Monday word: retrorse

[ersatz-read.livejournal.com]

retrorse  (rĭ-trôrs′, rē′trôrs′), adj.
Bent backward or downward in a direction opposite to normal.

This is a botanical term.  See for example Retrorse sedge.  (Not to plug sites...but I'll have to remember that one- because when I get stumped by what it means to have retrorse perigynia, I can scroll down and hover over the word 'perigynium' and there's a picture.  I love plants, but consistently get lost on the sea of botanical terms.)

To me, the term seems agreeable to inventive non-botanical uses.  For example, the phrase 'retrorse arm' seems to provide a clear but painful mental image.

Antrorse means bent forward or upward.

Etymology:  1800s, from Latin retroversus, bent backwards

Comments

[prettygoodword.livejournal.com]

I'd love to use it, but I don't think I can pronounce it -- those two Rs in the second syllable keep tripping my tongue.

---L.