If we told you that vocabulary study is absolutely the bee’s knees, you might think we were ossified, but really everything’s copacetic – we’re just using expressions that were current in the United States in the 1920s (the bee’s knees = the best, tops; ossified = tipsy, drunk; copacetic = good, fine). This bit of linguistic time travel shows how words evolve, and how they become extinct. Many words that were commonly used fifty or five hundred years ago are no longer part of everyday speech, or if they are, their meanings may have changed significantly.

The word anachronism (ah-NACK-roh-nihzm) comes from the Greek roots ana- (against, apart from) and chronos (time). An anachronism is something that is out of place for the time it’s in, like a cell phone in Victorian England, or a dinosaur chasing a group of Neanderthals. Anachronism is a noun; its adjectival form is anachronistic. Some synonyms for anachronistic are obsolete and archaic.

You might be focused on new words in your vocabulary study, but it’s worthwhile to look at some of the older words as well. For one thing, it will help you if you’re required to read any English literature written before you were born – the authors will generally use the vocabulary that’s in use in their lifetime or earlier. In addition, not all words that are out of common use deserve to be forgotten. The phrase the bee’s knees is slang, and slang changes as quickly as societies evolve, having value often only for a year or two. However, many useful words are still part of the English language, and are worth remembering. Here are a few words that are not frequently heard in conversation that you might enjoy:

chalcedony (kal-SED-oh-nee): a class of silicate minerals that includes agate, onyx, and carnelian

exuviate (ex-OO-vee-ate): to shed or cast off (hair, skin, fur)

fubsy (FUB-zee): short, stout, and wide

griseous (GRIH-zee-us): mottled grey in color

Like an old cameo pendant of your grandmother’s, or the silver tie clip your grandfather wore every Sunday, old words can be polished and added to your new verbal wardrobe to add a bit of color and interest.

What words would you like to see used more often?