Wednesday Words (8)

Each Wednesday I present to you a loveable word and what it means. These are words that look or sound pleasing. This week I present for your delectation…

Plinth.

Most of the words suggested to me for this series were either lilting, smooth words, or long, daft ones. This word is neither, but it isn’t it pleasing? It was suggested to me by Emma Lawson and I can’t for the life of me work out why it is so wonderful, and yet it is. It is a noun that has been in use since the late 16th-century, although the Latin form plinthus was in use in this country before then. A plinth is a block of stone that is used as a base for a statue or the bottom of a pillar. It can also be a projecting course of stone at the base of a wall or a large block where a doorframe meets the skirting of the wall.