hyperborean: M-W's Word of the Day

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The Word of the Day for December 21 is:

hyperborean \hye-per-BOR-ee-un\ adjective
*1 : of or relating to an extreme northern region : frozen
2 : of or relating to any of the arctic peoples

Example sentence:
Pauline's hyperborean relatives (she still has cousins in Canada) don't know what to make of her preference for the tropics.

Did you know?
In ancient Greek mythology, the "Hyperboreoi" were a people who lived in a northern paradise of perpetual sunshine beyond the reaches of the god of the north wind. Their name combines the prefix "hyper-," meaning "above," and "Boreas," the Greek name for the north wind. When "hyperborean" first appeared in the English language in the 15th century, it was a noun naming those legendary folk. Later, the noun was extended to actual inhabitants of northern climates, and the adjective came into use for anything related to the far north or the people who live there.

*Indicates the sense illustrated in the example sentence.

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