opsimathy means learning or education that occurs late in life.
opsimathy is pronounced /ɒpˈsɪməθi/.
Why “opsimathy” is a great word
Opsimathy is the acquisition of knowledge late in one’s life. From Greek ὀψέ (opsé, 'late') and μανθάνω (manthánō, 'to learn'), via opsimathia; first attested in English in the 1650s. Unlike 'neoteny' (which describes the biological retention of juvenile traits) or 'autodidacticism' (which emphasizes self-teaching at any age), opsimathy is defined by its belatedness—the particular dignity of beginning when the story seems already written. It is the grandmother learning Italian at seventy to read Dante in the original, the retired engineer finally studying piano after decades of deferral, or the widower discovering astronomy in his eighties and understanding at last that the light he sees has traveled from stars that may already be dead. Opsimathy carries the quiet weight of knowing exactly what has been missed, and choosing to begin anyway.
Etymology
From opsimath + -y.
noun
- Learning or education that occurs late in life.e.g.“His opsimathy meant that he was over 60 before he entered college, and over 70 before he earned his doctorate.”
Definitions & examples from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
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