Today’s Word:
Declivity (Noun)Pronunciation: [dê-‘kli-vê-tee]
Definition 1: A downward slope.
Usage 1: Several adjectives are related to today’s noun; the two most common are "declivous" [dê-‘kLI-vês] and "declivitous" [dê-‘kli-vê-tês], currently the more popular of the pair. The antonym is acclivity "upward slope," whose adjective is "acclivitous."
Suggested usage: Today’s word plays a major role in geological descriptions, "Truman lived and died on the Eastern declivity of Mount St. Helens." However, other types of descriptions can often accommodate it, too, "Their relationship has been in a declivitous state since the evening he lifted her cat from the couch by its tail."
Etymology: From Latin declivitas "slope, declivity" from declivis "sloping downhill" comprising de- "(away) from" + clivus "slope." Related to "climate" via Greek klima "surface of the earth, region." The zero grade form of the same root, i.e. *kli-, gave us "lid" from Old English hlid "cover" derived from Germanic *hlid- "that which bends over, cover." Suffixed with -n, the same root became English "lean" from Old English hlinian "to lean" and with -ent, it produced Latin cliens, clientis "dependent, follower," the source of English "client." Finally, another suffixed form evolved into "ladder" from Old English hlædder "ladder," whose trail leads to Germanic *hlaidri-.
—Dr. Language, yourDictionary.com
This topic is not mine, of course, but as it hasn’t been placed on the list, I thought I should put it there. One thing that surprised me concerning the information given above was that no attempt was made to relate the term to a term like cleave which seems to derive from an Indo-European *gleubh-. Possibly mislead by this—or by more primal drives—I have always associated declivity‘s slopes with those of cleavage—and further, with the mode of dress that reveals them, decolletage. Hope the ladies that reacted to an earlier WotD, voluptuous, won’t be offended !...
Henri
