• It had long been a favourite theory, that in the earlier ages to which we can carry back our geological researches, the earth was shaken by more frequent and terrible earthquakes than now, and that there was no certainty nor stability in the order of the natural world. A few sea-weeds and zoophytes, or plants and animals of the simplest organization, were alone capable of existing in a state of things so unfixed and unstable. - A Manual of Elementary Geology, Charles Lyell

Wikipedia:

A zoophyte is an animal that visually resembles a plant. An example is a sea anemone. The name is obsolete in modern science. Zoophytes are common in medieval and renaissance era herbals, notable examples including the Tartar Lamb, a plant which grew sheep as fruit. Zoophytes appeared in many influential early medical texts, such as Dioscorides' De Materia Medica and subsequent adaptations and commentaries on that work, notably Mattioli's Discorsi. Zoophytes are frequently seen as medieval attempts to explain the origins of exotic, unknown plants with strange properties (such as cotton, in the case of the Tartar Lamb). Reports of zoophytes continued into the seventeenth century and were commented on by many influential thinkers of the time period, including Francis Bacon. It was not until 1646 that claims of zoophytes began to be concretely refuted, and skepticism towards claims of zoophytes mounted throughout the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.

Sources: Free Dictionary, Dictionary.com

Word-E: A Word-A-Day

zenana

ze•na•na (zuh-NAH-nuh)  n
also zanana

Definition:
1.a part of the house reserved for women and girls; a system of segregating women into harems, in Asian countries such as India and Pakistan, esp in Muslim and Hindu homes
2. its occupants collectively
3. an effeminate or crossdressing male in northern India or Pakistan

The Zenana are the inner apartments of a house in which the women of the family live. The outer apartments for guests and men is called the Mardana.

Origin:
1760; from Hindi  from Persian zanana,  "female, pertaining to women", adj. derivative of zan  "woman"

Related:
Synonyms: purdah, seraglio, serai, serail, harem

Sentence Examples:
• Then for the first time she is allowed to help herself to the faculties and senses usually monopolised by the Conscious Self. But like the timid and submissive inmate of the zenana suddenly delivered from the thraldom of her life-long partner, she immediately falls under the control of another. The Conscious Personality of another person exercises over her the same supreme authority that her own Conscious Personality did formerly. - Real Ghost Stories, William T. Stead

• It is a patent fact that the Indian woman, secluded as she is within the four walls of the zenana, cannot fully benefit by any system of medicine; and it was not till the generous efforts of Lady Dufferin were turned in this direction that the wives and daughters of the richest and most enlightened Indians enjoyed a better position than the lowest and meanest of their fellows. - Clara A. Swain, M.D., Mrs. Robert Hoskins

• Well, when Uncle used to come I slept in the "Baithak" and my wife slept somewhere in the zenana, I never inquired where. -Indian Ghost Stories, by S. Mukerji

Sources: Wiktionary, Free Dictionary, Dictionary.com

Word-E: A Word-A-Day

zetetic

ze•te•tic (zeh-TEH-tic)  adj

Definition:
proceeding by or arrived at through inquiry


Also, noun: a seeker; -- a name adopted by some of the Pyrrhonists

zeteticly adverb

Origin:
1640s, from Mod.L. zeteticus, from Gk. zetetikos "searching, inquiring," from zetetos, verbal adj. of zetein "seek for, inquire into"


Sentence Examples:
• To do this chief justice, he is probably far less confident about the flatness of the earth than any of his disciples. Under the assumed name of Parallax he visited most of the chief towns of England, propounding what he calls his system of zetetic astronomy. Why he should call himself Parallax it would be hard to say; unless it be that the verb from which the word is derived signifies primarily to shift about or dodge, and secondarily to alter a little, especially for the worse. His employment of the word zetetic is less doubtful, as he claims for his system that it alone is founded on the true seeking out of Nature's secrets. -Myths and Marvels of Astronomy, Richard A. Proctor

• In our courts of Justice we have also an example of the zetetic process. A prisoner is placed at the bar; evidence for and against him is advanced; it is carefully arranged and patiently considered; and only such a verdict given as could not in justice be avoided. -Zetetic astronomy,Samuel Birley Rowbotham

• A zetetic sceptic feels sure or unsure about remote possibilities of error in relation to the knowledge claims he has witnessed. He does not deny that he may often be linguistically, or better, socially, justified in accepting such claims as legitimate. The social and linguistic warrant to use the phrase "I know that . . ." is for him not a sufficient reason actually to use it. -The selected works of Arne Naess

The Storyline
She decided to proceed by the zetetic process. "Can anyone tell me where they are and why they're here?"

Sources: Answers.com, Online Etymology

Word-E: A Word-A-Day

zoopery

zo•op•er•y (zoh-op'-er-ee)  n

Definition:
1. the performing of experiments on animals, especially the lower animals

zooperal adjective; zooperist adverb

Related:
Synonyms: vivisection
Related Words:
zooerastia, n. - sexual intercourse with an animal
zoogamy, n. - sexual reproduction of animals
zoogenous, adj. - originating in animals
zoography, n. - description of animals
zooid, n. - organism resembling animal, especially asexually produced; sperm cell. zooidal, adj
zoolite, zoolith, n. - fossil animal
zoology, n. - study of animals. zoologist, n. zoological, adj
zoomancy, n. - divination by observation of animals. zoomantic, adj
zoometry, n. - measurement of animals
zoomimetic, adj. - imitating an animal or part of an animal
zoomorph, n. - object in form of animal. zoomorphic, adj
zoomorphism, zoomorphy n. - representing animals in decoractive arts; representation of God as lower animal
zoonic, adj. - pertaining to or derived from animals
zoonosis, n. - disease that can be communicated among animals or from animal to human. zoonotic, adj.
zooparasite, n. - a parasite of animals
zoopathology, n. - animal pathology
zoophaga, n. - an artificial group comprising various carnivorous and insectivorous animals
zoophagy, n. - feeding on animals. zoophagous, adj. zoophagan, n
zoophile, n. - lover of animals; plant pollinated by animals. zoophilia, zoophilist, n. zoophilous, zoophilic, adj
zoophobia, n. - dread of animals
zoophorus, zophorus, n. - sculptured relief frieze with a continuous pattern of humans or animals
zoophyte, n. - plant-like animal, as coral, sea anemone, etc. zoophytal, zoophytic, adj
zoophytology, n. - study of plant-like animals
zoopsia, n. - hallucination of animals
zooscopy, n. - hallucination of seeing animals. zooscopic, adj
zootechny, zootechnics, n. - breeding and taming of animals. zootechnic, adj
zootheism, n. - attributing divine attributes to animals
zootomy, n. - study of animal anatomy. zootomic(al), adj. zootomist, n
zootrophy, n. - feeding of animals. zootrophic, adj
zootypic, adj. - of the animal type

Example:
• ...scheduled as he was, before a week was out, to undergo a required bit of zoopery with a psychiatrist. "It would of course be taken as healthier — more normal — for you to hate her," the psychiatrist muttered, sitting back and meditatively circling his foot. It was absurd: hate Isabel?

The Storyline
So perhaps as a defense mechanism, Anna watched the scene unfolding before her with a sense of detachment, like a zooperist observing rats in an artificial environment, drugged, dazed and navigating the experimenter's obstacles.

Origin:
from Greek zoion, "animal" + peiran, "to experiment"

Sources: Free Dictionary, Luciferous Logolepsy, Webster's Unabridged (print)

Why This Word:
The one sentence fragment posted above is the only use of zoopery in a sentence, on the whole internet. (Feel free to prove me wrong.) So I have the opportunity to post the only complete sentence example freely available using zoopery (or derived form). So there's that.
The Greek root zoion, is a veritable argosy of derived words. (Zoo is two syllables, excepting in The Zoo.) So there's that too.
But what really drew me to the word was how rare the word is but how common the practice. Even though zoopery is an essential component of medical component of medical, food and cosmetic research, the practice is as invisible to most of us as the word.

Word-E: A Word-A-Day