word of the day: serac

The word of the day is serac:

Etymology:  < Swiss-French sérac, originally the name of a kind of white cheese; the transferred application was doubtless suggested by similitude of form. (OED)


"By the end of the month, they were established at Camp 2, at 21,300 feet, beyond the top of the Khumbu Icefall, a tumbling portion of the Khumbu Glacier mined with crevasses and seracs."

 - Nick Paumgarten, "The manic mountain: Ueli Steck and the clash on Everest", 3 June 2013 The New Yorker