Pulchritudinous

I was always taught that the best way to learn new words is through extensive reading. To some extent, I am a living testament to this belief. I voraciously read whatever I can get my hands on, and as a result my vocabulary continues to expand. Yet, as I was reading The Escapist by Michael Chabon last week, I stumbled across a word that stymied me.

Pulchritudinous. . . Pulchritud a what?? I actually laughed out loud and showed Chris the word. We agreed that the author was just a show off. Who has ever heard of that word? As an English teacher, however, I don't like to leave words undefined. Undaunted by the challenge, I set off to unveil the definition of the word.

First step: Context clues. Here is the sentence. "Empire Comics publishers Sheldon Anapol and Jack Ashkenazt were won over by her sales potential -- specifically by Kavalier's pulchritudinous pinup design." Hmm.. . I still had nothing. No clue. Nada!

I tried to look at root words and suffix/ prefix. Still I had not made sufficient progress.

So, the next logical place was a Thesaurus that I sadly admit to keeping by my bed at night. I skimmed the pages. No entry for pulchritudinous. Did Chabon make up this word? Where did it come from?

Finally, I finished my journey at Dictionary.com where I was illuminated with the definition: physically beautiful; comely. All of those letters just to say beautiful or pretty? I have a plethora of words that I could have used: enchanting, attractive, ravishing, handsome, lovely, winsome, glamorous, etc. Yet, I ended up proving the experts point because now I again have expanded my vocab by reading, and I have a new word to add to my repertoire to talk about beauty.

With that said, it seems to be a pulchritudinous day, so I am going swimming!