bifurcate

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for December 18, 2008 is: bifurcate • \BYE-fer-kayt\  • verb : to divide or cause to divide into two branches or parts Examples: The proposed restructuring would bifurcate the company. Did you know? Yogi Berra, the baseball great who was noted for his head-scratching quotes, is purported to have said, “When you come to a fork in the road, take it.” Yogi’s advice might not offer much help when making tough decisions in life, but perhaps it will help you remember today’s word, “bifurcate.” A road that bifurcates splits in two like the one in Yogi’s adage. Other things can bifurcate as well, such as an organization that splits into two factions. “Bifurcate” derives from the Latin “bifurcus,” meaning “two-pronged,” a combination of the prefix “bi-” (“two”) and the noun “furca” (“fork”). “Furca,” as you can probably tell, gave us our word “fork.” See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.