entry
turgid
/ˈtɝːdʒɪd/swollen, inflated, or pompously overblown
From Latin turg (swell).
from Latin turgidus "swollen, inflated, distended,"
+1 more sourcefrom Latin turgidus "swollen, inflated, distended,"
+1 more sourcefrom Latin turgidus "swollen, inflated, distended,"
+1 more sourceWord Ancestry
from Latin turgidus "swollen, inflated, distended,"
+1 more sourcefrom Latin turgidus "swollen, inflated, distended,"
+1 more sourcefrom Latin turgidus "swollen, inflated, distended,"
+1 more sourceA turgid fruit is not merely large; it looks as if some invisible pump has filled it from within. Latin speakers used turgēre for that swelling, giving English turgidus and, by the 1610s, turgid. Then writers got hold of it: around 1725, prose could be called turgid when its language had puffed itself up with grand words and inflated ideas. Biology later gave the physical image a technical home in “turgor pressure,” the force that presses a plant cell’s membrane against its wall. The word’s memorable trick is that a turgid paragraph and a turgid cell have the same basic problem—too much internal pressure, whether the pressure is water or adjectives.
The Story
A turgid fruit is not merely large; it looks as if some invisible pump has filled it from within. Latin speakers used turgēre for that swelling, giving English turgidus and, by the 1610s, turgid. Then writers got hold of it: around 1725, prose could be called turgid when its language had puffed itself up with grand words and inflated ideas. Biology later gave the physical image a technical home in “turgor pressure,” the force that presses a plant cell’s membrane against its wall. The word’s memorable trick is that a turgid paragraph and a turgid cell have the same basic problem—too much internal pressure, whether the pressure is water or adjectives.
Kin & Kindred
From 'turg'·swell, become distended
Derived Terms
English words from this root
Sources
Urban Dictionary
Wikipedia
Wiktionary