chauffeur

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for August 28, 2009 is: chauffeur • \SHOH-fer\  • noun : a person employed to drive a motor vehicle Examples: The teenagers hired a limousine with a chauffeur to take them to the prom in style. Did you know? Here's a hot tip about the origins of today's word: the first chauffeurs were people employed to stoke a steam engine and keep it running. The literal meaning of the French noun "chauffeur" (from the verb "chauffer," meaning "to heat") is "one that heats." In the early days of automobiles, French speakers extended the word to those who drove the "horseless carriage," and it eventually developed an extended sense specifically for someone hired to drive other people. It was this latter sense that was borrowed into English in the late 19th century. Incidentally, the French word "chauffeur" derives from the same Anglo-French word that gave English speakers the verb "chafe," and ultimately can be traced back to the Latin verb "calēre" ("to be warm"). See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.