Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for December 8, 2010 is: rectrix • \REK-triks\ • noun : any of the quill feathers of a bird's tail that are important in controlling flight direction Examples: In general, your only chance to see most or all of a bird's rectrices is when the bird is in flight. "As in other passerines, the juveniles of many species show more pointed rectrix tips than do adults." -- From National Geographic's 2009 book Complete Birds of the World Did you know? Although "rectrix" (from the Latin word "rectrix," the feminine of "rector," meaning "one that directs") has been an English word since the late 18th century, it has clung to its Latin plural "rectrices." This is not terribly unusual for a technical term like "rectrix." (Note also "cilium," whose more common plural "cilia" refers especially to the hairlike extensions on the exterior of some cells.) "Rectrix" has another meaning wholly unrelated to birds. It's also used (albeit rarely) to refer to a woman who rules or governs. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for December 7, 2010 is: susurrous • \soo-SUR-us\ • adjective : full of whispering sounds Examples: The susurrous opening phrases of the first movement, with its whispering violins, gave way to a thunderous crescendo of brass. "The Colonel raised his Dixie beer to the ladies, still chatting comfortably in the soft, susurrous Vicksburg night…." -- From a short story in Paul Kennedy Mueller's 2010 book The Pandemonium Bar & Grill (And Other Stories) Did you know? "Susurrous" derives from the Latin noun "susurrus," meaning "a hum" or "a whisper," and may be a distant relative of "swarm" (think of the collective hum of a beehive). "Susurrus" also occurs as an English noun, with the meaning "a whispering or rustling sound." Of the two English words, the noun is the older (it debuted in 1826); "susurrous" came onto the scene about thirty years later. Both of these were preceded by the noun "susurration," which appeared in the 14th century and means "a whispering sound," or "murmur." Today "susurrous" is used to describe any kind of sound that resembles a whisper: a light breeze through a tree, perhaps, or the murmurs of intrigued theatergoers. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for December 6, 2010 is: ear candy • \EER-KAN-dee\ • noun : music that is pleasing to listen to but lacks depth Examples: "She's just another pop princess peddling ear candy," John said disdainfully of his tween daughter's favorite singer. "This year's production is just as good as -- if not better than -- Sierra Rep's smash-hit staging in 2007.... Becky Saunders, another Sierra Rep regular, provides ear candy and comedy as inn manager and former Broadway star Martha Watson." -- From a theater review in The Modesto Bee, October 30, 2010 Did you know? "Ear candy" made its debut (in print, at least) as the title of a 1977 album by pop singer Helen Reddy. The album has long since faded from the charts, but the term endures and it is now used widely enough to have gained entry into abridged dictionaries. Although "ear candy" is sometimes used critically to describe tunes that are considered "gooey," "sweet," or "saccharine," the people who make the music and their fans find it tasty. As one 90s band member sagely put it, does it really matter if ear candy "isn't about the secret of life"? See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for December 5, 2010 is: corrode • \kuh-ROHD\ • verb 1 : to eat away by degrees as if by gnawing; especially : to wear away gradually usually by chemical action 2 : to weaken or destroy gradually : undermine 3 : to undergo corrosion Examples: Several sections of the pipe have corroded and will need to be replaced. "Power, the old saying goes, corrupts. It corrodes principle and beguiles politicians into placing their interests above the voters." -- From an article by Steve Huntley in the Chicago Sun-Times, November 2, 2010 Did you know? "Corrode" comes from Latin "corrodere" ("to gnaw to pieces"), a combination of the suffix "cor-" (used here as an intensifier with the meaning of "completely") and the verb "rodere" ("to gnaw"). At one time, "corrode" was used to literally indicate the action of gnawing away, as in "woodworms corroded the wood." But it is the more figurative senses from the action of gnawing or eating away that have persisted, as in "salt water corroded the iron" or "graphic content on television and the Internet is corroding the moral fabric of society." See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for December 4, 2010 is: vociferous • \voh-SIF-uh-rus\ • adjective : marked by or given to vehement insistent outcry Examples: The toddler offered a vociferous protest when her mother scooped her up and carried her away from the lit menorah. "Citizens of the United States are vociferous about the right to freedom of speech, especially when it comes to entertainment." -- From a review by Stuart Kemp in The Hollywood Reporter, October 22, 2010 Did you know? "Vociferous" derives from the word Latin "vox," which means "voice." But other English words can be used to describe those who compel attention by being loud and insistent. "Vociferous" implies a vehement shouting or calling out, but to convey the insistency of a demand or protest, "clamorous" might be a better choice. You could also use "strident" to suggest harsh and discordant noise in a protest, or "obstreperous" to imply loud, unruly and aggressive resistance to restraint. But someone who is noisy and turbulent due to high spirits rather than dissatisfaction might more aptly be called "boisterous." See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for December 3, 2010 is: yips • \YIPS\ • noun : a state of nervous tension affecting an athlete (as a golfer) in the performance of a crucial action Examples: Afflicted with a sudden case of the yips, Doug tensed up and pulled his putt too far to the left. "[Texas manager Ron] Washington's team has the yips, pure and simple. The Rangers can't string together hits. Their young bullpen has been a nightmare, as the eighth inning last night underlined. A parade of relievers walked the Giants around the bases, surrendered base-clearing blasts, turned a tight game into a laugher." -- From an article by Sam Donnellon in the Philadelphia Daily News, October 29, 2010 Did you know? Who first dubbed an athlete's stress under pressure the "yips"? We're not sure. We also can’t say for certain if this plural noun has anything to do with the singular "yip," a word of imitative origin meaning "a short bark (as of a dog)." Some theories equate the "yip" sound made by a small dog with the unfortunate habit some athletes have of flinching or "hiccupping" when a steady hand is called for. What we do know for certain is that sportswriters have been using "yips" since 1962 and that it most often appears in golf-related contexts. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for December 2, 2010 is: ecotone • \EE-kuh-tohn\ • noun : a transition area between two adjacent ecological communities Examples: Cowbirds lay their eggs in the nests of other birds -- in particular, those located in the ecotones along the edges of a mature forest. "Thus for dung beetles examined in a Bolivian forest-savannah ecotone, almost complete turnover occurred between forest and savannah, with only two of the 50 most common species occurring in both…." -- From T.R. New's 2010 book Beetles in Conservation Did you know? "Every modification of climate, every disturbance of the soil, every interference with the existing vegetation of an area, favours some species at the expense of others." As Sir Joseph Dalton Hooker observed in Flora Indica (1855), all ecological communities are subject to some kind of disturbance, ranging from the simple, yet significant, loss of a tree to a catastrophic wildfire. Each disturbance creates an opportunity for a new species to colonize or flourish within the ecosystem in a process known as "ecological succession." Scientists refer to the area of overlapping landscapes where the "foreign" species encounter each other and blend together as "ecotones," an apparent allusion to the tension created when competing species come together (in Greek "tonos" means "tension"). See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for December 1, 2010 is: plangent • \PLAN-junt\ • adjective 1 : having a loud reverberating sound 2 : having an expressive and especially plaintive quality Examples: The campers were awoken by the plangent howl of a coyote off in the distance. "Mr. Packard is the finest Candide I’ve seen, singing with rich, plangent tone and acting with an un-self-conscious sincerity that never falters." -- From a theater review by Charles Isherwood in the New York Times, October 27, 2010 Did you know? "Plangent" adds power to our poetry and prose: the pounding of waves, the beat of wings, the tolling of a bell, the throbbing of the human heart, a lover's knocking at the door -- all have been described as plangent. The word "plangent" traces back to the Latin verb "plangere," which has two meanings. The first of those meanings, "to strike or beat," was sometimes used by Latin speakers in reference to striking one's breast in grief. This, in turn, led to the verb's second meaning: "to lament." The sense division carried over to the Latin adjective "plangens" and then into English, giving us the two distinct meanings of "plangent": "pounding" and "expressive of melancholy." See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for November 30, 2010 is: cacophony • \ka-KAH-fuh-nee\ • noun : harsh or discordant sound : dissonance; specifically : harshness in the sound of words or phrases Examples: Feedback from the microphone produced an awful, shrieking cacophony equivalent to the sound of nails scratching on a blackboard. "Imagine a tent full of celebrities, artists and art patrons dressed in their designer best -- Eli Broad, Frank Gehry, Jeff Koons, Gwen Stefani and more -- submitting to a cacophony of farm auctioneers calling, cattle ranchers whipping and drummers drumming." -- From an article by Booth Moore, describing a gala fundraiser, in the Los Angeles Times, November 15, 2010 Did you know? Words that descend from the Greek word "phōnē" are making noise in English. Why? Because "phōnē" means "sound" or "voice." "Cacophony" comes from a joining of the Greek prefix "kak-," meaning "bad," with "phōnē", so it essentially means "bad sound." "Symphony," a word that indicates harmony or agreement in sound, traces to "phōnē" and the Greek prefix "syn-," which means "together." "Polyphony" refers to a style of musical composition in which two or more independent melodies are juxtaposed in harmony, and it comes from a combination of "phōnē" and the Greek prefix "poly-," meaning "many." And "euphony," a word for a pleasing or sweet sound, combines "phōnē" with "eu-," a prefix that means "good." See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for November 29, 2010 is: beaucoup • \BOH-koo\ • adjective : great in quantity or amount : many, much Examples: The Johnsons clearly spent beaucoup bucks on their new kitchen, but it really did come out beautifully. "Virtually all of the recommendations in this piece call for a greater role for the government…. But it can't be just the government, since, as our kids might say, we also need beaucoup amounts of enlightened private sector involvement in these efforts." -- From an article by Leo Hindery, Jr., in The Huffington Post, October 26, 2010 Did you know? In French, as you may know, "beaucoup" is an adverb meaning "a lot" or "much" (as in "merci beaucoup," meaning "thanks a lot"). "Beaucoup" isn’t used on its own as an adjective in French; if you want to say "many" in French, you would use the phrase "beaucoup de." In other words, you would say "beaucoup de livres" ("a lot of books"), not "beaucoup livres." But French grammar was thrown to the wind when English speakers borrowed this word. "Beaucoup" has been used as a playful slang adjective in English since at least 1918. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for November 28, 2010 is: disheveled • \dih-SHEV-uld\ • adjective : marked by disorder or disarray Examples: The young man's wrinkled suit gave him a disheveled appearance. "He looks vaguely familiar, almost like the team's starting quarterback, that Joe Flacco guy. But instead of Flacco's usual disheveled haircut, which generally looks like it was combed with salad tongs, this guy at the mic has a spiky, gelled 'do with lines etched on the side and some other crazy pattern cut into the back of his head." -- From a post by Kevin Cowherd on the Baltimore Sun's Toy Department blog, October 26, 2010 Did you know? It’s common to wake up after a long night’s sleep with your hair disheveled -- which is appropriate, considering the origins of the word "disheveled." First appearing in English in the late 16th century, "disheveled" derived from Middle English "discheveled," meaning "bareheaded" or "with disordered hair." It is a partial translation of the Anglo-French word "deschevelé," formed by combining the prefix "des-" ("dis-") with "chevoil," the word for hair. Since the early 17th century, however, "disheveled" has been used for things other than hair, including such disparate items as grammar and reputations, that are far from tidy. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for November 27, 2010 is: calumet • \KAL-yuh-met\ • noun : a highly ornamented ceremonial pipe of the American Indians Examples: The museum's Native American collection includes several calumets. "Trade encounters were marked by formal welcomes, oratory, gift exchange and feasting, ritually renewing the bonds between peoples. Participants sacralized relationships through smoking a calumet and thus invoking the Great Spirit to spiritually bind them together." -- From an article by Tyler McCreary in Briarpatch, March 1, 2010 Did you know? The calumet has long been an important component of the ceremonies of Native American groups, but the first inhabitants of the Americas did not give the venerated pipe (also known as the "peace pipe") that name. English speakers borrowed "calumet" from American French, which had carried it from the dialects of France to North America. "Chalumet," the French ancestor of "calumet," traces to the Latin "calamus" and the Greek "kalamos," both of which mean "reed" or "pen." French baron Louis-Armand de Lom d'Arce La Hontan, who explored North America in the 17th century, noted that French speakers had applied "calumet" to the highly ornamented clay pipes of Native Americans by the 1670s; English speakers followed suit before the turn of that century. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for November 26, 2010 is: frenetic • \frih-NET-ik\ • adjective : frenzied, frantic Examples: Frenetic holiday shoppers swarmed the aisles in search of bargains. "A mannered 80s-style TV debate, with no booing or clapping allowed, was accompanied by frenetic social media activity on Twitter and Facebook." -- From an article by Nicola Brittain in Computing, April 22, 2010 Did you know? When life gets frenetic, things can seem absolutely insane -- at least that seems to be what folks in the Middle Ages thought. "Frenetik," in Middle English, meant "insane." When the word no longer denoted stark raving madness, it conjured up fanatical zealots. Today its seriousness has been downgraded to something more akin to "hectic." But if you trace "frenetic" back through Anglo-French and Latin, you'll find that it comes from Greek "phrenitis," a term describing an inflammation of the brain. "Phrēn," the Greek word for "mind," is a root you will recognize in "schizophrenic." As for "frenzied" and "frantic," they're not only synonyms of "frenetic" but relatives as well. "Frantic" comes from "frenetik," and "frenzied" traces back to "phrenitis." See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for November 25, 2010 is: risible • \RIZZ-uh-bul\ • adjective 1 a : capable of laughing b : disposed to laugh 2 : arousing or provoking laughter; especially : laughable 3 : associated with, relating to, or used in laughter Examples: The teacher asked the class clown to keep his risible remarks to himself during the lesson. "Skeptics of the plan could make any number of reasonable criticisms. But they're not. Instead, they're raising a host of risible objections that frequently cancel one another out." -- From an article by A. Barton Hinkle in the Richmond Times Dispatch (Virginia), September 14, 2010 Did you know? If someone makes a ridiculous remark about your "risible muscles," he or she is not necessarily deriding your physique. "Risible" can also mean "associated with laughter," so "risible muscles" can simply be the ones used for laughing. (You've also got a set of risorius muscles around your mouth that help you smile.) Next time you find something laughable, tip your hat to "ridēre," the Latin verb meaning "to laugh" that gave us "risible" (and "ridiculous" and "deride," by the way). See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for November 24, 2010 is: tu quoque • \TOO-KWOH-kwee\ • noun : a retort charging an adversary with being or doing what he or she criticizes in others Examples: A good debater recognizes that resorting to a tu quoque only weakens one's position in the argument. "Thomas describes Williams's defense tactic as 'tu quoque' (you're another), basically the aggressive defense for which Williams was known, accusing the accusers." -- From Kim Eisler's 2010 book Masters of the Game: Inside the World's Most Powerful Law Firm Did you know? A typical tu quoque involves charging your accuser with whatever it is you've just been accused of rather than refuting the truth of the accusation -- an evasive strategy that may or may not meet with success. The term has been active in the English language for about 400 years and has been put to use by a number of English writers, including C.S. Lewis, who penned, "your condemnation of my taste is insolent; only manners deter me from a tu quoque." The term is Latin in origin and translates as "you too," although the translation "you're another" is sometimes used as well (as in our second example sentence). "Tu quoque" functions in English as a noun, but it's often used attributively to modify other nouns, as in "a tu quoque argument." See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for November 23, 2010 is: venerate • \VEN-uh-rayt\ • verb 1 : to regard with reverential respect or with admiring deference 2 : to honor (as an icon or a relic) with a ritual act of devotion Examples: Adoring fans venerated every item touched by the rock star's hands. "In just two terms, he has become an important voice in the House, an institution that normally venerates seniority." -- From an editorial in The Courier-Journal (Louisville, Kentucky), October 15, 2010 Did you know? "Venerate," "revere," "reverence," "worship," and "adore" all mean to honor and admire profoundly and respectfully. "Venerate" implies a holding as holy or sacrosanct because of character, association, or age. "Revere" stresses deference and tenderness of feeling ("a professor revered by students"). "Reverence" presupposes an intrinsic merit and inviolability in the one honored and a similar depth of feeling in the one honoring ("she reverenced the academy's code of honor"). "Worship" implies homage usually expressed in words or ceremony ("he worships their memory"). "Adore" implies love and stresses the notion of an individual and personal attachment ("we adored our doctor"). "Venerate," incidentally, traces back to the Latin verb "venerari," from "vener-," meaning "love" or "charm." See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for November 22, 2010 is: chrestomathy • \kreh-STAH-muh-thee\ • noun 1 : a selection of passages used to help learn a language 2 : a volume of selected passages or stories of an author Examples: The chrestomathy contains all of the author's short stories, along with a selection of essays on a wealth of subjects. "Wearing his best poker face (and no doubt having just put down a George Orwell chrestomathy), Mr. Rendell accused the Republican Party of sabotaging President Obama's efforts to revive the American economy and for purely political reasons." -- From an article in the Pittsburgh Tribune Review, August 17, 2010 Did you know? "Provided that nothing like useful knowledge could be gained from them, provided they were all story and no reflection, she had never any objection to books at all." Jane Austen’s Catherine in Northanger Abbey, whose aversion to learning is pretty well summed up in the preceding sentence, would likely object to a chrestomathy that turned out to be a compilation of excerpts from ancient philosophical writings. She would probably be oblivious of, and indifferent to, the fact that the Greeks had the usefulness of knowledge in mind when they created "chrestomathy" from their adjective "chrēstos," which means "useful," and the verb "manthanein," which means "to learn." See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for November 21, 2010 is: werewolf • \WAIR-woolf\ • noun : a person transformed into a wolf or capable of assuming a wolf's form Examples: She is particularly interested in folklore about vampires and werewolves. "American paranormal fans will soon have a new werewolf, vampire and ghost in their lives as SyFy preps for the U.S. installment of Being Human, as seen on BBC America." - From an article by MacKenzie Wilson posted November 4, 2010 at www.bbcamerica.com. Did you know? Though some doubts about the word’s etymology still remain, "werewolf" probably comes from a prehistoric West Germanic compound whose constituent parts gave Old English "wer" ("man") and "wulf" ("wolf"). The word is related to Middle Dutch "weerwulf" and Old High German "werwolf." Another word for "werewolf" is "lycanthrope," which traces back through Latin to a Greek combination of "lyk-" (from "lykos," meaning "wolf") and "anthropos" (meaning "man"). English also sometimes makes use of the French-derived word "loup-garou," from Old French "leu" ("wolf") and "garoul" or "garulf" (a word of Germanic origin meaning "werewolf"). See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for November 20, 2010 is: alterity • \awl-TAIR-uh-tee\ • noun : otherness; specifically : the quality or state of being radically alien to the conscious self or a particular cultural orientation Examples: The novel focuses on the alterity experienced by adolescents, exploring how they both value and fear it. "This is the song which continues the theme of the relation between the identity and the alterity; it is not about a relationship with the self -- it is about the relationship with the world." -- From a article by Iulia Alexandra Nedea in the webzine PopMatters, November 4, 2010 Did you know? You’re probably familiar with the verb "alter," meaning "to make or become different," and you may not be surprised to learn that it is a relative of "alterity." Both words descend from the Latin word "alter," meaning "other (of two)." That Latin "alter," in turn, comes from a prehistoric Indo-European word that is also an ancestor of our "alien." "Alterity" has been used in English as a fancy word for "otherness" ("the state of being other") since at least 1642. It remains less common than "otherness" and tends to turn up most often in the context of literary theory or cultural studies. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for November 19, 2010 is: vanilla • \vuh-NILL-uh\ • adjective 1 : flavored with the extract of the vanilla bean 2 : lacking distinction : plain, ordinary, conventional Examples: Feeling a need to add some pizzazz to the vanilla décor in her office, Maria splurged on some colorful new lithographs. “I’m not going to sanitize what I do … I still want to be me, and be me, and be sassy, without being vanilla -- and also without being malicious and hurtful and nasty.” -- Perez Hilton, quoted by the New York Times’ Media Decoder blog, October 13, 2010 Did you know? For lexicographers, "vanilla" has more flavor than "chocolate," because it adds a tasty synonym for "plain" to the English menu. The noun "vanilla" was first served up in 1662, but it took almost 200 years for its adjective use to become established for things, like ice and sugar, flavored with vanilla. By the 1970s vanilla was perceived as being the plain flavor of the ice-cream world, and people began using the word itself to describe anything plain, ordinary, or conventional. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for November 18, 2010 is: eventuate • \ih-VEN-chuh-wayt\ • verb : to come out finally : result, come about Examples: No one could have prepared for the chaos that eventuated when the truth finally came to light. "The incident … occurred at a time of growing concern about the role of Internet chat rooms and other forums in giving a platform to disturbed young people with resentments that eventuate in attacks on schools and other targets." -- From an article by John F. Burns in The New York Times, March 21, 2009 Did you know? "Eventuate" started life as an Americanism in the late 18th century, and was stigmatized in the 19th century. A British commentator called it "another horrible word, which is fast getting into our language through the provincial press." Other British grammarians, and even some Americans, agreed that it was horrible. A few modern critics still consider "eventuate" to be pompous and unnecessary, but it is less controversial these days. In any case, "eventuate" has a perfectly respectable history. It is derived from the Latin noun "eventus" ("event"), which in turn traces to the verb "evenire," meaning "to happen." See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for November 17, 2010 is: banausic • \buh-NAW-sik\ • adjective : relating to or concerned with earning a living -- used pejoratively; also : utilitarian, practical Examples: The heiress dismissively declared that she would never have to worry about such banausic concerns as holding down a job. "At the far end was a wooden board on which were hung saws, chisels, knives and other banausic instruments of the trade." -- From Sebastian Faulk's 2005 novel Human Traces Did you know? The ancient Greeks held intellectual pursuits in the highest esteem, and they considered ideal a leisurely life of contemplation. A large population of slaves enabled many Greek citizens to adopt that preferred lifestyle. Those who had others to do the heavy lifting for them tended to regard professional labor with contempt. Their prejudice against the need to toil to earn a living is reflected in the Greek adjective "banausikos" (the root of “banausic”), which not only means “of an artisan” (from the word for artisan, "banausos") but “nonintellectual” as well. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for November 16, 2010 is: crapulous • \KRAP-yuh-lus\ • adjective 1 : marked by intemperance especially in eating or drinking 2 : sick from excessive indulgence in liquor Examples: Most of the guests were still crapulous from the previous night's bacchic revelry. "They were crapulous and carrying blue cans of beer, one of them with a can in each hand." -- From Paul Theroux's 2008 book Ghost Train to the Eastern Star Did you know? "Crapulous" may sound like a word that you shouldn't use in polite company, but it actually has a long and perfectly respectable history (although it's not a particularly kind way to describe someone). It is derived from the Late Latin adjective "crapulosus," which in turn traces back to the Latin word "crapula," meaning "intoxication." "Crapula" itself comes from a much older Greek word for the headache one gets from drinking. "Crapulous" first appeared in print in 1536. Approximately 200 years later, its close cousin "crapulence" arrived on the scene as a word for sickness caused by drinking. "Crapulence" later acquired the meaning "great intemperance especially in drinking," but it is not an especially common word. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for November 15, 2010 is: paladin • \PAL-uh-din\ • noun 1 : a trusted military leader (as for a medieval prince) 2 : a leading champion of a cause Examples: No one was surprised when the famously outspoken animal-rights paladin chose to make an impromptu speech on the subject. "The poor children of Panama are lucky in that Lehman, acting as a paladin in their cause, possesses the time, skill, and financial resources to mobilize enough public pressure to fight the corruption polluting the case; most do not have these advantages." -- From a States News Service article, July 12, 2010 Did you know? In ancient Rome, the emperor's palace was located on the Palatine Hill, known as "Palatium" in Latin. Since the site was the seat of imperial power, the word "palatium" came to mean "imperial" and later "imperial official." Different forms of the word passed through Latin, Italian, and French, picking up various meanings along the way, until eventually some of those forms made their way into English. "Paladin" is one of the etymological heirs of "palatium"; another descendant is the word "palace." See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for November 14, 2010 is: propitiate • \proh-PISH-ee-ayt\ • verb : to gain or regain the favor or goodwill of : appease, conciliate Examples: The fans of the hard-luck baseball team wondered openly how to propitiate the gods of fate after yet another heartbreaking defeat. "Surely neither the Bush nor the Obama administrations intended consciously to act in the interests of bankers rather than those of the public. But under the logic of the bailout, the markets were in charge, and the overarching aim of the government was to propitiate them to avoid disaster." -- From an article by Noah Feldman in New York Times Magazine, June 27, 2010 Did you know? Like its synonym "appease," "propitiate" means "to ease the anger or disturbance of," but there are subtle differences between the two terms as well. "Appease" usually implies quieting insistent demands by making concessions, whereas "propitiate" tends to suggest averting the anger or malevolence of a superior being. In fact, "propitiate" often occurs -- as in our first example sentence -- in contexts involving deities, spirits, or other preternatural forces. You might "appease" your hunger, but to speak more colorfully, you could "propitiate the gods of hunger." See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for November 13, 2010 is: retrodict • \ret-ruh-DIKT\ • verb : to utilize present information or ideas to infer or explain (a past event or state of affairs) Examples: The technology enables scientists to retrodict past solar events and activities. "Paleontologists attempting to retrodict body mass from fossilized dental remains must be aware of the effect that sample composition may have on their results." -- From an article in Science Letter, May 25, 2010 Did you know? We predict that you will guess the correct origins of "retrodict," and chances are we will not contradict you. English speakers had started using "predict" by at least the early 17th century; it's a word formed by combining "prae-" (meaning "before") and "dicere" (meaning "to say"). Since the rough translation of "predict" is "to say before," it's no surprise that when people in the 1950s wanted a word for "predicting" the past, they created it by combining the prefix for "backward" ("retro-") with the "-dict" of "predict." Other "dicere" descendants in English include "contradict," "benediction," "dictate," "diction," and "dictionary." See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for November 12, 2010 is: golden parachute • \GOHL-dun-PAIR-uh-shoot\ • noun : a generous severance agreement for a corporate executive in the event of a sudden dismissal (as because of a merger) Examples: When he was hired, John had insisted that his contract include a golden parachute to ensure that he could still live comfortably if his position was ever eliminated. "So even the hired manager of a small community hospital system is entitled to a million dollar plus golden parachute when resigning in disgrace. This is another great example of the current perversity of the incentives given to hired health care managers." -- From an article in Health Care Renewal, September 10, 2010 Did you know? In 1981 an employee of a major company undergoing a corporate merger referred cynically to the huge severance packages given ejected executives as "golden parachutes." It isn't clear whether the employee actually coined the term, but it is well documented that both "golden" and "parachute" were already part of corporate parlance by that time. Since the 1960s, the business world had been using "golden handshake" for a compensatory package accompanying a termination or forced retirement. The image of the parachute, evoking a comfortable and painless landing, may have been inspired by the popular book about career change by Richard Bolles, titled What Color Is Your Parachute? See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for November 11, 2010 is: armistice • \AHR-muh-stus\ • noun : temporary suspension of hostilities by agreement between the opponents : truce Examples: The Korean War ended with an armistice signed in July of 1953, though a permanent peace accord was never reached. "Most of us learned in school that WWI ended either with the 1918 armistice agreement or the 1919 Treaty of Versailles. But the Telegraph points out that, technically, the war will not come to a formal conclusion until this Sunday, when Germany makes its final reparation payment." -- From an article by Max Fisher on The Atlantic Wire, September 29, 2010 Did you know? "Armistice" descends from Latin "sistere," meaning "to come to a stand" or "to cause to stand or stop," combined with "arma," meaning "weapons." An armistice, therefore, is literally a cessation of arms. Armistice Day is the name that was given to the holiday celebrated in the United States on November 11 before it was renamed Veterans Day by Congress in 1954. The original name refers to the agreement between the Allied Powers and Germany to end hostilities that constituted the first World War, designated to take effect on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month. Other armistices, involving Romania, Bulgaria, Turkey, and Austria-Hungary, were effected on other dates before and after November 11. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for November 10, 2010 is: precentor • \prih-SEN-ter\ • noun : a leader of the singing of a choir or congregation Examples: He was deeply devoted to our congregation, and served as precentor at the church for the last 20 years of his life. "Congregations were led in song by a precentor, who would choose a tune to fit a psalm, then sing each phrase for the congregation to repeat after him." -- From Barrymore Laurence Scherer's 2007 book A History of American Classical Music Did you know? The history of "precentor" leads to the Latin verb "praecinere," meaning "to lead in singing," which was formed by adding the "prae-" prefix to the verb "canere" ("to sing"). "Canere" is also an ancestor of the English word "chant," as well as the source of the Latin noun "cantor," which was also borrowed into English and is used both as a synonym of "precentor" and for an individual in a synagogue who sings or chants the liturgical music and leads the congregation in prayer. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for November 9, 2010 is: sylvan • \SILL-vun\ • adjective 1 a : living or located in the woods or forest b : of, relating to, or characteristic of the woods or forest 2 a : made, shaped, or formed of woods or trees b : abounding in woods, groves, or trees : wooded Examples: We walked along a sylvan path for several miles and then emerged into a clearing. "Although the redwoods and natural light help a great deal with the ambiance, Steve Coleman's painted set conjures a lovely sylvan setting, with mossy-trunked cutout trees, a quaint little cottage in the foreground and a fairytale castle in the distance." -- From a review in the Marin Independent Journal (California), September 1, 2010 Did you know? In Latin, "sylva" means "wood" or "forest," and the related "Sylvanus" names the Roman god of the woods and fields -- a god sometimes identified with the Greek god Pan. These words gave rise to English "sylvan" in the 16th century. The English word was first used as a noun meaning "a mythological deity of the woods," eventually taking on the broader meaning "one who frequents the woods." The adjective "sylvan" followed soon after the noun and is now the more common word. Some other offspring of "sylva" (which can also be spelled "silva") include "silviculture" ("a branch of forestry dealing with the development and care of forests"), "sylvatic" (a synonym of "sylvan" that can also mean "occurring in or affecting wild animals"), and the first name "Sylvia." See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for November 8, 2010 is: ineluctable • \in-ih-LUK-tuh-bul\ • adjective : not to be avoided, changed, or resisted : inevitable Examples: Even the best athletes have to contend with the ineluctable fact that they will grow older and must someday face opponents who are younger, faster, and stronger. "The breadth and sweep of Ms. Mearns's dancing is extraordinary here, and she has an apparently instinctive sense of how to imprint a movement momentarily on the eye, even as it seems part of an ineluctable flow." -- From an article by Roslyn Sulcas in the New York Times, September 27, 2010 Did you know? Like drama, wrestling was popular in ancient Greece and Rome. "Wrestler," in Latin, is "luctator," and "to wrestle" is "luctari." "Luctari" also has extended senses -- "to struggle," "to strive," or "to contend." "Eluctari" joined "e-" ("ex-") with "luctari," forming a verb meaning "to struggle clear of." "Ineluctabilis" brought in the negative prefix "in-" to form an adjective describing something that cannot be escaped or avoided. English speakers borrowed the word as "ineluctable" around 1623. Another word that has its roots in "luctari" is "reluctant." "Reluctari" means "to struggle against" -- and someone who is "reluctant" resists or holds back. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for November 7, 2010 is: fossick • \FAH-sik\ • verb a : to search about : rummage b : to search for by or as if by rummaging : ferret out Examples: As teenagers, the twins spent many summer afternoons fossicking for opals in the old mine. "Meanwhile that little dog of ours, whose pedigree goes back some 400 years, is out the front fossicking round on the lawn and in the garden, following scents, sniffing at new growth, chasing birds (and flies), barking at cats or watching the world go by from the front doorstep." -- From an article by Garth George in The New Zealand Herald, October 7, 2010 Did you know? The first people to "fossick" (in the oldest but still-current meaning of the word), back in the 1850s, were picking over abandoned mining excavations in search of gold or gemstones. But within a few decades "fossick" was being used more generally to mean "to search about" or "to rummage." "Fossick" was brought to the shores of Australia and New Zealand by immigrants from the United Kingdom. The word was originally an English dialect term meaning "to ferret out." That meaning is derived from older words: the first spelled "fussick," meaning "to bustle about," and the second "fossack" or "fussock," meaning "a troublesome person." See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for November 6, 2010 is: vagary • \VAY-guh-ree\ • noun : an erratic, unpredictable, or extravagant manifestation, action, or notion Examples: Stock market analysts were pressed to determine whether the sharp decline in prices was a one-day vagary or a sign of more serious economic trouble on the horizon. "Allocating water is not an easy job, especially considering the vagaries of Western weather. A dry winter, such as Montana experienced this year, was offset by an unusually wet spring and summer." -- From an article by Brett French in the Billings Gazette (Montana), September 29, 2010 Did you know? In the 16th century, if you "made a vagary" you took a wandering journey, or you figuratively wandered from a correct path by committing some minor offence. If you spoke or wrote vagaries, you wandered from a main subject. These senses hadn't strayed far from their origin, as "vagary" is probably based on Latin "vagari," meaning "to wander." Indeed, in the 16th and 17th centuries there was even an English verb "vagary" that meant "to wander." Nowadays, the noun "vagary" is mostly used in its plural form, and vagaries have more to do with unpredictability than with wandering. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for November 5, 2010 is: greasy spoon • \GREE-see-SPOON\ • noun : a dingy small cheap restaurant Examples: For dinner, Juan and his sister, who was visiting him at college, went to his favorite greasy spoon in the city. "When I first went on the road, I went into every truck stop and greasy spoon in the country just to experience it all." -- Trisha Yearwood, quoted in The Dallas Morning News, April 14, 2010 Did you know? In the decades following its first use in 1902, the surrounding context of "greasy spoon" usually included words along the lines of "lousy," "wind up eating in," "slinging hash," "the underside of society," "settle for," or "rather starve." And while things haven't changed entirely, a recent wave of nostalgia has elevated the status of greasy spoons. Since the 1970s, the descriptions might contain words like "fabled," "distinction," "beloved," "classic," "an institution," "fondness for," and "comfort food." Now you can consult a "Greasy Spoon Guide" and read up on "Best Greasy Spoons," or lunch at a diner "restored to look like a greasy spoon." Some of these eateries are now even named "The Greasy Spoon." See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for November 4, 2010 is: ululate • \ULL-yuh-layt\ • verb : howl, wail Examples: The puppy ululated in distress every time he was left alone. "[Singer] Sussan Deyhim is one of Iran's most potent voices in exile, for the simple reason that she possesses a marvelously potent voice. She wails and coos and ululates, the sound of the soul in translation." -- From a music review in the Los Angeles Times, September 13, 2010 Did you know? "When other birds are still, the screech owls take up the strain, like mourning women their ancient u-lu-lu." When Henry David Thoreau used "u-lu-lu" to imitate the cry of screech owls and mourning women in that particular passage from his book Walden, he was re-enacting the etymology of "ululate" (a word he likely knew). "Ululate" descends from the Latin verb "ululare." That Latin root carried the same meaning as our modern English word, and it likely originated in the echoes of the rhythmic wailing sound associated with it. Even today, "ululate" often refers to ritualistic or expressive wailing performed at times of mourning or celebration or used to show approval. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for November 3, 2010 is: pungle • \PUNG-gul\ • verb : to make a payment or contribution of money -- usually used with up Examples: We all decided to pungle up for pizza. "They visited the pound over the weekend with their own Chihuahua, Kiki, to make sure the two dogs would get along. And they pungled up $107 to cover the adoption fee, castration fee, inoculation fee, licensing fee and microchipping fee." -- From an article by Steve Rubenstein in The San Francisco Chronicle, February 18, 2009 Did you know? "Pungle" is from the Spanish word "pongale," meaning "put it down," which itself is from "poner," meaning "to put" or "to place," or more specifically "to contribute money." The earliest uses of "pungle" are from the 1850s and are in reference to anteing up in games of chance. It did not take long for the word to be used in other contexts. It was in Huckleberry Finn's deadbeat dad's vocabulary: "I'll make [Judge Thatcher] pungle, too, or I'll know the reason why," Huck quotes his father in Mark Twain's famous novel. Nowadays, "pungle" is mainly used in the western part of the United States. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for November 2, 2010 is: psephology • \see-FAH-luh-jee\ • noun : the scientific study of elections Examples: Erin is a political science major with a particular interest in psephology. "To help voters make up their minds, this issue contains a 20-page briefing on personality, policy and psephology." -- From an article in The Economist, April 10, 2010 Did you know? "Psephology" is from the Greek word "psēphos," meaning "pebble." (One relative of "psephology" is "psephomancy," meaning "divination by pebbles.") "Psephology" merited election as the name for the work of analysts of elections, or psephologists, because pebbles were used by the ancient Greeks in voting. Similarly, the word "ballot" was an excellent choice for a means of voting since it is derived from "balla," the Italian word for "ball," and Italians placed balls in a container to cast votes. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for November 1, 2010 is: contrite • \kun-TRYTE\ • adjective : feeling or showing sorrow and remorse for a sin or shortcoming Examples: Mom finally let Jamie off the hook for the prank when she believed he understood why she was angry and was truly contrite. "A contrite, clean-shaven Joaquin Phoenix returned to David Letterman and his 'Late Show' last night to confirm that his February 2009 dead man walking appearance was in fact a stunt. He apologized, and Letterman -- who seemed to suggest that he was not in on the ruse -- happily accepted the apology." -- From an article by Verne Gay in Newsday (New York), September 23, 2010 Did you know? A person who is contrite may have rubbed someone the wrong way and caused bruised feelings -- and there is a hint about the origins of the word in that thought. "Contrite" came to English by way of Anglo-French from the Latin verb "conterere," meaning "to grind" or "to bruise." "Conterere," in turn, was formed by combining the prefix "com-" and "terere," meaning "to rub." If you've guessed that "trite" is a cousin of "contrite" (through "terere"), you are correct. Other "terere" descendants in English include "detriment" and "tribulation," and very possibly the familiar verb "try." Test Your Memory: What word completes this sentence from a recent Word of the Day: "We were delighted to discover a new community garden where ________ had been a trash-filled vacant lot"? The answer is ... See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for October 31, 2010 is: hobgoblin • \HAHB-gahb-lin\ • noun 1 : a mischievous goblin 2 : a source of fear, perplexity, or harassment Examples: Max was convinced that hobgoblins had taken over his computer, which was why it was flashing garbled error messages. "For one thing, the turtle was an enjoyable hobgoblin for the kids who swim in the lake. They used to stand atop the floating dock looking out anxiously to see if the turtle was nearby and it added an element of chills to an otherwise placid swimming experience." --From an article by Scott Gerschwer in the Redding Pilot (Connecticut), September 9, 2010 Did you know? While a goblin is traditionally regarded in folklore as a grotesque, evil, and malicious creature, a hobgoblin tends to be more about creating mischief. (The character of Puck from Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream might be regarded as one.) First appearing in English in 1530, "hobgoblin" combined "goblin" with "hob," a word meaning "sprite" or "elf" that derived from "Hobbe," a nickname for Robert. "Goblin" derived via Middle English and Medieval Latin from the Greek word "kobalos," meaning "rogue." The American writer Ralph Waldo Emerson famously applied the word's extended sense in his essay Self-Reliance: "A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, adored by little statesmen and philosophers and divines." Word Trivia: What word for a small dog breed with short fur, tightly curled tails, and wide wrinkled faces comes from an old word for hobgoblin? The answer is ... See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for October 30, 2010 is: misconstrue • \miss-kun-STROO\ • verb : to understand or explain wrongly : misinterpret Examples: According to the candidate, her comments about the city's schools were misconstrued by the media. "It's now been 10 years since humans deciphered the digital code that, in a very real sense, defines us as a species. It's hard to overestimate the significance of that achievement -- but easy to misconstrue what it means and where its true promise lies." --From an opinion piece by Dr. James P. Evans in Newsday, June 27, 2010 Did you know? In the 14th century, English speakers acquired the closely linked words "construe" and "construction." You may think of "construction" as a word having to do with building houses or highways, but it has long had other meanings, including "arrangement of words in a sentence" and "interpretation." Similarly, "construe" can mean "to analyze the arrangement and connection of words in a sentence" or "to interpret or explain." Both "construe" and "construction" come from the Latin verb "construere" ("to construct or construe"). The "mis-" of "misconstrue" was an English addition; it was added to "construe" in the 15th century to create a word meaning "to put a wrong construction (that is, a wrong interpretation) on." Test Your Memory: What word did we feature earlier this month with the meaning "a showy object of little use or value"? The answer is ... See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for October 29, 2010 is: vanguard • \VAN-gahrd\ • noun 1 : the troops moving at the head of an army 2 : the forefront of an action or movement Examples: The manufacturer is in the vanguard of green technology. "Classical beauty is easy, but a taste for the difficult, the unconventional, the ugly, has often been seen as a mark of sophistication, a passport into the rarefied world of the artistic vanguard." -- From an article by Natalie Angier in The New York Times, August 10, 2010 Did you know? "Vanguard" derives from the Anglo-French word "avantgarde." Both terms were created by combining the French words "avant," meaning "before," and "garde," meaning "guard." In medieval times, "avantgarde" referred to the troops that marched at the head of the army. English speakers retained that meaning when they adopted "vanguard" in the 15th century. "Avant-garde," which is now used in English to refer to a group of people who develop new and often very surprising ideas in art, literature, etc., didn't make its own English debut until 1910. Quick Quiz: What compound word meaning "a principal spokesman or advocate," as in "He was the _____ _____ for the President's economic policy," originally meant "a soldier who goes ahead of a patrol"? The answer is ... See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for October 28, 2010 is: incognito • \in-kahg-NEE-toh\ • adverb or adjective : with one's identity concealed Examples: The food critic made an incognito visit to the restaurant. "[Mary, Queen of Scots] loved St. Andrews, where she kept a small vacation cottage and often stayed incognito, doing her own shopping and cooking, and playing golf along the links by the Firth of Forth." -- From an article by Sally Jenkins in The Washington Post, July 15, 2010 Did you know? The ancient Greeks and Romans knew that there were times when you didn't want to be recognized. For example, a myth tells how Zeus and Hermes visited a village incognito and asked for lodging. The apparently penniless travelers were turned away from every household except that of a poor elderly couple named Baucis and Philemon, who provided a room and a feast despite their own poverty. The Romans had a word that described someone or something unknown (like the gods in the tale): "incognitus," a term that is the ancestor of our modern "incognito." Test Your Memory: What is the meaning of "tendentious," our featured word from October 9, 2010? The answer is ... See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for October 27, 2010 is: notch • \NAHTCH\ • noun 1 : a V-shaped hollow in an edge or surface 2 : a narrow pass between two mountains 3 : degree, step Examples: The instructions said to cut small notches at the corners of the fabric. "The center said at 5 p.m. EDT that Paula had dropped a notch from a Category 2 storm as it took a track forecast to pass very near or over western Cuba later in the night or early Thursday." -- From a press release by Paul Haven, The Associated Press State & Local Wire, October 13, 2010 Did you know? Occasionally, you might hear a child ask for a "napple," as in "I would like another napple," mistaking the phrase "an apple" for "a napple." A similar error is believed to be behind "notch," which may have resulted from a misdivision of "an otch." ("Otch" is a noun that is assumed to have existed in earlier English as a borrowing of Middle French "oche," meaning "an incision made to keep a record.") "Notch" would not be alone in developing from such a mistake. The words "newt" and "nickname" were formed, respectively, from misdivisions of "an ewte" and "an ekename." Going in the other direction, "umpire" first appears in Middle English as "oumpere," a mistaken rendering of "a noumpere." Quick Quiz: What word meaning "a small notch, groove, or chip" can also be a name for a boy or a man? The answer is ... See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for October 26, 2010 is: lethargic • \luh-THAHR-jik\ • adjective 1 : of, relating to, or characterized by lethargy : sluggish 2 : indifferent, apathetic Examples: After eating a large plate of spaghetti and meatballs I often feel lethargic and sleepy. "What's not to like about a $30 billion boost to small biz, which has been taking it on the chin on this lethargic recovery? Perhaps only that it will be insufficient to counter the strong headwinds that small companies are facing." -- From John Curran’s "The Curious Capitalist" blog on Time.com, September 17, 2010 Did you know? In Greek mythology, Lethe was the name of a river in the underworld that was also called "the River of Unmindfulness" or "the River of Forgetfulness." Legend held that when someone died, he or she was given a drink of water from the river Lethe to forget all about his or her past life. Eventually this act of forgetting came to be associated with feelings of sluggishness, inactivity, or indifference. The name of the river and the word "lethargic," as well as the related noun "lethargy," all derive from "lethe," Greek for "forgetfulness." Test Your Memory: What former Word of the Day comes from Turkish and Arabic and means "fate." The answer is ... See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for October 25, 2010 is: sea change • \SEE-CHAYNJ\ • noun : a marked change : transformation Examples: The mayor said that she doubts the project will proceed, unless there's a sea change in public opinion. "Homeowners are flocking to refinance their mortgage loans at record low interest rates, but unlike past refinancing waves, few are using their homes like ATMs and cashing out to buy cars, take vacations, or remodel.... This newfound frugality represents a sea change in how Americans have viewed their homes in recent years, when rising values provided a ready source of borrowed money to support spending." -- From an article by Robert Gavin in The Boston Globe, September 12, 2010 Did you know? In Shakespeare's "The Tempest," a "sea-change" is a change brought about by sea: "Full fathom five thy father lies ... / Nothing of him that doth fade / But doth suffer a sea-change." This meaning is the original one, but it's now archaic. Long after "sea change" had gained its figurative meaning, however, writers continued to allude to Shakespeare's literal one; Charles Dickens, Henry David Thoreau, and P.G. Wodehouse all used the term as an object of the verb "suffer." Today you're most likely to see the word as it's used in the two examples given above. Test Your Memory: Our featured word on October 5 was "sigmoid." It means ... See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for October 24, 2010 is: mendacious • \men-DAY-shus\ • adjective : given to or characterized by deception or falsehood or divergence from absolute truth Examples: Liza wasn't about to fall for the unrealistic claims being touted by the mendacious car salesman. "Don Draper, the creative ad man extraordinaire on 'Mad Men,' is so deeply flawed that his likability and his possible redemption are seriously in question. A man whose entire life, including his name, is a lie, Draper is a cunning man in a mendacious, predatory world of images." -- From an article by Neal Gabler in the Chicago Tribune, April 11, 2010 Did you know? "Mendacious" and "lying" have very similar meanings, but the two are not interchangeable. "Mendacious" is more formal and literary, suggesting a deception harmless enough to be considered bland. "Lying" is more blunt, accusatory, and often confrontational. You might yell, "You lying rat!" in an argument, but you would most likely stick to the more diplomatic, "Aren’t you being somewhat mendacious?" in a business meeting. "Mendacious" can also imply habitual untruthfulness, whereas "lying" is more likely to be used to identify specific instances of dishonesty. Quick Quiz: What word that ends in "-acious" means "not true or accurate"? The answer is ... See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for October 23, 2010 is: qualm • \KWAHM\ • noun 1 : a sudden attack of illness, faintness, or nausea 2 : a sudden fear 3 : a feeling of doubt or indecision in matters of right and wrong Examples: Much to the dismay of those in the music industry, many people have no qualms about illegally downloading music files from the Internet. "Genetic engineering is already widely used for crops, but the government until now has not considered allowing the consumption of modified animals. Although the potential benefits and profits are huge, many people have qualms about manipulating the genetic code of other living creatures." -- From an Associated Press article by Mary Clare Jalonick, September 21, 2010 Did you know? Etymologists aren't sure where "qualm" originated, but they do know it entered English around 1530. Originally, it referred to a sudden sick feeling. Robert Louis Stevenson made use of this older sense in Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde: "A qualm came over me, a horrid nausea and the most deadly shuddering." Soon after "qualm" entered the language, it came to designate not only sudden attacks of illness, but also sudden attacks of emotion or principle. In The Sketch Book, for example, Washington Irving wrote, "Immediately after one of these fits of extravagance, he will be taken with violent qualms of economy...." Eventually, "qualm" took on the specific (and now most common) meaning of doubt or uneasiness, particularly in not following one's conscience or better judgment. Test Your Memory: What former Word of the Day refers to a meeting of members of a political party. The answer is ... See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for October 22, 2010 is: jawboning • \JAW-boh-ning\ • noun : the use of public appeals (as by a president) to influence the actions especially of business and labor leaders; broadly : the use of spoken persuasion Examples: The debate included a lot of jawboning as each candidate tried to persuade voters to see the issues his way. "Here in America vast amounts of stimulus money and White House jawboning have done little to move the unemployment needle...." -- From an article by Michael Noer in Forbes, September 13, 2010 Did you know? In the late 1800s, the noun "jawbone" meant "credit" (as in "his money's gone, so he lives on jawbone"), which was probably influenced by the practice of coaxing others to lend money by promising to pay it back. By the mid-1960s the verb "to jawbone," meaning "to talk about to gain some end," was appearing regularly in the media. The noun "jawboning" made its print debut at the end of that decade, in reference to rhetorical practices that influenced the actions of the wealthy and powerful. All of these uses were likely influenced by the verb "jaw," which has long been used with the meanings "to talk" or "to scold." Test Your Memory: Our featured word on October 1 was "tittup." It means ... See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for October 21, 2010 is: renovate • \REN-uh-vayt\ • verb 1 : to restore to a former better state (as by cleaning, repairing, or rebuilding) 2 : to restore to life, vigor, or activity : revive Examples: Mom renovated the kitchen three years ago, and is now planning to buy all new furniture for the living room. "Last year, the city approved a $2.8 million plan to renovate the theater portion of the building and reopen it as a public venue under the control of the parks department." -- From an article by Elizabeth Donald in the Belleville News-Democrat (Illinois), September 15, 2010 Did you know? "Renovate," "renew," "restore," "refresh," and "rejuvenate" all mean to make like new. "Renovate" suggests a renewing by cleansing, repairing, or rebuilding. "Renew" implies a restoration of what had become faded or disintegrated so that it seems like new ("efforts to renew the splendor of the old castle"). "Restore" suggests a return to an original state after depletion or loss ("restored a piece of furniture"). "Refresh" implies the supplying of something necessary to restore lost strength, animation, or power ("a refreshing drink"). "Rejuvenate" suggests the restoration of youthful vigor, powers, or appearance ("she was rejuvenated by her new job"). "Renovate" has "newness" in its origins: it ultimately derives from the Latin verb "novare," meaning "to make new," itself a descendant of "novus," meaning "new." Quick Quiz: What relative of "renovate" means "to do something in a new way." The answer is ... See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for October 20, 2010 is: farraginous • \fuh-RAJ-uh-nus\ • adjective : consisting of a confused mixture : formed of various materials in no fixed order or arrangement Examples: The large box at the hotel’s lost and found desk contained a farraginous assortment of hats, umbrellas, cell phones, and other personal items. "Like the Habsburg empire, the kingdom of Sweden encompassed a farraginous set of languages, including Swedish, Finnish, Latvian, Estonian, and German, the language of administration." -- From the book A History of Modern Europe: From the Renaissance to the Present (Third Edition), by John Merriman, 2009 Did you know? "Farraginous" is the adjective connected with "farrago," a word we featured in September. In Latin, the stem "farragin-" and the noun "farrago" both mean "mixture" or (specifically) "a mixture of grains for cattle feed." They derive from "far," the Latin name for spelt, a type of grain. In the 1600s, English speakers began using "farrago" as a noun meaning "hodgepodge" and "farraginous" as an adjective meaning "consisting of a mixture." The creation of the adjective was simply a matter of adding the adjectival suffix "-ous" to "farragin-" (although at least one writer had previously experimented with "farraginary," employing a different adjectival suffix). Quick Quiz: What 6-letter word can mean "a mixture of different people or things" and also has a musical mixture sense? The answer is ... See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.