"Ab"solutely Wonderful Words Trivia Quiz

An aboma is a boa constrictor snake found in Central and South America. They are also called rainbow boas. The adults can grow four to six feet long. In captivity, they can live 20-30 years.

The word comes from Sranan (from Suriname) and French from "Kongo mboma." It was first used in the late 1700s.

Abaca is a type of banana plant also known as Manila hemp. It is native to the Philippines. This economical plant is used for its fiber. The fiber is hand-loomed to create fabrics for clothes. It is also used to make hats.

Because of how strong it is, abaca is often used to make ropes as well. Abaca is also used to make tea bags and envelopes.

Although it belongs to the banana family, the fruit of the abaca is not edible.

This word came from the Spanish and Tagalog words "abaca" and "abaka" and has been around since the late 1600s.

An abbey is a type of monastery. The one in the picture is the Castle Kylemore Abbey in Ireland. An abbey is run by an abbot or abbess. In some ways, it is like a big campus for Christian monks and nuns. There they can work, do religious activities, and live.

Some abbeys only allow those who belong to that order inside, while others may be open to visitors. They may also provide refuge to those in danger and education to children.

This word comes from the Late Latin "abbat", to the Medieval Latin "abbatia" to the Anglo-French "abeie," to the Middle English "abbeye."

Abbreviation comes from the Latin word "brevis," meaning short. It is a shortening of a word or phrase. Some types include the ones in the picture, acronyms such as SCUBA (short for Self-contained underwater breathing apparatus), contractions such as I'm for I am, and initialisms such as FBI (Federal Bureau of Investigation).

Abs is short for abdominal muscles. They are found in the abdomen. Many people do exercises such as sit-ups or crunches to develop "six-pack abs." These are so named because six bands of the abdominal muscle can be seen due to low body fat.

Abdominals comes from the medical Latin word "abdominalis" which comes from the Latin word "abdomen." By 1992, abdominals was shortened to "abs."

The word above is a preposition. It shows the location. In the picture, the dice in the bubble thing of Niagara Falls is being held above the stove. The word originally came from the Middle English word "abuven," which came from an Old English word that meant "on over."

An abolla was a cloak that the ancient Roman soldiers originally wore. It was loose and made of wool, usually double-layered. It was traditionally worn over the shoulder and fastened with a brooch. Later, it was not just used by the military but by civilians as well.

A synonym for abolla is mantle. The word abolla was borrowed from the Latin "abolla." The plural is "abollae."

The word abstract can apply to pictures, thoughts, ideas, words, stories, etc. It means something detached from the physical. For example, the concept of love is abstract. It is hard to define what it means, and not everyone has the same meaning for it. In comparison, the word apple is concrete.

Likewise, with art, such as in the picture, you can see it, but it is hard to define what it is. Andy Warhol's pop art paintings of tomato soup cans are paintings of tomato soup cans.

The word "abstract" comes from the Medieval Latin word for "not concrete" - "abstracts."

An abacus was an ancient tool used to do mathematical calculations. Each rod represented one digit of a number. They were used for basic calculations, and some abacuses could even do simple fractions.

Abacuses are still used today in some countries. However, calculators and computers are more commonly used in much of the world. Abacuses have an advantage over their successors in that they do not require any type of power to be used.

Abacus comes from the Greek word "abax," which means "slab."

The word abacus came from Latin by way of the Greeks. Some say before that it may have been Semantic, but others disagree.

Abalones are edible mollusks that have an ear-shaped shell. Their meat is rich, tender, and full of flavor. In some places, such as California, they are illegal to sell. However, poachers will still go out to get them to make money as they are very expensive.

The white abalone was the first sea invertebrate to be listed as an endangered species under the Endangered Species Act of 2001.

The word abalone comes from the Spanish word "abulon," which came from the Rumsen (an Indian language of Monterey Bay, CA) "aulon."