My cousin Staci and I are always teasing each other about our love of books, reading and the obscure. So here’s a fact dear cousin. A note on the word Appendix (as in the body part which I still have and is working fine, thank you!) I looked it up at dictionary.com and it says that you can use the word appendices as the plural for the word appendix, although it is used mostly in academic settings for the things that are found at the back of books. Isn’t this interesting?
Here’s the direct quote:
ap⋅pen⋅dix
əˈpɛn
dɪks
Spelled Pronunciation [uh-pen-diks]
–noun, plural -dix⋅es, -di⋅ces
Spelled Pronunciation [-duh-seez]
1. supplementary material at the end of a book, article, document, or other text, usually of an explanatory, statistical, or bibliographic nature.
2. an appendage.
3. Aeronautics. the short tube at the bottom of a balloon bag, by which the intake and release of buoyant gas is controlled.
4. Anatomy.
a. a process or projection.
b. Vermiform Appendix
Origin:
1535–45; < L: appendage, equiv. to append(ere) to APPEND+ -ix (equiv. to -ic- n. suffix + -snom. sing. ending)
Synonyms:
1. addendum, adjunct. Appendix, supplement both mean material added at the end of a book. An appendix gives useful additional information, but even without it the rest of the book is complete: In the appendix are forty detailed charts. A supplement, bound in the book or published separately, is given for comparison, as an enhancement, to provide corrections, to present later information, and the like: A yearly supplement is issued.
Usage note:
Appendices, a plural borrowed directly from Latin, is sometimes used, especially in scholarly writing, to refer to supplementary material at the end of a book.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
So there, and yes, in case you were wondering many of my family members have had their appendices out. :p
