It's the Word of the Day podcast for March 19th.

Today's word is Nadir, also pronounced nadir and spelled N-A-D-I-R.

Nadir is a noun.

It refers to the lowest or worst point of something.

When used in astronomy,

Nadir describes the point of the celestial sphere that is directly opposite the zenith

and vertically downward from the observer.

Here's the word used in a sentence from lithub.com.

Sacrament dives right into the nadir of the 2020 health crisis,

following a group of nurses who have moved into makeshift housing near a California hospital

to isolate from their families during the height of the case surge.

Nadir is part of the galaxy of scientific words that have come to us from Arabic, a language that has made important contributions to the English lexicon,

especially in the fields of mathematics, astronomy, medicine, and chemistry.

The source of Nadir is Nadhir, meaning opposite,

the opposite, that is, of the zenith, the highest point of the celestial sphere, which is positioned

vertically above the observer. The word zenith itself is a modification of another Arabic word

that means the way over one's head.

Though born of the heavens, both words are called upon to refer to earthy things too,

especially a significant point or period of time, be it a high point or a low one.

With your word of the day, I'm Peter Salkalowski.

Music or a low one. With your word of the day, I'm Peter Sunkalowsky. Visit marianwebster.com today for definitions, wordplay, and trending word lookups.