Words at Play : Top 10 Unusually Long and Interesting Words, Vol. 2
#10: Consanguineous
Definition:
of the same blood or origin; specifically : descended from the same ancestor
About the word:
The Latin sanguin- means "blood"; con- means "together."
Consanguineous is sometimes used to describe marriages or intimate relationships, such as when geneticists discuss birth defects in the offspring of consanguineous unions (i.e., unions between close relatives).
Despite the word's origins in sanguin-, nowadays, we understand that ancestral contributions are not transmitted through blood but through genes contained in chromosomes.
More Words at Play
