inkhorn
Quill dipping container
An inkhorn was a small container, originally made from animal horn, used to hold ink for writing with a quill pen.
The word survives mainly in the phrase inkhorn term, describing obscure or pretentious vocabulary borrowed from Latin or Greek—the kind of learned words that scholarly writers with inkhorns on their desks might favor over plain English.
Artificially contrived behavior
- pompousAffectedly grand in manner
- grandiloquentPretentiously elevated in speech
- bombasticExcessively inflated language
- ostentatiousShowily excessive
highfalutin · orotund · fustian · aureate · sesquipedalian · overwrought · flowery · ornate
affected
Artificially contrived behavior
- pompousAffectedly grand in manner
- grandiloquentPretentiously elevated in speech
- bombasticExcessively inflated language
ostentatious · highfalutin · orotund · fustian · aureate · sesquipedalian · overwrought · flowery · ornate · inflated
neologism
Newly created expression
- coinageInvented term or currency
- borrowingTemporary taking of another's
- loanwordImported vocabulary item
Latinism · learned · scholarly · imported · fabricated · coined · invented · artificial · contrived · Renaissance
vessel
Receptacle for contents
well · reservoir · receptacle · holder · desk · quill · pen · nib · scribe · manuscript
- medieval educationliberal arts, trivium, scriptorium, copying, religious instruction
- calligraphyChinese calligraphy, Japanese calligraphy, Arabic calligraphy, Islamic calligraphy, blackletter
- paleographypaleography, uncial, minuscule, majuscule, cursive
- manuscriptscodex, codices, folio, folios, papyri
inkhornballpoint pen
Rotating-sphere writing instrument
fountain pen · keyboard · touchscreen · word processor · rollerball pen
inkhornplain speech
Unembellished verbal expression
vernacular · colloquialism · everyday language · plain English · common parlance
inkhornplain-spoken
Speaking without ornament
vernacular · colloquial · homespun · earthy · everyday language