paraphernalia

Valid in Scrabble

Scrabble points
20
Words With Friends
23
Letters
13
Pronunciation
/ˌpæɹəfəˈneɪli.ə/
See all 3 pronunciations
/ˌpæɹəfəˈneɪli.ə/ · /ˌpɛɹəfɚˈneɪli.ə/ · /ˌpɛɹəfəˈneɪli.ə/

Definition of paraphernalia

2 senses · 1 part of speech · etymology included

noun

  1. (plural, plural-only)Miscellaneous items, especially the set of equipment required for a particular activity.
    “drug paraphernalia”
    “He has an impressive collection of bicycling paraphernalia, but he doesn't ride very often anymore.”
    “Then the boys arrived, with their camping paraphernalia, and in such bubbling good spirits that the girls were infected with them, for they had become rather lonesome of late.”
    “People such as William James and the Stephensons (with whom he collaborated) may have been the movers and shakers of the early railways, but there was other, less exalted bods who constructed all the paraphernalia—including stations.”
See all 2 definitions

noun

  1. (plural, plural-only)Miscellaneous items, especially the set of equipment required for a particular activity.
    “drug paraphernalia”
    “He has an impressive collection of bicycling paraphernalia, but he doesn't ride very often anymore.”
    “Then the boys arrived, with their camping paraphernalia, and in such bubbling good spirits that the girls were infected with them, for they had become rather lonesome of late.”
    “People such as William James and the Stephensons (with whom he collaborated) may have been the movers and shakers of the early railways, but there was other, less exalted bods who constructed all the paraphernalia—including stations.”
  2. (archaic, plural, plural-only)Objects that a married woman owns, such as clothing and jewellery, apart from her dowry.
    “So she told her what her husband had said and sat with her awhile; but, presently, up came porters, who brought all her clothes and paraphernalia and what not else belonged to her of goods and vessels from her husband’s house and deposited them in that of her mother.”

Definitions from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA.

Etymology

Borrowed from Medieval Latin paraphernālia (“goods which a wife brings over and above her dowry”), use as noun (short for paraphernālia bona (“paraphernal goods”)) of neuter plural of paraphernālis, from…

See full etymology

Borrowed from Medieval Latin paraphernālia (“goods which a wife brings over and above her dowry”), use as noun (short for paraphernālia bona (“paraphernal goods”)) of neuter plural of paraphernālis, from Late Latin parapherna + Latin -ālis (suffix forming adjectives), from Ancient Greek παράφερνα (parápherna), a compound of παρά (pará, “beside”) + φερνή (phernḗ, “dowry”). In the propertied classes, a dowry was placed under the control of the husband, while the paraphernalia which she brought with her remained the wife’s property.

Words you can make from paraphernalia

200+ playable · top: HAPPIER (14 pts)

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8-letter words

5 words

7-letter words

18 words

6-letter words

59 words

5-letter words

68 words

4-letter words

49 words

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