What Do They Mean? Trivia Quiz

Answer: Salmagundi

This can also be spelled salmagundy. It is an English salad, with no fixed recipe, but with bits of everything. By extension, it has come to mean a motley mixture of things.

A salchow is figure-skating jump, a salicetum is a willow plantation, and I guess you could eat a salamander, but please be careful, as many varieties are poisonous.

Answer: Tintinnabulation

Tintinnabulation is an onomatopoeic word. Edgar Allan Poe used it in his poem 'The Bells', which was published, posthumously, in 1850.

Tinea is a fungal skin disease, your timpanum is more commonly called your eardrum, and a tinkerer is somebody that enjoys fiddling with machines.

Answer: Pittosporum

Pittosporum are popular in Australia and New Zealand and is commonly used as a hedge or a border. It is fast-growing and easy to grow.
A pitta is a cute and brightly coloured bird of Australia and eastern Asia and a pitahaya is another name for the dragonfruit, a type of cactus. Pitchblende is an ore of uranium.

Answer: Molybdenum

Molybdenum was positively identified in 1778 by Carl Wilhelm Scheele. Its chemical symbol is Mo and atomic number 42.

Mendelevium (Md), Meitnerium (Mt) and Moscovium (Mc), are all artificially synthesised radioactive elements with no known uses, and are all very short-lived.

Answer: Futilitarian

A satirical portmanteau word, from 'futile' and 'utilitarian', it was coined in the 1820s with the meaning 'someone who believes that human hopes are vain, and human strivings unjustified'. Not a very positive outlook on life, methinks!

A fundamentalist follows a strict adherence to religious standards, a futurist will attempt to predict the future, and how humanity will be affected. The futhark is the name of the runic alphabet, used by the ancient Scandinavians.

Answer: Hogmanay

Hogmanay has the tradition of 'firstfooting', where the first person to come through your door can be a bringer of good luck for the following year. The strains of 'Auld Lang Syne', written by Scotland's best-known poet, Robbie Burns, could probably be heard in the background. Burns' birthday is celebrated each year on January 25th, when much haggis and whisky is consumed. St Andrew is the patron saint of Scotland and his day is November 30, and mahogany is a type of durable wood.

Answer: Quetzal

The name derives from the ancient Aztec language, Nahuatl, and means 'large brilliant tail feather'. Quetzals are very brightly coloured large birds, native to Guatemala and its neighbours. It is also the name of the national currency of that country.

A quandong is an Australian native fruit, a quena is a traditional wooden flute from South America and a queenite is simply a supporter of a queen, a royalist.

Answer: Aa

Aa came from Hawaiian, and means rough blocks of lava in a volcanic flow.

Li is a Chinese measure of distance, measuring just over half a kilometre, and pi and xu are Greek letters.

Answer: Trim it- it's a beard

A ziff is a type of goatee beard. The origin of the word is uncertain, but appears to date from the 1950s.

The word is NOT to be confused with Arnold Ziffel, who was a pig in the sitcom, 'Green Acres'. The Zaire is the former currency in what is now known as Democratic Republic of the Congo. The fipple-flute known as the zufolo, is of Italian origin, and resembles a very abbreviated recorder.

Answer: Jentacular

To be ulotrichous is to have curly hair. and nudiustertian relates to the day before yesterday, ie, two days ago. Jural is associated with the administration of justice.