Tyro. When you’ve been playing a sport or participating in an activity for years and years, it can be a challenge to have patience with newcomers.  It’s tempting to roll your eyes and grumble about the ignorant rookie, or the bumbling wannabe.  But you were there once, right?  And you turned out okay.  So maybe that amateur has potential, too.  Maybe she’s a tyro: a novice, a trainee, a beginner eager to learn.  Instead of complaining, maybe you can be her mentor.  Tyro: a beginner, just starting to learn.

Spleen. When you lose your temper, you’re said to be “venting your spleen.”  Why the spleen?  Why not the pancreas?  Well, doctors used to think a healthy personality required balancing four fluids, or humours.  Too much blood made you sanguine—calm, even apathetic—and you might need leeches.  Too much spleen made you melancholy, or bad-tempered, or angry.  Modern psychology says venting is good because repressed rage can build up and explode like… well, like a ruptured spleen.  Spleen: pent-up anger.

Have you ever watched little kids?  When the teacher asks a question, they don’t just raise their hands.  They raise their whole arms, reaching for the ceiling, screaming, “Oh, oh, oh, I know, I know, call on me!”  They’re absolutely positive they know the answer.  That’s certitude.  They’re not necessarily right, but they’re sure.  By high school, though, things change.  Certitude gives way to doubt, and to the grownup fear of being wrong.  And then it’s hard to raise even a fingertip.  Certitude: being sure.

Accrete. One of the most beautiful images in modern astronomy is the accretion disk. Saturn’s rings are one example, but similar rings form around black holes. They capture millions of tiny bits of interstellar matter, which fall into orbit and form a disk that accumulates over time, that grows by adding new pieces—that accretes. On certain websites, your network of friends may accrete over time, as well—unless you have the personality of a black hole. Then they might disperse. Accrete: to grow by addition.