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The Learning Kingdom's Cool Word of the Day for October 22, 1999
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gnomon [n. NO-mun]
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The gnomon of a sundial is the part that sticks up and casts a shadow,
showing what time it is. More generally, a gnomon is any kind of
pointer that indicates a value by casting a shadow.
Another kind of gnomon is the shape left behind by removing a
parallelogram (diamond) from a larger parallelogram with which it
shares a corner. The two meanings are related because the shape of a
sundial gnomon is often like a diamond with a smaller diamond taken
out.
The word comes through Latin, from the Greek gignoskein (to know).
That root gave us many "knowing" words, including these:
gnosis: intuitive knowing of esoteric truths
agnostic: one who claims not to know
agnosia: inability to interpret sensory inputs (inability to know)
diagnosis: identification, interpretation, or description
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