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You know aglet and grawlix and tittle and punt, but did you know any of these ten words?

1. You know how it smells after it rains? That clean, greenish smell when rain lands on dry ground? That’s petrichor, from the Greek petra (stone) and ichor (the blood of Greek gods and goddesses). The term was coined by two Australian researchers in 1964.

2. Originally, a zarf was a metal chalice keep the heat from your coffee from burning your fingers. The name for the fancy cupholder has morphed into the modern-day cardboard sleeve that comes wrapped around your hot coffee.

3. Chanking: Chewed-up food that’s been spit out. (Try to avoid giving us reason to use this one, OK?)

4. Scroop is the rustling, swooshy sound ballgowns make. More specifically, it’s the sound produced by the movement of silk.

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