Gloss

Word of the day.

One word a day, chosen from the words readers look up and never quite catch. Here it is the same for everyone; in the app, it is chosen for your level and waits on your home screen.

Today

petrichor

ˈpɛtrɪkɔːrnoun

PlainThe earthy smell that rises when rain falls on dry ground.
ADHDThat smell after rain on dry ground. Hot pavement, first drops, done.
Gen ZThat smell when rain lands on dry ground. Hot pavement, the first few drops, dust in the air.
MetaphorThe ground exhaling after a long dry spell, the moment the first rain lands.
FormalThe distinctive earthy scent released when rain falls on dry soil.
Like I’m 5You know when it rains after a hot day and outside smells kind of dusty and nice? That’s it.

After the storm came the petrichor.

Greek. Petra, stone, and ichor, the fluid that ran in the veins of the gods. Two Australian scientists put them together in 1964.

What a word of the day is for

A word a day is 365 words a year, about double what an adult picks up from ordinary life (the median American adds roughly one new word every two days, in a study of 221,268 people). The habit works when the word arrives where you already look and asks something of you; a word you only read is gone by tomorrow. How to keep a word-of-the-day habit has the research, and the best word of the day apps compares the ways to get one.

How the word is chosen

Here, the schedule is the alphabet: one word a day from the 110 words on this site, the same for everyone, so this page is a shared word of the day and the feed never disagrees with it. In the app the word is chosen for you: your level, the things you read about, and the words you have already met. Every word is explained six ways, from Plain to Like I’m 5, and comes with its origin and a sentence.

The last thirty days

    Coming to the App Store

    In Gloss the word of the day waits on your home screen and your lock screen, with a notification at the first time you choose, more glosses until the last if you want them, and three quick questions to make it yours. For iPhone, free for three days. All 110 words are here.

    Questions people ask

    What is today’s word of the day?

    It is at the top of this page, with its meaning six ways, a sentence and its origin; it changes at midnight UTC. Yesterday’s and the last thirty days are listed above.

    How do I get a word of the day on my iPhone lock screen?

    With an app that offers a lock-screen widget. In Gloss, add the Today’s gloss widget under the clock (touch and hold the lock screen, Customize, add a widget), and today’s gloss arrives as a notification at the first time you choose.

    Is there a word of the day feed or API?

    Yes. The RSS feed is at /feed.xml, today’s word as JSON at /api/word-of-the-day, and any word’s data at /words/<word>.json. Link back to the word’s page if you show it.

    Is one word a day enough to grow a vocabulary?

    Kept up, yes: it is about twice the natural rate of growth for adults. The research on habits says the first two months are the hard part, and that one missed day does not undo it.

    Follow it, or put it on your site

    The feed is https://gloss.day/feed.xml: one word a day, with its plain meaning and a link. To show today’s word on your own site, paste this where you want the card; it links back here.

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