Word of the Day for Wednesday April 13, 2005 detritus \dih-TRY-tuhs\, noun; plural detritus: 1. Loose material that is worn away from rocks. 2. Hence, any fragments separated from the body to which they belonged; any product of disintegration; debris. The water was smooth and brown, with detritus swirling in the eddies from the increasing current. --Gordon Chaplin, [1]Dark Wind: A Survivor's Tale of Love and Loss If they [flying cars] were easy to produce, we'd be walking around wearing helmets to protect us from the detritus of flying car crashes. --Gail Collins, "Grounded for 2000," [2]New York Times, December 7, 1999 The loose detritus of thought, washed down to us through long ages. --H. Rogers, Essays _________________________________________________________ Detritus derives from the past participle of Latin deterere, "to rub away, to wear out," from de-, "from" + terere, "to rub." It is related to detriment, at root "a rubbing away, a wearing away," hence "damage, harm." References 1. http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0452281822/ref%3Dnosim/lexico 2. http://www.nytimes.com/ Dictionary.com Entry and Pronunciation http://dictionary.reference.com/search?r=9&q=detritus