One of the most important things to remember about English is that it’s a constantly-evolving language. Words are added as they’re needed, and as society and the world changes, some words fall out of use. Occasionally this happens because a word is no longer accepted in polite speech; sometimes it’s because new words have replaced older ones; and sometimes words disappear just because people don’t use them as much any more, or forget that they even exist. We think that it’s a shame when words are forgotten, even though they’re still as accurate, descriptive, and interesting as they were when they first entered the language. You can easily add interest to your vocabulary by looking for these forgotten words and bringing them back into use through your conversation, and they’ll be easy to remember if you link them to more current terminology and definitions. You can frequently find such words by reading older works of literature, and this will give you the added benefit of seeing how they’re used in context; if you just look for “archaic word list” on the internet, for example, you might just get a list of words with brief definitions. Here are five old words that can bring new life to your vocabulary study:

whithersoever (WHIH-thur-so-EH-vur) adverb
Definition: Wherever, to any place. This term comes from Old High German roots and by combining the words “whither” (where), “so” (in such a manner), and “ever” (at any time).
Example: With a new passport and ten thousand dollars, she set off to explore the world, following her impulses and going whithersoever her heart told her to travel next.

supererogation (SOO-pur-AIR-uh-GAY-shun) noun
Definition: The act of doing more than is required. This term was historically used in Catholicism, and comes from the Latin words super (“above”) and rogare (“request”).
Example: While most of the students did the minimum required to pass the class, Emily’s supererogation prompted the professor to write a special recommendation to the department head, with the result that Emily was offered a scholarship for summer overseas study.

tenebrous (TEH-neh-bruss) adjective
Definition: From the Latin tenebrae (“darkness”), this word means “shadowy, dark.”
Example: The children huddled shivering at the entrance to the haunted house, reluctant to move further into the tenebrous depths of the hallway.

repugn (reh-PYUN) verb
Definition: This word meaning “to resist, to oppose” comes from the Latin root pugnare (“to fight”), which it shares with the words repugnant and pugnacious.
Example: Many traditional religious leaders repugn the movement towards including women in the direction and performance of ceremonies.

hippodrome (HIH-puh-drohm) noun
Definition: From the Greek hippo (“horse”) and dromus (“course”), this was originally a Greek race course for chariots, but in the 16th century the term started to be used in France to mean a race course for horses with riders, and then was gradually applied to large arenas used for any horse show.
Example: Every seat in the hippodrome was filled at the finals of the Olympic dressage competition.