The Words of the Week - Jun 19
Dictionary lookups from Juneteenth, Curaçao, and the Constitution
‘Juneteenth’
Lookups for Juneteenth were high this week, as they are every year at this time.
When I think about Juneteenth I think about a culture of resilience of the African American people, freedom and unity and the reflection of the struggles African Americans faced after slavery and the successes African Americans achieved after slavery as well.
—Walter Curry, quoted in The Aiken (South Carolina) Standard, 17 June 2026
Juneteenth is June 19 observed as a legal holiday in the United States in commemoration of the end of slavery in the U.S. The federal name for this holiday according to the United States Code is Juneteenth National Independence Day.
In 1863, during the American Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, which declared more than three million enslaved people living in the Confederate states to be free. (Chattel slavery remained legal in border states loyal to the Union and was not officially abolished in the United States until the ratification of the Thirteenth Amendment in December 1865.) More than two years passed, however, before enslaved African Americans living in Texas (some 250,000) were freed. It was not until Union soldiers arrived in Galveston, Texas, on June 19, 1865, and were able to enforce the edict, that the state’s residents finally experienced freedom. Reactions to freedom from the formerly enslaved ranged from silent disbelief and shock to celebrations filled with prayer, feasting, song, and dance. Those celebrations formed the basis of an annual holiday that would come to have many names, including Emancipation Day, Jubilee Day, and Juneteenth.
‘Kayfabe’
Several articles about the UFC match held at the White House on Sunday night used the word kayfabe, both in relation to UFC fighters and Donald Trump’s history with televised brawls.
WrestleMania came to Trump Plaza, and Mr. Trump made many kayfabe cameos.
—Fellow fighters, like Ilia Topuria and Max Holloway, have reacted negatively to his conduct; even Sean Strickland—who has his own history of taking it too far with trash talk—has said that Hokit needs to reel it in. (Responding on X, [Josh] Hokit broke kayfabe momentarily, writing that Strickland was jealous that his “WWE skit” was better.)
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The word kayfabe comes from professional wrestling, where it refers either to the tacit agreement between professional wrestlers and their fans to pretend that overtly staged wrestling events, stories, characters, etc., are genuine, or to the playacting involved in maintaining kayfabe. Use of kayfabe has also breached the world of wrestling, and can refer broadly to any tacit agreement to behave as if something is real, sincere, or genuine when it is not. Given that kayfabe may deliberately have been coined to be as opaque as possible, it is not surprising that the etymology of this word is obscure. It was added to our dictionary in 2023.
‘Curaçao’
The World Cup drove lookups for Curaçao.
Germany vs. Curaçao is the very definition of Goliath vs. David. … The small Caribbean island with strong ties to the Netherlands (and a population of ~150,000 ...) shocked everyone by qualifying for this edition and will look to pull off a rare, unlikely upset.
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Curaçao is the geographical name for an internally self-governing Dutch island, formerly part of Netherlands Antilles, in the southern Caribbean. Tipplers may recognize the lower-case curaçao as a word for a liqueur flavored with the dried peel of the sour orange. The liqueur takes its name from the island.
‘Petard’
Users hoisted the word petard high up the Top Lookup chart over the weekend, though seemingly not in connection to any particular news story.
If he’d gone to court and made that admission he’d have hoisted himself with his own petard …
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We define two senses of petard, which can refer either to a case containing an explosive to break down a door or gate or breach a wall, or to a loud firework. Aside from historical references to siege warfare, and occasional contemporary references to fireworks, petard is almost always encountered in variations of the phrase “hoist with one’s own petard,” meaning “victimized or hurt by one’s own scheme.” The phrase comes from William Shakespeare’s Hamlet: “For ‘tis the sport to have the enginer / Hoist with his own petar.” Hoist in this case is the past participle of the verb hoise, meaning “to lift or raise,” and petar(d) refers to an explosive device used in siege warfare. Hamlet uses the example of the engineer (the person who sets the explosive device) being blown into the air by his own device as a metaphor for those who schemed against him being undone by their own schemes. The phrase has endured, even if its literal meaning has largely been forgotten.
‘Habeas corpus’
Reporting in The New York Times made habeas corpus a top lookup of the week.
Habeas corpus—the centuries-old right to force the government to justify, before a judge, why it has locked a person up—is enshrined in Article I of the Constitution. Mr. Scharf’s memo, in its unassuming way, was a blinking red warning light. The second Trump White House was deliberating an explosive new claim of presidential power: the suspension of habeas rights for unauthorized immigrants.
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The literal meaning of habeas corpus is “you should have the body”—that is, the judge must have any person who is being detained brought into the courtroom so that the legality of that person’s detention can be assessed. In United States law, habeas corpus ad subjiciendum (the full name of what habeas corpus typically refers to) is also called “the Great Writ,” and it is not about a person’s guilt or innocence, but about whether custody of that person is lawful under the U.S. Constitution. Common grounds for relief under habeas corpus—“relief” in this case being a release from custody—include a conviction based on illegally obtained evidence; a denial of effective assistance of counsel; or a conviction by a jury that was improperly selected and impaneled.
Word Worth Knowing: ‘Estivate’
We define two senses of the verb estivate, both of which may be relevant to your interests as we approach the summer solstice on June 21. In zoology, estivate means “to pass the summer in a state of torpor or dormancy”:
Much like hibernation, which helps animals survive cold winters, estivation refers to a similar state of dormancy animals use to avoid hot temperatures and water scarcity. This adaptation reduces metabolic activity, conserves energy, and minimizes water loss. Some of our ground squirrels estivate in late summer when suitable vegetation is less available and temperatures are high.
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Estivating isn’t just for ground squirrels; estivate is also used to mean “to spend the summer usually at one place”:
That day, according to [playwright Eugene] O’Neill, is in August 1912; the setting is the family’s fog-infested waterfront home on the Connecticut coast. There, James estivates sourly between tours, talking big and doing little …
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Just as the more familiar hibernate comes from the Latin verb hībernāre, which means “to pass the winter,” estivate comes from the Latin verb aestīvāre, meaning “to spend the summer.”
