August 26, 2009
- introspection (noun)
- \in-truh-SPEK-shun\
- What does it mean?
- : an examination of one's own thoughts or feelings
- How do you use it?
- For Luis, the last few lazy days of summer were a period of introspection about what he wanted to do in the years to come.
- Are you a word wiz?
Which one of these words do you think is a relative of "introspection"?
It's D that's worthy of closer examination. "Introspection" comes from adding the prefix "intro-," meaning "in, into, or inward," to "specere," the Latin verb that means "to look." When it's combined with "de-," meaning "down," "specere" also gives us "despise," defined as "to consider beneath one's notice or contempt"; in other words, to look down on. The English nouns "species" and "spice," as well as the verb "respect," can also be traced to "specere."
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