Weekly Word: Abstemious

Ah, yes, abstemious. I forgot what it means, but as soon as I saw it on A.Word.A.Day, it reminded me of that stupid SAT prep class my dad made me take.

Anyway, it’s an adjective that means “sparing or moderate in eating and drinking” or “characterized by abstinence”. It’s easy to spell, because it has all five vowels in order.

The Online Etymology Dictionary says that it comes from Latin “abstemius ‘sober, temperate,’ from ab(s)- ‘from’ + stem of temetum ‘strong drink’”.