Expanding my vocabulary into unchartered waters...

[avrelia]

I have found a new word "vilipend". Now, I know that my English vocabulary isn't perfect and comprehensive (and Russian, too, I guess), but I rarely now encounter words that I have never ever seen before. Usually there is a feeling of slight familiarity – like I've seen the word in the text, but haven't bothered to look it in a dictionary, or forgot its meaning already.
Now, this word – I am pretty sure I have never seen it. And I read a lot. Moreover, my husband also has never seen it – he reads a lot, too, in a different area. It wouldn't puzzled me as much were it a special term, but it means "to value lightly; to depreciate; to slight; to despise" - nothing extraordinary, in my opinion.
I looked in GOOGLE, I got 438 hits. Not much for a word. So, what kind of word is it? Does anybody anyhow use it? Or it just resides in depths of dictionaries, jumping on unsuspected reader once in decade?

Continuing the literary theme: I tried to answer monanotlisa's meme about piece of fiction that stayed with me. Sadly, I cannot say that I remember any piece of fiction in English, beside random BtVS quotes. I remember images, feelings, my thoughts and impressions, but not actual words. My head full of Russian poems though.