The Top 10: Words You Have to Look Up in the Dictionary Every Time

Here we collect those words that you always have to Google, so that you never need to do so again – until the next time you come across one of them

Chimera of Arezzo (see no 8): Etruscan bronze statue depicting the legendary monster, circa 400BC (Sailko)

Boris Johnson called Sadiq Khan, his successor as Mayor of London, “some puffed-up pompous popinjay in City Hall”, which prompted my colleague Tom Peck to suggest this Top 10, because he can never remember what popinjay and panjandrum mean. (A vain or conceited person, especially one who dresses or behaves extravagantly; and a person who has or claims to have great authority or influence, from the 1755 nonsense poem by S Foote.)

1. Irenic. A part of Christian theology concerned with reconciling different denominations and sects. Boris Johnson, again, in his “reaching out” speech on Valentine’s Day: nominated by Geoffrey Mamdani.

2. Arcane. Sometimes confused with archaic, it means understood by few people, or mysterious, which makes it a self-describing word. Thanks to Robert Boston.

3. Tergiversate. Make conflicting or evasive statements. Dr Anthony Ingleton also admits that he could never remember the difference between agglutinins and agglutinogens.

4. Paradigm. A typical example or pattern of something (originally a table of all the inflected forms of a word, serving as a model for other words of the same conjugation or declension). “Cracks me up every time Bitcoiniacs wheel it out,” said Matthew Randall.

5. Subaltern. An officer in the British Army below the rank of captain. Paul Fishwick.

6. Hedge fund. An investment fund, usually an offshore private limited partnership, that engages in speculation (originally “hedging” or betting against expected trends). One that used to confound John Mullin when he was editor of The Independent on Sunday. Every few months he would ask the business editor to explain what it is. He is in good company. Jeremy Corbyn once complained to Labour MPs that vulnerable people “were being forced to borrow money from hedge funds”.

7. Epicene. Sounds like it should mean “portly” but is actually a neater way of saying “androgynous”, said Bruce Napier.

8. Chimera. Something hoped for but illusory or impossible: originally a fire-breathing female monster with a lion’s head, a goat’s body and a serpent’s tail in Greek mythology (above), and later any mythical animal formed from parts of various animals. Nominated by Robertson Barley.

9. Amanuensis. A literary or artistic assistant, in particular one who takes dictation or copies manuscripts. Archie Valparaiso.

10. Palimpsest. A manuscript on which later writing has been superimposed, effacing what was there before: hence anything reused or altered but still bearing traces of its earlier form. Chris James.

Once again there were two nominations in the “there is always one” category: gurrible, nominated by Matthew Randall, and faringulous, from Funkadelic Horse. The second really is singular in that, until this Top 10 is published, it was a “Googlewhack”: a word which, if entered in Google, produced only one search result, namely Funkadelic Horse’s tweet nominating it.

Next week: Zombie Statistics, such as that people use only 10 per cent of their brains

Coming soon: Alternative Book Titles, such as The Sacred and Profane Memories of Captain Charles Ryder, better known as Brideshead Revisited

Your suggestions please, and ideas for future Top 10s, to me on Twitter, or by email to top10@independent.co.uk