breviary means A book containing prayers, hymns, and so on for everyday use at the canonical hours. Lexicurio rates it Sui generis — a strength score of 86 out of 100.
Why this word is great
BREVIARY — [Noun] A liturgical book containing the daily prayers, hymns, and readings for the canonical hours in the Christian tradition. From the Latin breviarium ("summary, abridgment"), from brevis ("short"). Unlike a "missal," which orchestrates the singular, public drama of the Mass, or a "compendium," which neutrally condenses secular knowledge, the breviary is a portable architecture for sanctifying time itself. It is the soft creak of a spine opened before dawn, the rustle of a thumb finding the ribbon marker at Lauds, and the faint scent of incense embedded in its vellum—a prescribed cadence that stitches the mundane hours with threads of prayer, a quiet rebellion against entropy’s relentless scatter.
noun
- A book containing prayers, hymns, and so on for everyday use at the canonical hours.“Sister took out her breviary and said her evening office.”
- A brief statement or summary.