sundial
/ˈsʌnˌdaɪ.əl/
Word Rarity
Very rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 2.46 in modern English
8
Scrabble Score
7
Letters
3
Syllables
7
Unique Chars
Meaning
Example Sentences
- "The birdbath includes a small gnomon that acts as a sundial with markings on the basin if it's aligned correctly with the sun."
- "Elbows almost touching they leaned at ease, idly reading the almost obliterated lines engraved there. "I never understood it," she observed, lightly scornful. "What occult meaning has a sun-dial for the spooney? I'm sure I don't want to read riddles in a strange gentleman's optics.""
- "The shop carries more than a dozen sundials, mostly of bronze, plus an astrolabe ($650) of wrought iron."
- "It was Oxford now—the matriculation photograph, posed in the stony front quad at Corpus, the pelican on top of the sundial appearing to sit on the head of the lanky, begowned chemist at the centre of the back row."
Etymology
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *sóh₂wl̥der. Proto-Germanic *sunnô Proto-Germanic *sunnǭ Proto-West Germanic *sunnā Old English sunne Middle English sonne English sun Proto-Indo-European *dyew- Proto-Indo-European *-s Proto-Indo-European *dyḗws Proto-Italic *djous Latin diēs Proto-Indo-European *h₂el- Proto-Indo-European *-is Proto-Indo-European *h₂élisder.? Proto-Italic *-ālis Latin -ālis Latin diālis Middle French dyalbor. Middle English diall English dial English sundial From sun + dial, a clarification of dial after it was used for other objects as well.