I-Word Vocabulary Definitions
| ibex. | Mountain goat. |
| Iceland spar. | A doubly refracting calcite used in laboratory instruments. |
| ice needle. | high in atmosphere |
| ice-out. | thawing |
| ich. | contagious fish disease |
| ichneumon. | mongoose |
| ichneumon fly. | wasp-like - larvae eat other larvae |
| ichnite. | fossilized footprint |
| ichthyornis. | Cretaceous fish-eating bird. |
| ichthyosaurus. | Gigantic fish-like dinosaur. |
| ichthyosis. | congenital skin disease |
| iconology. | Branch of art history dealing with iconic representations. |
| iconostasis. | screen |
| ictarus. | jaundice |
| ictus. | a sudden attack |
| ideate . | imagine, conceive |
| idee fixe. | obsession |
| identic. | diplomacy. Agree upon using same forms |
| ideomotor. | A motor response to an ideational rather than a sensory stimulus. |
| ides. | 15th of March, May, July, October; 13th of other months |
| idiolect. | speech patterns unique to his language or dialect |
| idiomorphic. | having a characteristic shape (used of well-crystallized minerals) |
| idiopathy. | disease of unknown cause |
| idiocrase. | green, brown, yellow, or blue mineral |
| ignis fatuus. | mirage; con |
| iguanodon. | dinosaur |
| ihram. | Moslem sacred dress, sacred state |
| ikebana. | Japanese flower arranging |
| ileum. | small intestine between jejunum and cecum |
| ileus. | intestinal obstruction |
| ilex.. | holly, holm oak |
| ilium.. | uppermost and widest pelvic bone |
| ilka.. | each |
| illation. | drawing/inferring conclusions |
| illuviation. | depositing in underlying soil |
| ilmenite. | brownish-black titanium ore |
| Ilocana. | Malays in the Philippines |
| imago. | sexually mature insect - e.g., butterfly |
| imaret. | inn for pilgrims |
| imbibition. | absorption with swelling |
| imbricate. | overlapping |
| imbrue. | stain or saturate |
| imbrute. | to make brutal |
| imipramine. | antidepressant |
| immanentism. | God is immanent in the world |
| immaterialism. | Guess! |
| immerge. | opposite of emerge |
| immortelle. | plant with flowers that retain their color when dried |
| immunoglobulin. | immune protein |
| impaste. | make into paste; apply paint or pigment thickly |
| impasto. | to apply paint thickly |
| impendent. | impending |
| impetate. | to obtain by petition; to beseech |
| implead. | to sue |
| impone. | to wager |
| importunate. | stubbornly or unreasonably persistent |
| impost. | the weight a horse must carry as a handicap; something levied |
| impost. | the uppermost part of a column, supporting an arch |
| imprest. | an advance loan of government funds for some service to the government |
| imprimis | "in the first place" |
| impudicity. | immodesty, shamelessness |
| inanation. | exhaustion |
| incommode. | discommode |
| incommodity. | same thing |
| incondite. | crudely constructed |
| increate. | existing without having been created |
| increscent. | the waxing moon |
| incult. | uncultured |
| incunabulum. | book printed before 1500; early artifact |
| incus. | anvil-shaped bone in the middle ear (incus, malleus & stapes) |
| incuse. | formed by hammering, stamping, or pressing |
| indaba. | tribal conference in southern Africa |
| indehiscent. | not splitting open at maturity |
| indiaman. | a large merchant ship |
| Indic. | pertaining to India |
| Indican. | K salt found in sweat and urine |
| indifferentism. | all religions are of like validity |
| indign. | unworthy |
| Indra. | Vedic deity of rain and thunder |
| indult. | usually temporary Catholic indulgence |
| indusium. | enclosing membrane e.g., enclosing sorus of a fern |
| infante. | son of Hispanic king ineligible for the throne |
| infauna. | aquatic animals living on the substrate of a body of water |
| inflect. | bend; alter tone or pitch, to modulate; to alter a word by inflection |
| inflorescence. | flower arrangement; to flower |
| infundibuliform. | funnel-shaped |
| infundibulum. | funnel-shaped body parts (the nares) |
| inlier. | an older rock formation completely surrounded by newer strata |
| inly. | inwardly |
| in media res. | in the middle of things |
| inoperculate. | no operculum (lid or flap covering e.g., gill or erupting tooth) |
| inosculate. | to open into one another; to unite by small openings |
| inpersonam. | against a person |
| impetto. | in secret, when the Pope would secretly appoint a new cardinal |
| inquiline. | an animal that lives commensally in the burrow of another animal |
| in rem. | against a thing (property, status, or a right) |
| insectary. | insect breeder |
| insensible. | imperceptible |
| insessorial. | adapted for perching |
| insipience. | lack of wisdom |
| instancy. | immediacy |
| instar. | an insect between molts |
| instauration. | renovation; establishment |
| instroke. | up-stroke of piston |
| instrumentalism. | ideas are guides to action, with validity determined by success |
| insufflate. | to blow or breathe into |
| insufflation. | a ritual act of breathing on baptismal water or applicant |
| intendent. | district administrator in some Latin American countries |
| intension. | Logic: properties connoted by a term; intensity |
| inter alia. | among other things |
| inter alios. | among other persons |
| intercrop. | planting a second crop between the rows of the first |
| intercurrent. | interruption in a process; occurring during an existing disease |
| intergrade. | to merge into each other in a series of steps, forms or types |
| intermit. | to suspend temporarily |
| interneuron. | internuncial neuron |
| internuncial. | linking two neurons in a neuronal pathway |
| internuncio. | just below a nuncio |
| interpellate. | to formally question a government official about personal behavior |
| interrobang. | ?! |
| intertexture. | to complect; complected |
| intervate. | tract of low-lying land, esp. along a river |
| intrados. | inner curve of an arch |
| intravasation. | introduction of foreign material into a blood vessel |
| intravenation. | Guess! |
| intragent. | one who intrigues |
| intromit. | to cause or permit to enter; to introduce or admit |
| intromission. | |
| introrse. | turned inward toward the axis |
| intumesce. | to swell or enlarge |
| insusseptation. | invagination (appendix) |
| inunction. | anointing; rubbing in ointment |
| inutile. | lacking in utility |
| inverness. | a loose overcoat with detachable cape |
| inverted comma. | quotation mark |
| inverted mordant. | pralltriller (a mordent - trill- using auxiliary note above principal note) |
| involucel. | little secondary bracts (Queen Anne's lace) |
| involucure. | primary bracts |
| involucrum. | enveloping sheath or envelope |
| involution. | involvement; intricate, complex; raising to a power; formation of gastrula |
| iodophore. | free iodine releaser |
| iodopsin. | light sensitive pigment in retinal cones |
| iomoth. | large. yellowish moth with eye-spots |
| ionone. | odor of violets |
| iotacism. | conversion of other vowel sounds in Greek to iota |
| Iphegenia. | daughter of Clymenestra and Agamemnon |
| ipse dixit. | unsupported claims |
| ipsissima verba | the very words |
| ipso jure. | .by the law itself |
| irenic. | promoting peace, conciliatory |
| iradaceous. | pertaining to iris family |
| iridectomy. | removal of part of the iris of the eye |
| iridic. | iridaceous |
| iridosmine. | osmium iridium |
| iritis. | inflammation of the iris |
| irradicable. | cannot be eradicated |
| irrecusable. | not subject to challenge or objection |
| irredentist. | wants to get back land |
| irremissible. | unpardonable |
| irrupt. | to break into; used with populations |
| isallobar. | equal changes in barometric pressure within a given time |
| ischeum. | the lowest of the three pelvic bones |
| Iseult. | Isolde, Irish princess who had hopeless affair with Tristan (Arthurian) |
| Ishmael. | Abraham and Hagar's son |
| Ismaili. | Shiah Moslem |
| isoagglutination. | serum of agglutination by serum of same species |
| isoantigen. | occurs only in some individuals |
| isochronal. | same time intervals |
| isocline. | cline with strata so tightly folded, they have the same dip |
| isoclinic line. | equal magnetic dip |
| isogloss. | geo-boundary line for same linguistic feature |
| isogram. | connecting points of equal value |
| isohel. | equal sunlight |
| isohemolysin. | hemolysin when injected with blood from same species |
| isohyet. | same rainfall |
| isomer. | same composition and molecular weight but different properties. |
| isometric. | crystal:: orthogonal axes; of equal measure |
| isomorphism. | similar in form; mapping of G into H such that abj* = a*jb* for all a ,b in G |
| isopod. | crustaceans, including sow bugs and gribbles |
| Issel. | Nissei |
| istle, ixtle. | a plant, pita, or its fiber |
| itacolumite. | sandstone flexible when cut into thin slabs |
| ithyphallic. | erect penis; phallus carried in ancient festival of Bacchus |
| iwis. | certainly, assuredly |
| izar. | long cotton outer garment (usually white) worn by Moslem women |