Scrabble Bingo of the Day: ZEPHYRS

ZEPHYRSn sing. ZEPHYR  gentle breezes

74 points (24 points without the bingo)

A few days ago, Cerek Tunca mentioned that a great seven-letter bingo word would be ZEPHYRS, because of the amount of points gained. He's definitely right, with it being more than 20 points by its lonesome. Add the 50 bonus points and you've probably got a pretty good lead in Scrabble.

But why is "a gentle breeze" called a zephyr?

Well, in Greek mythology there were wind gods called the Anemoi. Each of them were assigned their own cardinal direction from which their respective winds came. Also, all four gods were associated with various seasons and weather conditions. Their physical representations varied, either depicted as gusts of winds, winged men, or horses.

The names of the four gods?

Boreas, Notus, Eurus and… Zephyrus.

Zephyrus (sometimes just called Zephyr) was the west wind and bringer of light spring and early summer breezes. He was the gentlest of winds and fructifying messenger of springtime. This is why the noun zephyr refers to "a gentle breeze." Favonius was the Roman equivalent to Zephyrus, who held dominion over plants and flowers. This is why the adjective FAVONIAN pertains to the west wind.

Words are also derived from the other three chief wind gods.

Boreas was the north wind god and bringer of cold winter air (BORA, BOREAL, BOREAS). Aquilo was his Roman equivalent, also called Septentrio, the source of the word SEPTENTRIONAL. Notus was the south wind god and bringer of late summer and autumn storms, and his Roman equivalent was Auster, the embodiment of the SIROCCO wind (shown below from Libya), which is known in North Africa as GHIBLI. Eurus was the east wind god thought to bring warmth and rain. He was not associated with a season like the other three wind gods, but is related to the Easter festival (EASTER, EASTERLY).

There were also minor wind deities, which are considered the evil demon counterparts of the four gods above. And there are even more wind deities in both Greek and Roman mythology, some of which have fathered other WINDY words.

See the "Related Words" section below to see all of the wind-like words you can play in Scrabble. There are quite a lot of them, something worth studying aside from just zephyrs. I excluded words like ANEMOLOGY, WINDBURN, WINDBELL and WINDSOCK because they are either the affects of it, or are objects and ideas that interact with the wind. Some words like septentrion did make the list because of their direct influence from the wind gods. I'm sure I missed some, so let me know!

Related Words

AIRSTREAMn pl. -S  a relatively well-defined prevailing wind

ANABATICadjpertaining to rising wind currents

ANTITRADEn pl. -S  winds blowing west to east and lying above the trade winds in the tropics

BAYAMOn pl. -MOS  a strong wind

BHUTn pl. -S  a small whirlwind

BISEn pl. -S  a cold wind

BLOWYadjBLOWIER, BLOWIEST  windy

BORAn pl. -S  a cold wind

BOREALadjpertaining to the north

BOREASn pl. -ES  the north wind

BREEZEvBREEZED, BREEZING, BREEZES  to move swiftly

BREEZYadjBREEZIER, BREEZIEST  windy  BREEZILYadv

BREEZELESSadjbeing without a gentle wind

BURANn pl. -S  a violent windstorm

CATSPAWn pl. -S  a light wind

CHINOOKn pl. -S  a warm wind

CROSSWINDn pl. -S  a wind blowing across one's direction of travel

CYCLONEn pl. -S  a rotating system of winds  CYCLONAL, CYCLONICadj

DOWNWINDadv  in the direction that the wind blows

EASTERn pl. -S  a wind or storm from the east

EASTERLYn pl. -LIES  a wind from the east

ETESIANn pl. -S  an annually recurring wind

EOLIANadjpertaining to the wind

FAVONIANadjpertaining to the west wind

FOEHNn pl. -S  a warm, dry wind

GALEn pl. -S  a strong wind

GHIBLIn pl. -S  a hot desert wind

GUSTv-ED, -ING, -S  to blow in gusts (sudden blasts of wind)

HEADWINDn pl. -S  an oncoming wind

KHAMSINn pl. -S  a hot, dry wind

LEVANTERn pl. -S  an easterly Mediterranean wind

LIBECCIOn pl. -CIOS  a southwest wind

MISTRALn pl. -S  a cold, dry wind

MONSOONn pl. -S  a seasonal wind

NORTHERn pl. -S  a wind or storm from the north

OEn pl. -S  a whirlwind off the Faeroe islands

PAMPEROn pl. -ROS  a cold, dry wind

SARSARn pl. -S  a cold, whistling wind

SEPTENTRIONn pl. -S  the northern region

SEPTENTRIONALadjof the north

SCIROCCOn pl. -COS  sirocco

SIMOOMn pl. -S  a hot, dry desert wind

SIROCCOn pl. -COS  a hot, dry wind

SOLANOn pl. -NOS  a strong, hot wind

SOUTHERn pl. -S  a wind or storm from the south

TAILWINDn pl. -S  a wind coming from behind a moving vehicle

TORNADOn pl. -DOES or -DOS  a violent windstorm  TORNADICadj

UPWINDn pl. -S  a wind that blows against one's course

WESTERLYn pl. -LIES  a wind from the west

WHIRLWINDn pl. -S  a small rotating windstorm of limited extent

WILLIWAWn pl. -S  a violent gust of cold wind

WINDn pl. -S  air in natural motion

WINDAGEn pl. -S  the effect of the wind (air in natural motion) on a projectile

WINDBLASTn pl. -S  a gust of wind

WINDFLAWn pl. -S  a gust of wind

WINDILYadv  in a windy manner

WINDINESSn pl. -ES  a mildly windy state of the air

WINDLESSadjbeing without wind   WINDLESSLYadv

WINDSTORMn pl. -S  a storm marked by high winds

WINDWARDn pl. -S  the direction from which the wind blows

WINDYadj WINDIER, WINDIEST  marked by strong wind

Photos by Ken_Mayer, Kwandry, BotMultichillT, Helt, Inkity

What's a Scrabble Bingo?

A bingo is when a player empties his or her rack in one turn, placing all seven of their letters on the board to create a word that's at least seven letters long. The term "bingo" is used primarily in the U.S., but elsewhere it's simply known as a "bonus" because you get a bonus of 50 points added to your turn's score. "Scrabble Bingo of the Day" will focus on these high scoring plays, teaching you some interesting and possibly unusual seven-letter or longer words accepted in a game of Scrabble.

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