Word Of The Day

The Word of the Day for January 16, 2007 is:

perceptible • \per-SEP-tuh-bul\ • adjective • french

: capable of being perceived especially by the senses

Example Sentence:
The smell of onions in the kitchen was barely perceptible to me, but Laura found it overwhelmingly pungent.

Did you know?
If something is "perceptible," you can "capture" it with your senses. "Perceptible" traces back to the Latin word "capere," which means "to take," combined with the prefix "per-," which means "thoroughly." It shares the "capere" part of its ancestry with a number of other English words related to seizing or being seized, including "capture," "captor," "captivate," and even "catch."

Smulch's Note: The above is according to Merriam-Webster, My research dug up the following; Late Latin translation of perceptible is perceptibilis or to perceive. Modern translation of perceptible is percipere or to break it down like they did, the "per" prefix, which in modern Latin means throughout or thoroughly, and the base word of "cipere" is to receive, welcome, or take in.
The Modern definition of percipere is; To lay hold of, seize, to collect, gather, harvest, gain, with the senses, to feel mentally, to learn, grasp, understand.

The only place I can link perceptible to percapere is Merriam-Webster.