Dictionary

floccinaucinihilipilification en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• (US) audio
• /ˌflɒksɪˌnɔːsɪˌnɪhɪlɪˌpɪlɪfɪˈkeɪʃn/ (Received-Pronunciation)
• /ˌflɒksɪˌnɔːkɪˌnɪhɪlɪˌpɪlɪfɪˈkeɪʃn/ (Received-Pronunciation)
• (UK) audio
• /ˌflɒksɪˌnɑsɪˌn(a)ɪhɪlɪˌpɪlɪfɪˈkeɪʃən/ (General-American)

Etymology

From Latin floccus (“a wisp”) + naucum (“a trifle”) + nihilum (“nothing”) + pilus (“a hair”) + -fication. A pseudo-Latinism orignating as a jocular coinage, apparently by pupils at Eton College, combining a number of Latin word stems. The word was inspired by a line present in various editions of William Lily's (c. 1468–1522) Latin grammars published around the 17th–19th centuries (including the Eton Latin Grammar), in which some nouns commonly used in the genitive case with some verbs like pendo and facio are listed, which express evaluating something as worthless or as previously mentioned; see the reference.

Meanings

1. (countable, humorous, often, uncountable) The act or habit of describing or regarding something as unimportant, of having no value or being worthless.
   • There is a systematic flocci-nauci-nihili-pilification of all other aspects of existence that angers me. 1970, Patrick O'Brian, Master and Commander:
   • I loved him for nothing so much as his flocci-nauci-nihili-pili-fication of money. 1741, William Shenstone, Letters:
   • They must be taken with an air of contempt, a floccinaucinihilipilification of all that can gratify the outward man. 2006, Sol Steinmetz, The life of language:
   • Let me toss an oxymoronic morsel onto the stage of discussion right at this point—to use one of Jackie Gleason’s phrases, “how sweet it is” that, at last, we seem at last to be getting away from the splendiferous floccinaucinihilipilifications, in which we have engaged during these last several days. 1992 April 10, Robert Byrd, Congressional Record […], volume 138, part 7, Washington, D.C.: United States Government Printing Office, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 9280, column 3:
   • Some people with low self-esteem are prone to floccinaucinihilipilification, the habit of deeming everything worthless. 2009, Judith Orloff, Emotional Freedom:
   • Floccinaucinihilipilification in accounting - does it matter? 2000, Raymond J. Chambers, Logic, Law, and Ethics:
   • Let me indulge in the floccinaucinihilipilification of EU judges and quote from the book of Amos about them. 2012 February 21, Jacob Rees-Mogg, parliamentary debates, column 787:
   • The quasi statistician would doubtlessly not know how to check this supposition, thus rendering the interpretation of the mean profit as floccinaucinihilipilification. 2011, Bruce Ratner, Statistical and Machine-Learning Data Mining:

Forms

Deriveds

floccinaucinihilipilificate · floccinaucinihilipilificatious

Descendants

floccīnaucīnihilīpilīficātiō

Relateds

supercalifragilisticexpialidocious · Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch · dacryocystorhinostomy · antidisestablishmentarianism · hippopotomonstrosesquipedaliophobia · pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis

Translations (9)

no bagatellisering (act or habit of describing or regarding something as unimportant) · cmn 把某東西看作是無價值的 /把某东西看作是无价值的 (act or habit of describing or regarding something as unimportant) · sv bagatellisering (act or habit of describing or regarding something as unimportant) · bg презрителност (act or habit of describing or regarding something as unimportant) · ms memperkecil (act or habit of describing or regarding something as unimportant) · fi vähättely (act or habit of describing or regarding something as unimportant) · nl geringschatting (act or habit of describing or regarding something as unimportant) · la floccinaucinihilipilificatio (act or habit of describing or regarding something as unimportant) · sv förringning (act or habit of describing or regarding something as unimportant)

wikipedia: The Spectator · wikipedia: Eton College · wikipedia: Press Holdings