Tidy Lookup
All sites11
Curious Word of the Daycuriouswordoftheday.com

runcible

adjective /ˈɹʌnsɪb(ə)l/

  1. A nonce word used for humorous effect.

    They dined on mince and slices of quince, / Which they ate with a runcible spoon, / And hand in hand on the edge of the sand / They danced by the light of the moon,— / The moon, / They danced by the light of the moon.

Where it comes from

A nonce word coined by the English artist and poet Edward Lear (1812–1888) in his poem The Owl and the Pussy-cat (published 1870). It has been suggested that the word was modelled after rounceval, rouncival (“a large pea, the marrowfat”) (late 16th c.).

Adapted from the Wiktionary entry runcible (CC BY-SA 4.0).

← ruinaterunnel →

Another random word More words starting with R