Wiktionary:Word of the day/2025/February 12

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leonine adj

Of, pertaining to, or characteristic of a lion; lionlike. (pathology) Of a facies (“a person's facial features”): resembling those of a lion as a result of some disease, especially a form of leprosy which causes leontiasis (“a medical condition characterized by an overgrowth of the cranial and facial bones”); also, of leprosy: causing a lionlike facies. [...] Of or pertaining to one of the popes named Leo; specifically (in Leonine City), to Pope Leo IV (790–855) who ordered the building of a wall around Vatican Hill to protect what is now Vatican City. (poetry) Being or relating to a kind of medieval Latin verse, generally alternative hexameter and pentameter, with rhyming at the middle and end of a line (that is, internal rhyme); also (by extension), of or relating to modern verse having internal rhyme. leonine n (poetry) Chiefly in the plural: synonym of Leonine verse (“a kind of medieval Latin verse, generally alternative hexameter and pentameter, with rhyming at the middle and end of a line (that is, internal rhyme)”) We are having a holoalphabetic month—each day features a term starting with a different letter of the alphabet (and two numbers)! In addition, the English biologist, geologist, and naturalist Charles Darwin, who is best known for his contributions towards the science of evolution, was born on this day in 1809.

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