Here are the meanings of the least-found words that were used in recent Times articles:
1. carioca — a version of the samba, or the music for it:
Funk carioca, or baile funk, a vibrant rhythm that emerged in Rio de Janeiro’s predominantly Black working-class neighborhoods in the 1980s, is the soundtrack of choice at these gatherings, where sound systems often blast the genre’s signature tamborzão beat. — Can a Brazilian Pop Star Crack the U.S. Market? Anitta Says Yes. (April 7, 2022)
2. callaloo — a stewed Caribbean dish of greens, tomatoes, onions and salt:
This collection of recipes establishes a more inclusive legacy of American food, one that might be recognizable to everyone: the America of jollof rice and ata din din; of cheesy grits, callaloo and collard greens; of jerk spice, curry powder and ginger-garlic purée. — The Best Cookbooks of 2022 (Dec. 13, 2022)
3. avocet — a long-legged bird with an upturned bill:
My grandmother, a passionate bird-watcher, passed her love on to me. Encountering avocets and stilts for the first time was a wondrous secret. — I Am Haunted by What I Have Seen at Great Salt Lake (March 25, 2023)
4. loggia — a covered exterior gallery or room:
The site in Trastevere identified as the oldest synagogue in Rome — a humble brick house with a small arched loggia at narrow, cobbled Vicolo dell’Atleta, 14 — is not classical but medieval.” — Rome, Sacred Ground for Nearly 3,000 Years, and Counting (May 1, 2023)
5. cloaca — an opening at the end of the digestive tract, found in many animals:
It’s a cloaca: a multifunctional outlet named for the Latin word for “sewer,” through which some animals — including a menagerie of modern birds, reptiles, amphibians and even a few mammals — can defecate, urinate, copulate and/or extrude their offspring or eggs. — Finally in 3-D: A Dinosaur’s All-Purpose Orifice (Jan. 19, 2021)
6. loblolly — a fast-growing pine tree, native to the Southeast in the U.S. and often used to make cardboard:
Worse, the meltdown had arresting visuals — the mop-topped McIlroy deep in thorny woods, so far from the 10th fairway the broadcast cameras could barely find him through the maze of loblolly pine trees. — Rory McIlroy, Confident Before the Masters, Is Likely to Miss the Cut (April 7, 2023)
7. cirri — a wispy cloud, or tendrils on an animal:
Later, I learned that even the barnacles contained an edible morsel, attained by biting off the leathery stalk of the animal and picking the feathery cirri from inside the barnacle’s rock-hard shell.— A Wet Climb Through a Green Wonderland (June 2, 2005)
8. laical — secular:
Were only two subcultures (the Christian Democratic and the Communist) in the contest, Italian politics would be grievously polarized. The existence of a third, the “laical,” of neither Catholic nor Marxist faith, and incarnated in half a dozen smaller parties, acts as an indispensable bridge or balance-wheel. — Politics as Spettacolo (Nov. 8, 1987)
9. raffia — a type of palm tree or its fibers, which can be used to make baskets or clothing:
Among them were 30 stick chairs — mostly antique, with jaunty splayed legs and spindle backs — that had been embellished by the brand’s creative director, Jonathan Anderson, in collaboration with several artisans. One was covered in lilac and moss green felt, another with loops of raffia in the shades of Funfetti. — The 10 Best Things We Saw at Salone del Mobile (April 27, 2023)
10. bacilli — rod-shaped bacteria:
“The C.I.A. plan was to dust the inside of the suit with a fungus producing Madura foot, a disabling and chronic skin disease, and also contaminating the suit with tuberculosis bacilli in the breathing apparatus,” the document states. — An Assassin’s Tool Kit: When Guns Are Not Enough (March 17, 2018)
And the list of the week’s easiest words:
Eve Washington, Josh Katz and Tom Giratikanon
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