sesquipedalian

Du latin sesquipedalis (« long d’un pied et demi »), dérivé de sesqui et de pedis, forme de pes (« pied »). Cognat avec le français sesquipédal.

sesquipedalian \ˌsɛskwɪpɪˈdeɪlɪən\

1. Un long mot, qui a beaucoup de syllabes.
   • “The fine old fellow,” as a Northern contemporary of ours patronizingly calls him, certainly rolled out his sesquipedalians with a majesty previously unknown, and gave a fine organ-like swell to his full-blow periods; — (On the Art of Rising in Prose The New Monthly Magazine and Literary Journal, part 2, v. 29, Henry Colburn and Co., page 162, 1830)
   • Fleet-streetese, the so-called English written to sell by the Fleet-streeter (q.v.), or baser sort of journalist: a mixture of sesquipedalians and slang, of phrases worn threadbare and phrases sprung from the kennel; — (John S. Farmer, William Ernest Henley, A Dictionary of Slang and Colloquial English: Abridged from the Seven-volume Work, Entitled "Slang and Its Analogues", Taylor & Francis, page 164, 1927)
   • ‘Sometimes we converse in ballad-rhymes, sometimes in Johnsonian sesquipedalians; at tea we condescend to riddles and charades.’ — (Hannah More, Syndics of the Cambridge University Press, page 220, 1952)
2. Personne qui utilise de longs mots.
   • Don’t be a sesquipedalian! / Yes, you guessed right. A sesquipedalian is a person who enjoys long words. — (Jonathan Herring, How to Argue: Powerfully, Persuasively, Positively, FT Press, chapitre 8, page ?, 2012)

• sesquipedal
• sesquipedality

• sesquipedalianism
• sesquipedalianist
• sesquipedalophobia

sesquipedalian \ˌsɛskwɪpɪˈdeɪlɪən\

1. Long, polysyllabique (en parlant d’un mot).
   • More people know the sesquipedalian word "antidisestablishmentarianism" than know what it means.
2. Relatif au fait d’utiliser de trop longs mots.
   • Our dinner guest was so sesquipedalian that no one could understand what he said.

• \ˌsɛskwɪpɪˈdeɪlɪən\
• États-Unis : écouter « sesquipedalian [Prononciation ?] »
• (Royaume-Uni) : écouter « sesquipedalian [ˌsɛskwɪpɪˈdeɪlɪən] »

• Cet article utilise des informations de l’article du Wiktionnaire en anglais, sous licence CC-BY-SA-3.0 : sesquipedalian.