SIEGEL: You've concluded that quixotic is the only word coined by the actual title of a novel. We can talk about things that are Joycean or Swiftian, but those are about the writers.

This week’s word:QUIXOTICWe owe this eponymous adjective to Cervantes, whose 17th-century satirical novel about Don Quixote’s naive attempts to live out the values ... In a word: Quixotic ...

Quixotry: Quixotic action or thought You probably still have no idea what this funny word means, but it may help you win Scrabble: A quixotic action is one that is unrealistic or impractical.

NPR's Robert Siegel speaks with Bruce Conforth, professor of American culture at the University of Michigan, about words that have entered colloquial language after originating as book characters.

Each week The Sun’s John McIntyre presents a moderately obscure but evocative word with which you may not be familiar — another brick to add to the wall of your working vocabulary. This week ...

NPR's Robert Siegel speaks with Bruce Conforth, professor of American culture at the University of Michigan, about words that have entered colloquial language after originating as book characters.

NPR's Robert Siegel speaks with Bruce Conforth, professor of American culture at the University of Michigan, about words that have entered colloquial language after originating as book characters. A ...