Words Too Easily Confused Trivia Quiz

Answer: Emit

The term emit entered English from the Latin in the early 17th Century from the word "emittere" meaning sends forth.

"They emit a directional beacon that disrupts the replicators and breaks them apart." ~ "Stargate: Atlantis" (TV Episode) "The Return" Part 1, (2006).

Answer: Remit

The verb remit entered English from the Latin in the late 14th Century. It comes from the word "remittere" which can mean to send back or to slacken.

"Whose soever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them; and whose soever sins ye retain, they are retained." ~John 20:23, King James (Authorized) Version.

Answer: Demit

The word demit became an English verb from the French "démission" (ca. 1570) and the Latin "demittere" (ca. 1610). The Latin term means literally to send down.

"To demit from an organization is, using the official form, to resign, to relinquish one's membership." ~Mackey's Encyclopedia of Freemasonry (1873).

Answer: Premit

The term premit comes from the Latin into the English of rhetoric, argumentation and debate. It means to premise, that is, to set up an antecedent for an argument.

The phrase "Culpam Poena Premit Comes" is the motto of the New South Wales (Australia) Police Force. Translated from Latin, it means "Punishment swiftly follows crime". It is a quotation from Horace (Quintus Horatius Flaccus) (65 BC-8 BC).

Answer: Sibilant

The adjective "sibilant" was transported from Latin to English in the 1660s. The Latin term meant something that hissed or whistled and was possibly an onomatopoeia.

The Warner Brothers' cartoon character Daffy Duck mispronounced all sibilants by adding a fricative before them, e.g. "That is desthpicable!"

Answer: Sibylline

Sibyls were women in ancient Greece and Rome who could prophesy. The term crossed the Channel from the Old French "sibile" into English.

"Oh, she's been promised to the Sibylline Sisterhood. They say she has remarkable visions." ~Doctor Who, (TV Episode) "The Fires of Pompeii" (2008).

Answer: Syllabus

From the Late Latin "syllabus" meaning list, this term entered English in about 1650. The term was first used to describe a sort of table of contents to written records of multiple lectures.

"Religion is not a fractional thing that can be doled out in fixed weekly or daily measures as one among various subjects in the school syllabus." ~Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1941).

Answer: Syllabub

The etymology of sillabub or syllabub is unknown. It has been used in English since at least 1530. It is made with milk and/or cream and with brandy, wine or other spirits.

"Though we eat little flesh and drink no wine, yet let's be merry; we'll have tea and toast; custards for supper, and an endless host of syllabubs and jellies and mince-pies, and other such ladylike luxuries" ~Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792-1822).

Answer: Municipal

"Municipal" entered English from the Latin via Middle French in the middle 16th Century. Its several meanings have all related to towns, provinces, citizens and magistrates.

"(praying) Anybody here? Hey, Old Man. You home tonight? Can You spare a minute. It's about time we had a little talk. I know I'm a pretty evil fellow... killed people in the war and got drunk... and chewed up municipal property and the like..." ~"Cool Hand Luke" (1967).

Answer: Munificent

The adjective munificent found its way into English from the Middle French "munificence" and the Latin "munificus", both of which carry the sense of bountifulness and of liberality in giving.

"And thus we grew strong in benevolent suns and munificent stars, into cautious young men with trivial scars." ~Ivan Donn Carswell (b. 1945).

Answer: Munite

From the Latin "munire", meaning to build a wall around, this verb entered English in the 16th Century, bringing with it the sense of creating fortifications.

"Being in his owne Countrie, and amidst good friends, he had the better leasure to re-enforce his decayed forces, and more opportunity, to strengthen Townes, to munite Castles, to store Rivers with all necessaries they wanted..." ~Michel de Montaigne (1603).

Answer: Muniment

A "muniment" is usually a document (deed, title, charter, letter) which proves the ownership of something or, sometimes, one's ownership of a title. The noun came into English as a legal term from the Latin "munimentum" which refers to a military defence. The connection is that a muniment may be used to defend against an adverse claim of title.

Answer: Ingenious

The English adjective ingenious found its way from both the Middle French "ingénieux", meaning clever, and the Latin "ingeniosus" meaning gifted, bright and clever.

"Senseless killing is immoral. But killing for a purpose... can be quite often ingenious." ~Star Trek: The Next Generation (TV Episode) "The Big Goodbye" (1988).

Answer: Ingenuous

The adjective ingenuous entered English from the Latin "ingenuus" in the 1590s. It brought with it the sense of high-born, noble, upright and without artifice.

"An ingenuous mind feels in unmerited praise the bitterest reproof." ~ Walter Savage Landor (1775-1864).

Answer: Eugenius

There have been four popes named Eugenius: Pope Eugenius I (654-657), Pope Eugenius II (824-827), Pope Eugenius III (1145-1153), and Pope Eugenius IV (1431-1447). Many other famous persons have had this name: a Roman emporer, a Coptic saint, a Sicilian admiral, two 7th Century archbishops of Toledo, three kings of Cumbria, a patriarch of Constantinople and a Scottish rock-and-roll band.