Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for May 28, 2016 is: foozle • \FOO-zul\ • verb : to manage or play awkwardly : bungle Examples: After the receiver foozled the catch, the kicking team recovered the ball at the opponent's 10-yard line. "He foozled a short putt on the 72nd green at Southern Hills in Tulsa that would've won him the 2001 Open, then played solidly in a Monday playoff and defeated Mark Brooks for the title." — Gary Van Sickle, Golf.com, 30 July 2015 Did you know? Foozle dates only to the late 19th century, but its origins are obscure. The German dialect verb fuseln ("to work carelessly") could figure in its history, but that speculation has never been proven. Not particularly common today, foozle still holds a special place in the hearts, minds, and vocabularies of many golfers. In golf, to foozle a shot is to bungle it and a foozle is a bungled shot. In a Century magazine piece from 1899 called "Two Players and their Play," Beatrice Hanscom reveals more of golf's specialized vocabulary: She tops her ball; then divots fly; / In bunkers long she stays; / She foozles all along the course / In most astounding ways: / In sooth, it is an eery thing / The way Priscilla plays. 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 May 27, 2016 is: aureate • \OR-ee-ut\ • adjective 1 : of a golden color or brilliance 2 : marked by grandiloquent and rhetorical style Examples: The poems display the writer's mastery of both colloquial and aureate diction. "… the sunlight burned upon his medal, giving him an aureate, convincing—but false—appearance." — David Ebershoff, Pasadena, 2003 Did you know? Aureate is among several adjectives in English pertaining to gold that derive from the Latin name for the metal, aurum. While its relatives auriferous and auric are more likely to appear in scientific contexts to describe substances containing or made from gold (or Au, to use its chemical symbol), aureate has tended to have a more literary allure since it was first used in English in the early 15th century. Over time, the word's use was extended from "golden" to "resplendent," and it finally lost some of its luster as it came to mean "grandiloquent." 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 May 26, 2016 is: milquetoast • \MILK-tohst\ • noun : a timid, meek, or unassertive person Examples: Brian was such a milquetoast that he agreed to work extra hours on Sunday even though he had already told his boss that he needed that day off. "Aristotle said that virtue is the mean between the extremes of deficiency and excess. When someone steals your parking spot, you're virtuous if you're neither a milquetoast nor a madman, but something in between...." — Ruth Chang, The San Francisco Chronicle, 22 Nov. 2015 Did you know? Caspar Milquetoast was a comic strip character created in 1924 by the American cartoonist Harold T. Webster. The strip, called "The Timid Soul," ran every Sunday in the New York Herald Tribune for many years. Webster, who claimed that Milquetoast was a self-portrait, summed up the character as "the man who speaks softly and gets hit with a big stick." The earliest examples for Milquetoast used as a generic synonym for "timid person" date from the mid-1930s. Caspar's last name might remind you of "milk toast," a bland concoction of buttered toast served in a dish of warm milk. 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 May 25, 2016 is: jeopardize • \JEP-er-dyze\ • verb : to expose to danger or risk : imperil Examples: Jerry was warned that a continued decrease in his sales performance could jeopardize his chances for a promotion. "The bill grew out of a problem that has developed in north central Connecticut, where cracking foundations have jeopardized the stability of more than 150 homes, according to homeowners who have filed complaints with state officials." — Kathleen McWilliams, The Hartford (Connecticut) Courant, 8 Apr. 2016 Did you know? It may be hard to believe that jeopardize was once controversial, but in 1870 a grammarian called it "a foolish and intolerable word," a view shared by many 19th-century critics. The preferred word was jeopard, which first appeared in print in the 14th century. (The upstart jeopardize turned up in 1582.) In 1828, Noah Webster himself declared jeopardize to be "a modern word, used by respectable writers in America, but synonymous with 'jeopard,' and therefore useless." Unfortunately for the champions of jeopard, jeopardize is now much more popular. 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 May 24, 2016 is: stolid • \STAH-lid\ • adjective : having or expressing little or no sensibility : unemotional Examples: The stolid detective spoke to the witness in a precise, unequivocal manner. "A modest woman of great heart and spirit, Deirdre, perhaps more than any other member of the family, has weathered the storms she and her husband have endured with a stolid equanimity…." — Charles Isherwood, The New York Times, 19 Feb. 2016 Did you know? Stolid derives from stolidus, a word that means "dull" or "stupid" in Latin. It is also distantly related to the word stultify, meaning "to cause to appear or be stupid, foolish, or absurdly illogical." The earliest examples of usage for stolid, dating back to the early 17th century, indicate that it too was originally associated with a lack of smarts; it was used to describe people who were considered dull or stupid because they didn't wear their emotions on their sleeves. By the 1800s, however, stolid was frequently appearing without the connotation of foolishness, and it continues to be free of such overtones today. 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 May 23, 2016 is: litotes • \LYE-tuh-teez\ • noun : understatement in which an affirmative is expressed by the negative of the contrary Examples: "Vacationing in the Caribbean wasn't a total drag," said Sheila with her characteristic flair for litotes. "Analysts and experts reached for metaphors, similes, allusions, litotes and anything else lying about to express their wonderment." — Wesley Pruden, The Washington Times, 31 Oct. 2003 Did you know? Even if you've never heard the word litotes, chances are you've encountered this figure of speech. If you've ever approved of a job well done by exclaiming "Not bad!" or told someone that you are "not unhappy" when you are ecstatic, you've even used it yourself. In fact, you might say that it would be "no mean feat" to avoid this common feature of our language! And litotes isn't only common; it's also simple—etymologically speaking, that is. Litotes evolved from a Greek word meaning "simple," and perhaps ultimately from another Greek word meaning "linen cloth." 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 May 22, 2016 is: ideate • \EYE-dee-ayt\ • verb 1 : to form an idea or conception of (something) 2 : to form an idea Examples: Jocelyn used the lunch hour at the education seminar to talk with other teachers and ideate new activities to use in the classroom. "Most of us don't dedicate any time to thinking and ideating. To think well, you need to be willing to fail well." — Andy Lark, Fortune, 7 Mar. 2016 Did you know? Like idea and ideal, ideate comes from the Greek verb idein, which means "to see." The sight-thought connection came courtesy of Plato, the Greek philosopher who based his theory of the ideal on the concept of seeing, claiming that a true philosopher can see the essential nature of things and can recognize their ideal form or state. Early uses of idea, ideal, and ideate in English were associated with Platonic philosophy; idea meant "an archetype" or "a standard of perfection," ideal meant "existing as an archetype," and ideate referred to forming Platonic ideas. But though ideate is tied to ancient philosophy, the word itself is a modern concoction, relatively speaking. It first appeared in English only about 400 years ago. 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 May 21, 2016 is: zeroth • \ZEE-rohth\ • adjective : being numbered zero in a series; also : of, relating to, or being a zero Examples: "Many tall buildings lack a 13th floor, skipping from 12 to 14 to avoid that dreaded number. Most buildings—at least in the U.S.A.—also lack a zeroth floor." — Pat Murphy and Paul Doherty, Fantasy & Science Fiction, March 2005 "… I teach creative writing, and I expect I've confused a great many students with my 'tear up your synopsis' approach. My excuse is that I didn't start out as a literary type: in my zeroth life I was a physicist, and I've always felt some sympathy for Bertrand Russell's advice: 'Say everything in the smallest number of words in which it can be said clearly.'" — Andrew Crumey, Time Out, 27 Mar. 2008 Did you know? You don't have to be a rocket scientist to use zeroth, but the word, which was coined by physicists 120 years ago, does often show up in scientific contexts. (It comes from zero, which is itself from Arabic ṣifr.) These days zeroth is frequently used to suggest a level of importance that is even higher than first. Renowned Soviet physicist Lev Landau used zeroth this way when he classified all the famous physicists according to the relative value of their contributions to science. He put Niels Bohr and Max Planck, for example, right up there in the first class, and lesser-rated physicists in the second through fifth classes. Where did he think Albert Einstein and Isaac Newton belonged? They were unmatched, he felt, so they went in his zeroth class. 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 May 20, 2016 is: dally • \DAL-ee\ • verb 1 a : to act playfully; especially : to play amorously b : to deal lightly : toy 2 a : to waste time b : linger, dawdle Examples: He dithered and dallied, avoiding his work for as long as possible. "Voters don't elect leaders to dally, stall, drag their feet and excel at the art of delay." —The Daily Chronicle (DeKalb, Illinois), 31 Dec. 2015 Did you know? English speakers have been playing with different uses of dally since the 14th century. They first started using the word with the meaning "to chat," which was also the meaning of the Anglo-French word from which it was derived, but that meaning fell into disuse by the end of the 15th century. Next, dalliers were amusing themselves by acting playfully with each other especially in amorous and flirtatious ways. Apparently, some dalliers were also a bit derisive, leading dally to mean "to deal with lightly or in a way that is not serious." It didn't take long for the fuddy-duddies to criticize all this play as a waste of time. By the mid-16th century, dally was weighted down with its "to waste time" and "dawdle" meanings, which, in time, gave way to the word dillydally, a humorous reduplication of dally. 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 May 19, 2016 is: ramshackle • \RAM-shak-ul\ • adjective 1 : appearing ready to collapse : rickety 2 : carelessly or loosely constructed Examples: The yard was sectioned off by a ramshackle wooden fence that was just barely held together with chicken wire. "He's also made the bold move of purchasing the ramshackle building behind his market, envisioning an Internet cafe." — Sarah Netter, The Washington Post, 7 Apr. 2016 Did you know? Ramshackle has nothing to do with rams, nor the act of being rammed, nor shackles. The word is an alteration of ransackled, an obsolete form of the verb ransack, meaning "to search through or plunder." (Ransack in turn derives, via Middle English, from Old Norse words meaning "house" and "seek.") A home that has been ransacked has had its contents thrown into disarray, and that image may be what caused us to start using ramshackle in the first half of the 19th century to describe something that is poorly constructed or in a state of near collapse. These days, ramshackle can also be used figuratively, as in "He could only devise a ramshackle excuse for his absence." 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 May 18, 2016 is: nomenclature • \NOH-mun-klay-cher\ • noun 1 : name, designation 2 : the act or process or an instance of naming 3 a : a system or set of terms or symbols especially in a particular science, discipline, or art b : an international system of standardized New Latin names used in biology for kinds and groups of kinds of animals and plants Examples: "Most Americans are aware of differences in nomenclature between British and American English, e.g. flat versus apartment, lift versus elevator, petrol versus gasoline." — Sara Boyett, The Silver City (New Mexico) Daily Press & Independent, 31 Mar. 2016 "And although the nomenclature of Greenhouse Bistro and Samovar Tea Room suggests a quieter, intimate restaurant, the two actually take up a massive 14,000-square-foot location that seats 580 between the tearoom, the Greenhouse interior and a 2,000-square-foot patio out front." — Rebecca Cooper, The Washington (D.C.) Business Journal, 6 Apr. 2016 Did you know? In his 1926 Dictionary of Modern English Usage, grammarian H. W. Fowler asserted that it was wrong to use nomenclature as a synonym for name; he declared that nomenclature could only mean "a system of naming or of names." It is true that nomenclature comes from the Latin nomenclatura, meaning "the assigning of names," but the name sense was the first to appear in English (it is documented as long ago as 1610), and it has been considered perfectly standard for centuries. 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 May 17, 2016 is: hector • \HEK-ter\ • verb 1 : to play the bully : swagger 2 : to intimidate or harass by bluster or personal pressure Examples: The judge sternly ordered the attorney to stop hectoring the witness. "For several years now he has been making life easier for every journalist who follows the Affordable Care Act by heroically compiling health insurance enrollments under the law, explaining developments, debunking myths, and hectoring the nearly infinite sources of mis- and disinformation … into getting things right." — Michael Hiltzik, The Los Angeles Times, 29 Mar. 2016 Did you know? Hector wasn't always a bully. In Homer's Iliad, the eldest son of King Priam of Troy was a model soldier, son, father, and friend, the champion of the Trojan army until he was killed by the Greek hero Achilles. How did the name of a Trojan paragon become a generic synonym of bully? That pejorative English use was likely influenced by gangs of rowdy street toughs who roamed London in the 17th century and called themselves "Hectors." They may have thought themselves gallant young blades, but to the general populace they were merely swaggering bullies who intimidated passersby and vandalized property. By 1660, hector was being used as a noun for the sort of blustering braggarts who populated those gangs, and as a verb 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 May 16, 2016 is: quincunx • \KWIN-kunks\ • noun : an arrangement of five things in a square or rectangle with one at each corner and one in the middle Examples: The sculptures in the square were arranged in a quincunx with the outer ones marking the perimeter and the middle one serving as the centerpiece. "The towers of Angkor Wat—shaped in a quincunx, five points in a cross—were named after Mount Meru, the home of the gods believed in Indian myth to lie at the center of the world." — William Dalrymple, The New York Review of Books, 21 May 2015 Did you know? In ancient Rome, a quincunx was a coin with a weight equal to five twelfths of a libra, a unit of weight similar to our pound. The coin's name comes from the Latin roots quinque, meaning "five," and uncia, meaning "one twelfth." The ancients used a pattern of five dots arranged like the pips on a die as a symbol for the coin, and English speakers applied the word to arrangements similar to that distinctive five-dot mark. 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 May 15, 2016 is: eminently • \EM-uh-nunt-lee\ • adverb : to a high degree : very Examples: The candidate is so eminently qualified that it is difficult to imagine why she would not get the position. "… in the interest of exercise and getting to know my town a little better, my New Year's resolution was this: Walk every block of this eminently walkable little city in 2016." — Tim Buckwalter, LancasterOnline.com (Lancaster, Pennsylvania), 18 Mar. 2016 Did you know? When British physician Tobias Venner wrote in 1620 of houses "somewhat eminently situated," he used eminently in a way that now seems unusual. Venner meant that the houses were literally located in a high place, but that lofty use of eminently has since slipped into obsolescence. The term also formerly had the meaning "conspicuously," a use that reflects its Latin root, eminēre, which means "to stand out." That meaning, like the elevated one, is now obsolete. The figurative sense that is still prominent today also began appearing in English texts in the 1600s. 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 May 14, 2016 is: subpoena • \suh-PEE-nuh\ • noun : a writ commanding a person designated in it to appear in court under a penalty for failure Examples: Subpoenas have been issued to several of the defendant's family members ordering that they testify at trial. "'If we have to compel them to come in, then that's what we're going to do,' he said, referring to possible subpoenas." — Sandra Tan, The Buffalo News, 8 Apr. 2016 Did you know? If you think you recognize the sub- in subpoena as the prefix meaning "under, beneath, below," you're on target. Subpoena arrived in Modern English (via the Middle English suppena) from the Latin sub poena, a combination of sub and poena, meaning "penalty." Other poena descendants in English include impunity ("freedom from penalty"), penal ("of or relating to punishment"), and even punish. There is also the verb subpoena, as in "Defense lawyers have subpoenaed several witnesses to the crime." 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 May 13, 2016 is: venerate • \VEN-uh-rayt\ • verb 1 : to regard with reverential respect or with admiring deference 2 : to honor (something, such as an icon or a relic) with a ritual act of devotion Examples: "In William Shakespeare's classic, the Romans venerate their leader, but Brutus sees that Julius Caesar may be too powerful for the good of the nation." — Chris Kocher, The Star-Gazette (Elmira, New York), 10 Mar. 2016 "Robert Mickens, a longtime Vatican analyst, said venerating saints or praying at the tombs of martyrs is a time-honored Catholic practice, but he questioned the decision to display the remains of the two saints." — Jim Yardley, The New York Times, 5 Feb. 2016 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 May 12, 2016 is: fauve • \FOHV\ • adjective 1 : of or relating to painters practicing fauvism 2 : vivid in color Examples: "Fauve colors brought sizzle back to tableware, but could you really eat off a Rorschach of orange, black and pink?" — Julie V. Iovine, The New York Times Magazine, 14 Mar. 1993 "Three were landscapes…. The other was a later painting of Adele, pale and strained, standing in a big hat with her arms loose amid fauve colours of red, mauve and green." — The Economist, 19 Feb. 2011 Did you know? When French art critic Louis Vauxcelles spotted a statue reminiscent of 15th-century Italian art in the midst of works by an avant-garde group of painters—principal among them Henri Matisse—at an exhibit in Paris in 1905, he verbalized his shock with the words "Donatello au milieu des fauves!" ("Donatello among the wild animals!"). His reaction was to the painters' unconventional use of intensely vivid color and free treatment of form, and apparently his words weren't far off the mark in describing their art: Matisse and company's art movement became known as "Fauvism" and the artists flourishing in it, the "Fauves." In 1967, the intense impact of their colors was still vibrant, inspiring one writer for Vogue to use fauve as an adjective to describe the colors of a "striking" flowered coat—and that use can still be found today vivifying colors. 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 May 11, 2016 is: palooka • \puh-LOO-kuh\ • noun 1 : an inexperienced or incompetent boxer 2 : oaf, lout Examples: "The boxing audiences loved him…. Though often reckless, Mickey was never a palooka and learned from every opponent he faced." — Tom Fox, Hidden History of the Irish of New Jersey, 2011 "In the second debate, he expected to face a bunch of exhausted patsies and dazed palookas, but instead faced able, bright and thoughtful candidates…." — The Washington Times, 18 Sept. 2015 Did you know? The origin of palooka is unknown, though various theories have been put forth. (Some sources credit the baseball player and sportswriter Jack Conway with the coinage, for example.) Palooka first appeared in print in 1920 and may have been popularized by a comic strip titled "Joe Palooka" (by Ham Fisher), which debuted in newspapers a decade later. The probable connection between Fisher's comic and palooka only adds to the mystery surrounding this term, however. Joe Palooka was a boxer who was neither incompetent nor clumsy and oafish, and yet the word palooka came to have those negative meanings. In addition, palooka has been used as a general synonym for rookie and also as a term describing horses with very little chance of winning. 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 May 10, 2016 is: urbane • \er-BAYN\ • adjective : notably polite or polished in manner Examples: Deirdre was an urbane and sociable party guest who could seamlessly transition from one conversation to the next. "In its heyday among the mod generation, the writing essentially peddled the fantasy of being a more sedentary James Bond: a sophisticated and urbane man about town, drowning in lady friends." — Megan McArdle, Bloomberg View (bloombergview.com), 13 Oct. 2015 Did you know? City slickers and country folk have long debated whether life is better in town or in the wide open spaces, and urbane is a term that springs from the throes of that debate. The word traces back to Latin urbs, meaning "city," and in its earliest English uses urbane was synonymous with its close relative urban ("of, relating to, characteristic of, or constituting a city"). Urbane developed its modern sense of savoir faire from the belief (no doubt fostered by city dwellers) that living in the city made one more suave and polished than did leading a rural 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 May 9, 2016 is: hubris • \HYOO-bris\ • noun : exaggerated pride or self-confidence Examples: The company's failure was ultimately brought on by the hubris of its founder. "I think confidence is one of the most important qualities that you need in a leader—self-assurance. But at times confidence can shade over into arrogance and even hubris." — Doris Kearns Goodwin, speaking on The Charlie Rose Show, 12 Jan. 2016 Did you know? English picked up both the concept of hubris and the term for that particular brand of cockiness from the ancient Greeks, who considered hubris a dangerous character flaw capable of provoking the wrath of the gods. In classical Greek tragedy, hubris was often a fatal shortcoming that brought about the fall of the tragic hero. Typically, overconfidence led the hero to attempt to overstep the boundaries of human limitations and assume a godlike status, and the gods inevitably humbled the offender with a sharp reminder of his or her mortality. 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 May 8, 2016 is: nonplus • \nahn-PLUS\ • verb : to cause to be at a loss as to what to say, think, or do : perplex Examples: The student's unexpected about-face during the class discussion nonplussed the teacher. "Finding out that the new site for your business is home as well to stray cats and assorted wildlife might have nonplussed some people, but Gary Meyer just saw an opportunity to help animals while enjoying their presence." — Joseph P. Smith, The Daily Journal (Vineland, New Jersey), 4 Mar. 2016 Did you know? Does nonplus perplex you? You aren't alone. Some people believe the "non" in nonplus means "not" and assume that to be nonplussed is to be calm and poised when just the opposite is true. If you are among the baffled, the word's history may clarify things. In Latin, non plus means "no more." In the earliest known uses, which date to the 16th century, it was used as a noun synonymous with quandary. Someone brought to a nonplus had reached an impasse in an argument and could say no more. Within a few decades of the first known use of the noun, people began using nonplus as a verb, and today it is often used in participial form with the meaning "perplexed" (as in "Joellen's nasty remark left us utterly nonplussed"). 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 May 7, 2016 is: amicable • \AM-ih-kuh-bul\ • adjective : characterized by friendly goodwill : peaceable Examples: Tim and Audrey's relationship remained amicable even after they broke up. "Throughout the conference, my colleagues and I engaged in amicable and productive talks, which gave us important insights on what it would take to secure regional support for the post-Taliban government." — Zalmay Khalilzad, Politico, 28 Mar. 2016 Did you know? Amicable, which derives from Late Latin amicabilis, meaning "friendly," is one of a set of English words used to suggest cordial relationships. Amicable, neighborly, companionable, and friendly all mean marked by or exhibiting goodwill and an absence of antagonism. Amicable implies a state of peace and a desire on the part of the parties not to quarrel ("they maintained amicable relations"; "the amicable process of bargaining"). Neighborly implies a disposition to live on good terms with others, particularly those who are nearby, and to be helpful on principle ("neighborly concern"). Companionable suggests sociability and companionship ("a companionable dinner with friends"). Friendly stresses cordiality and often warmth or intimacy of personal relations ("a friendly correspondence"). 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 May 6, 2016 is: tranche • \TRAHNSH\ • noun : a division or portion of a pool or whole Examples: "JPMorgan Chase must retain 5% of each tranche, or class, of notes to be issued by the trust…. The bank must also comply with disclosure and reporting requirements introduced for securitization…." — Allison Bisbey, The American Banker, 17 Mar. 2016 "The sale of a first tranche of shares to private investors via an initial public offering (IPO) … could start as soon as next year, with the eventual aim of being big enough to potentially buy some of the world's largest companies…." — Terry Macalister, The Guardian, 1 Apr. 2016 Did you know? In French, tranche means "slice." Cutting deeper into the word's etymology, we find the Old French word trancer, meaning "to cut." Tranche emerged in the English language in the late 19th century to describe financial appropriations. Today, it is often used specifically of an issue of bonds that is differentiated from other issues by such factors as maturity or rate of return. Another use of the French word tranche is in the French phrase une tranche de vie, meaning "a cross section of life." That phrase was coined by the dramatist Jean Jullien (1854-1919), who advocated naturalism in the theater. 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 May 5, 2016 is: gormandize • \GOR-mun-dyze\ • verb : to eat greedily, gluttonously, or ravenously Examples: "People stuff themselves, they gorge, they gormandize; their fingers are greasy from morning to night." — Philippe Sagant, The Dozing Shaman, 1996 "While my ability to gormandize has slackened over the years, my enthusiasm for cooking big has only grown." — Henry Miller, The Statesman Journal (Salem, Oregon), 19 Dec. 2013 Did you know? Gormandize entered English in the mid-1500s as a modification of gourmand, a term borrowed from the French that served as a synonym of glutton. The meaning of gourmand softened over time, developing in the mid-18th century a sense referring to one who is "heartily interested in good food and drink." It wasn't until the early 19th century that the wholly positive gourmet became established. Whether that now-common word encouraged the adoption of or was influenced by the softer meaning of gourmand is unknown. Gormandize, too, has softened over time, but only slightly: it can now also imply that a big eater has a discriminating palate as well as a generous appetite. 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 May 4, 2016 is: wisenheimer • \WYE-zun-hye-mer\ • noun : smart aleck Examples: Leslie delivered a flawless presentation even in spite of interruptions from the wisenheimers in the back of the classroom. "… we both come from incredibly saucy families who love to sling it every which way, so it just seemed natural for us to cross our fingers that any children we had would be little wisenheimers." — Lisa Sugarman, The Daily Ardmoreite (Ardmore, Oklahoma), 20 Dec. 2015 Did you know? We wouldn't joke around about the origin of this witty word. In the early 20th century, someone had the smart idea to combine the adjective wise (one sense of which means "insolent, smart-alecky, or fresh") with -enheimer, playing on the pattern of family names such as Oppenheimer and Guggenheimer. Of course, wisenheimer isn't the only "wise-" word for someone who jokes around. There's also wiseacre, wisecracker, and wise guy. All of these jokesters are fond of making wisecracks. 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 May 3, 2016 is: callow • \KAL-oh\ • adjective : lacking adult sophistication : immature Examples: "So callow was Williams that there was a clause in his first contract, which he signed at the age of 18, that stipulated the team would pay for his mother to be with him at least one week of every month." — Steve Hummer, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, 9 Dec. 2012 "At 5-10, 145 pounds, Justin Thomas, 22, seems too slight and callow to be a good example … of the foundational act on which modern professional golf is built. At least until he springs into his downswing with a driver." — Golf Digest, February 2016 Did you know? You might not expect a relationship between the word callow and baldness, but that connection does in fact exist. Callow comes from calu, a word that meant "bald" in Middle English and Old English. By the 17th century, callow had come to mean "without feathers" and was applied to young birds not yet ready for flight. The term was also used for those who hadn't yet spread their wings in a figurative sense. Callow continues to mean "inexperienced" or "unsophisticated" today. 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 May 2, 2016 is: moil • \MOYL\ • verb 1 : to work hard : drudge 2 : to be in continuous agitation : churn, swirl Examples: Revelations that the popular motivational speaker was born into a wealthy family cast further doubts on his claims that he holds the secret to finding wealth without the need to toil and moil. "Playwright Eugene O'Neill moiled over several works, including 'Strange Interlude,' in a summer rental cottage you'll pass if you're on the historical walking tour." — Susan Bayer Ward, The Chicago Daily Herald, 15 May 2005 Did you know? Moil may mean "to work hard" but its origins are the opposite of hard; it ultimately derives from Latin mollis, meaning "soft." (Other English derivatives of mollis are emollient, mollify, and mollusk.) A more immediate ancestor of moil is the Anglo-French verb moiller, meaning "to make wet, dampen," and one of the early meanings of moil in English was "to become wet and muddy." The "work hard" sense of moil appears most frequently in the pairing "toil and moil." Both moil and toil can also be nouns meaning "work." Moil implies work that is drudgery and toil suggests prolonged and fatiguing labor. 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 May 1, 2016 is: Beltane • \BEL-tayn\ • noun : the Celtic May Day festival Examples: Although Beltane celebrates the approach of summer, those attending the Beltane Fire Festival in Edinburgh, Scotland, are warned to dress for the cool weather that is typical of early spring there. "It's believed that when the goddess wakes from a long winter's sleep in March, she thaws the Earth and starts its life cycle anew. This rebirth, so to speak, is what sets the stage for the Pagan holiday Beltane, a fertility festival that occurs one month later." — Sara Coughlin, Refinery29 (refinery29.com), 18 Mar. 2016 Did you know? To the ancient Celts, May Day was a critical time when the boundaries between the human and supernatural worlds were removed and people needed to take special measures to protect themselves against enchantments. The Beltane fire festival originated in a spring ritual in which cattle were herded between two huge bonfires to protect them from evil and disease. The earliest known mention of Beltane (formerly spelled beltene, belltaine, and beltine) is in an Old Irish dictionary commonly attributed to Cormac, a king and bishop who lived in Cashel, Ireland, toward the end of the first millennium. The Beltane spelling entered English in the 15th century by way of Scottish Gaelic. 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 April 30, 2016 is: decorous • \DECK-er-us\ • adjective : marked by propriety and good taste : correct Examples: Before making her daily announcements, the principal mentioned how proud she was of the students' decorous conduct at their prom. "When, during the constitutional convention in Philadelphia in 1787, the discussion, polite and decorous till then, grew rather heated, Benjamin Franklin implored the delegates as follows: 'It has given me a great pleasure to observe that till this point … our debates were carried on with great coolness and temper. If anything of a contrary kind has on this occasion appeared I hope it will not be repeated….'" — Emanuel Epstein, The Davis (California) Enterprise, 5 Feb. 2016 Did you know? The current meaning of decorous dates from the mid-17th century. One of the word's earliest recorded uses appears in a book titled The Rules of Civility (1673): "It is not decorous to look in the Glass, to comb, brush, or do any thing of that nature to ourselves, whilst the said person be in the Room." Decorous for a time had another meaning as well—"fitting or appropriate"—but that now-obsolete sense seems to have existed for only a few decades in the 17th century. Decorous derives from the Latin word decorus, an adjective created from the noun decor, meaning "beauty" or "grace." Decor is akin to the Latin verb decēre ("to be fitting"), which is the source of our adjective decent. It is only fitting, then, that decent can be a synonym of decorous. 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 April 29, 2016 is: mulct • \MULKT\ • verb 1 : to punish by a fine 2 a : to defraud especially of money : swindle b : to obtain by fraud, duress, or theft Examples: Francis was finally barred from the securities industry when it was discovered he'd been mulcting investors for years. "Attacking these firms is a crowd-pleasing sport for lawmakers, in part because every constituent has a story about being mulcted by a card issuer." — Michael Hiltzik, The Los Angeles Times, 4 May 2009 Did you know? A fine assessed as a penalty for an infraction is generally considered justifiable. Fraud, on the other hand, is wrong—it's just the sort of thing that deserves a fine. So in mulct we have a unique word, one that means both "to fine" and "to defraud." The "fine" sense came first. Mulct was borrowed from the Latin word for a fine, which is multa or mulcta. The "fine" sense is still in use, mostly in legal contexts ("the court mulcted the defendant for punitive damages"), but these days mulct is more often used for an illegal act. It has been speculated that the use may have come about by association with the verb milk, in its sense "to exploit, to coerce profit from" (as in "she was milked by the lawyers for everything she had"), but that speculation has never been proven. 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 April 28, 2016 is: invincible • \in-VIN-suh-bul\ • adjective : incapable of being conquered, overcome, or subdued Examples: "He calls the mixture Bulletproof coffee. Drink it, the name implies, and you'll feel invincible." — Gordy Megroz, Bloomberg Businessweek, 4 May 2015 "Eventually he stops terrorizing poor Holly Hunter and retires to Superman's spaceship … where he uses the Krypton Siri to create the invincible supervillain whom Batman and Superman will have to fight after they're done throwing each other through various walls…." — Rob Havilla, Deadspin, 23 Mar. 2016 Did you know? The origins of invincible are easily subdued. The word derives, via Middle French, from Late Latin invincibilis—a combination of the negative prefix in- with vincibilis, an adjective meaning "conquerable," from the Latin verb vincere, "to conquer." Other descendants of vincere in English include convince, evince, vanquish, and even victor. Vincere also gave English vincible, meaning (unsurprisingly) "capable of being overcome or subdued," though it is significantly less common than invincible. 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 April 27, 2016 is: belvedere • \BEL-vuh-deer\ • noun : a structure (such as a cupola or summerhouse) designed to command a view Examples: The couple wandered down to the belvedere at the edge of the bluff to take in the vivid colors of the sunset. "… he chiefly talked of the view from the little belvedere on the roof of the casino, and how it looked like the prospect from a castle turret in a fairy tale." — Henry James, Roderick Hudson, 1875 Did you know? It is said that beauty is in the eye of the beholder—and someone with a belvedere will likely have a great deal of beauty to behold. Given the origins of the word, belvedere is the ideal term for a building (or part of a building) with a view; it derives from two Italian words, bel, which means "beautiful," and vedere, which means "view." The term has been used in English since the 1570s. 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 April 26, 2016 is: inveterate • \in-VET-uh-rut\ • adjective 1 : firmly established by long persistence 2 : confirmed in a habit : habitual Examples: Since Ernie is an inveterate liar, we naturally didn't believe him when he told us he'd met the movie star. "As an inveterate letter writer, I started sending email as soon as I could sign on with dial-up, and became impatient to connect via DSL." — Deborah Lee Luskin, The Rutland (Vermont) Herald, 25 Feb. 2016 Did you know? Like veteran, inveterate ultimately comes from Latin vetus, which means "old," and which led to the Latin verb inveterare ("to age"). That verb in turn gave rise eventually to the adjective inveteratus, the direct source of our adjective inveterate (in use since the 14th century). In the past, inveterate has meant "long-standing" or simply "old." For example, one 16th-century writer warned of "Those great Flyes which in the springe time of the yeare creepe out of inveterate walls." Today, inveterate most often applies to a habit, attitude, or feeling of such long existence that it is practically ineradicable or unalterable. 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 April 25, 2016 is: juxtapose • \JUK-stuh-pohz\ • verb : to place side by side (as to compare or contrast) Examples: Darlene has a keen eye for fashion, and she likes to juxtapose vintage pieces with contemporary styles to create new looks. "ESPN posted an image of poverty outside Havana's sports stadium last week, to juxtapose the well-kept stadium with the shabby neighborhood around it." — Carolina Miranda, The Los Angeles Times (latimes.com), 28 Mar. 2016 Did you know? A back-formation is a word that has come about through the removal of a prefix or a suffix from a longer word. Etymologists think juxtapose is a back-formation that was created when people trimmed down the noun juxtaposition. Historical evidence supports the idea: juxtaposition was showing up in English documents as early as 1654, but juxtapose didn't appear until 1851. Juxtaposition is itself thought to be a combination of Latin juxta, meaning "near," and English position. 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 April 24, 2016 is: omniscient • \ahm-NISH-unt\ • adjective 1 : having infinite awareness, understanding, and insight 2 : possessed of universal or complete knowledge Examples: The novel opens with an omniscient narrator recalling memories of her twelfth birthday. "Digital advertisers … are increasingly omniscient: no longer do advertisers know just general things about you—a worldly professional, say, with superb taste in journalism—but they target you, specifically." — The Economist, 26 Mar. 2016 Did you know? One who is omniscient literally knows all. The word omniscient, which has been part of English since at least the beginning of the 17th century, brings together two Latin roots: the prefix omni-, meaning "all," and the verb scire, meaning "to know." You will recognize omni- as the prefix that tells all in such words as omnivorous ("eating all" or, more precisely, "eating both meat and vegetables") and omnipotent ("all-powerful"). Scire likewise has a number of other knowledge-related descendants in English, including conscience, science, and prescience (meaning "foreknowledge"). 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 April 23, 2016 is: exodus • \EK-suh-dus\ • noun 1 : (capitalized) the mainly narrative second book of canonical Jewish and Christian Scripture 2 : a mass departure : emigration Examples: When the concert ended, the exodus of attendees clogged up traffic for miles. "The path of corporate exodus from New York City to New Jersey is well-worn, but real estate brokers and others say that the pace has quickened recently." — Kathleen Lynn, The Record (Bergen County, New Jersey), 28 Feb. 2016 Did you know? The Biblical book of Exodus describes the departure of the Israelites from Egypt, so it's no surprise that the word has come to refer more generally to any mass departure. The word itself was adopted into English (via Latin) from Greek Exodos, which literally means "the road out." The Greek word was formed by combining the prefix ex- and hodos, meaning "road" or "way." Other descendants of the prolific hodos in English include episode, method, odometer, and period. There are also several scientific words that can be traced back to hodos. Anode and cathode can refer, respectively, to the positive and negative electrodes of a diode, and hodoscope refers to an instrument for tracing the paths of ionizing particles. 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 April 22, 2016 is: noetic • \noh-ET-ik\ • adjective : of, relating to, or based on the intellect Examples: In addition to her chemistry courses, Elena took electives in philosophy and the classics to satisfy her thirst for noetic stimulation. "But the new emphasis on curiosity as a noetic virtue adds a note of transcendence to the portrait of the ideal thinker." — John J. Conley, America: The National Catholic Review, 1 Feb. 2016 Did you know? Noetic derives from the Greek adjective noētikos, meaning "intellectual," from the verb noein ("to think") and ultimately from the noun nous, meaning "mind." (Nous also gave English the word paranoia by joining with a prefix meaning "faulty" or "abnormal.") Noetic is related to noesis, a rare noun that turns up in the field of philosophy and refers to the action of perceiving or thinking. The most notable use of noetic might be in the name of the Institute of Noetic Sciences, a research organization based in California that is devoted to studies of consciousness and the mind. 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 April 21, 2016 is: litany • \LIT-uh-nee\ • noun 1 : a prayer consisting of a series of invocations and supplications by the leader with alternate responses by the congregation 2 a : a resonant or repetitive chant b : a usually lengthy recitation or enumeration c : a sizable series or set Examples: "In a silent inner litany, I say 'thank you' for the magnificent gifts of a healthy body: lungs that breathe the cool, foggy air; a nose that smells eucalyptus leaves and banana muffins; eyes that see hummingbirds swooping outside my window; a tongue that has just savored a golden, juicy peach." — Anne Cushman, The Yoga Journal, January/February 2004 "A litany of NFL stars have retired early in recent years, with most of them citing the dangers of football as the primary reason they decided to hang it up." — Alex Reimer, Forbes, 28 Mar. 2016 Did you know? Litany came to English through Anglo-French and Late Latin, ultimately from the Greek word litaneia, meaning "entreaty." Litany refers literally to a type of prayer in which a series of lines are spoken alternately by a leader and a congregation. This use dates to the 13th century. Between that century and the 20th, three figurative senses developed. The chant-like quality of a literal litany led first to a "repetitive chant" sense. Next, the repetitious—and sometimes interminable—nature of the original litany led to a "lengthy recitation" sense. Finally, the "lengthy recitation" sense was extended to refer to any sizable series or set. 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 April 20, 2016 is: piebald • \PYE-bawld\ • adjective 1 : composed of incongruous parts 2 : of different colors; especially : spotted or blotched with black and white Examples: The horse she most enjoys riding is a sleek, leggy piebald mare. "What they did find, though, were some surprise photos of a piebald deer, something few people ever get to see in the woods." — Brenda Charpentier, The New Hampshire Sunday News, 3 Jan. 2016 Did you know? To many people, the noisy black and white birds that go by the scientific name Pica pica—better known as magpies—are nothing but pests. But the Latin root that was adopted for their name isn't a linguistic nuisance; it played an important role in the development of piebald. The pie of piebald (pie is another name for a magpie) derives from pica, which is Latin for "magpie." The other part of piebald comes from the word bald, which can mean "marked with white"; it can also be found in skewbald, an adjective used to describe animals marked with patches of white and any other color but black. 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 April 19, 2016 is: koine • \koy-NAY\ • noun 1 : the Greek language commonly spoken and written in eastern Mediterranean countries in the Hellenistic and Roman periods 2 : a dialect or language of a region that has become the common or standard language of a larger area Examples: "Examples of koines … include the Hindi/Bhojpuri varieties spoken in Fiji and South Africa, and the speech of 'new towns' such as Høyanger in Norway and Milton Keynes in England." — Paul Kerswill, in The Handbook of Language Variation and Change, 2013 "Hedrick has taken 30 hours of ancient languages—rendering him proficient in koine Greek, Aramaic and ancient Hebrew—and he tutored students in those subjects while in Greece." — Angela Spencer, ArkansasOnline.com, 28 Feb. 2016 Did you know? Koine, which means "common" or "shared" in Greek, was the language spoken in the eastern Mediterranean countries from the 4th century B.C.E. until the time of the Byzantine emperor Justinian (mid-6th century C.E.). In linguistics, the word koine is applied to a language developed from contact between dialects of the same language over a large region. Basically, a koine adopts those grammatical and lexical elements from the dialects of the region that are easily recognized by most area speakers and dispenses with those that are not. 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 April 18, 2016 is: unctuous • \UNK-chuh-wus\ • adjective 1 a : fatty, oily b : smooth and greasy in texture or appearance 2 : plastic 3 : insincerely smooth in speech and manner Examples: Anna was thankful that the unctuous man who first greeted her at the modeling agency would not be the person she would be working with. "To make the most of its amazing qualities, marinate the lamb for a few hours and then slow-cook the meat. Over time, the layers of fat reduce to sticky, unctuous, lip-smacking perfection and help keep the meat moist…." — Ben Tish, The Guardian, 5 Mar. 2016 Did you know? Nowadays, unctuous usually has a negative connotation, but it originated as a term describing a positive act, that of healing. The word comes from the Latin verb unguere ("to anoint"), a root that also gave rise to the words unguent ("a soothing or healing salve") and ointment. The oily nature of ointments may have led to the application of unctuous to describe things marked by an artificial gloss of sentimentality. An unctuous individual may mean well, but his or her insincere earnestness can leave an unwelcome residue with others, much like some ointments. 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 April 17, 2016 is: fossick • \FAH-sik\ • verb 1 : (Australia & New Zealand) to search about especially for gold or gemstones 2 : (chiefly Australia & New Zealand) to search about : rummage Examples: As teenagers, the twins spent many summer afternoons fossicking for opals in the old mine. "McDowall outlines the last day's activities: a morning jaunt to Southport…, then the afternoon at Franklin discovering the Wooden Boat Centre, fossicking for antiques and having a pint at a colourful local bar." — Kendall Hill, The Australian, 20 Feb. 2016 Did you know? The first people to fossick (in the oldest and still-current meaning of the word), back in the 1850s, were picking over abandoned mining excavations in Australia and New Zealand 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, as we know it, is a native of Down Under, but it may have its origins in a word known to immigrants from the United Kingdom: the dialect term fussock, meaning "to bustle about" or "to fidget." 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 April 16, 2016 is: withy • \WITH-ee\ • noun 1 : willow; especially : one whose pliable twigs are used for furniture and basketry 2 : a flexible slender twig or branch Examples: "The switch, significantly, is … a withy of great suppleness and bite, a two-edged sword." — Janette Turner Hospital, The Last Magician, 1992 "'Care to walk up wi' me, Sassenach? It's a fine morning, and ye can bring your wee basket.' He cocked an ironic eye at the enormous withy basket I used for gathering." — Diana Gabaldon, Outlander, 1991 Did you know? Withy is a word with several synonyms. In its broadest use, it is simply another word for "willow," but it can also be used for a particular category of willows which are also known by the name osier. Additionally, the word withe can be substituted for the "flexible slender twig or branch" sense of withy. Osier entered English from medieval French, whereas willow, withy, and withe all have their origins in Old English. Willow comes from welig; withy comes from wīthig; and withe comes from withthe, a word indirectly related to wīthig. 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 April 15, 2016 is: galvanize • \GAL-vuh-nyze\ • verb 1 : to subject to the action of an electric current especially for the purpose of stimulating physiologically 2 a : to stimulate or excite as if by an electric shock b : to react as if stimulated by an electric shock 3 : to coat (iron or steel) with zinc; especially : to immerse in molten zinc to produce a coating of zinc-iron alloy Examples: The singer was amazed by how her single tweet galvanized so much support from the Twitter community. "Prime Minister Narendra Modi's new push for accessibility has galvanized a disability rights movement in a country with a notably poor record on inclusive infrastructure." — Rama Lakshmi, The Washington Post, 21 Mar. 2016 Did you know? Luigi Galvani was an Italian physician and physicist who, in the 1770s, studied the electrical nature of nerve impulses by applying electrical stimulation to frogs' leg muscles, causing them to contract. Although Galvani's theory that animal tissue contained an innate electrical impulse was disproven, the Italian word galvanismo came to describe a current of electricity especially when produced by chemical action. English speakers borrowed the word as galvanism around 1797; the verb galvanize appeared a few years later, in the early 19th century. Charlotte Brontë used the verb figuratively in her 1853 novel Villette: "Her approach always galvanized him to new and spasmodic life." These days, galvanize also means to cover metal with zinc or a zinc alloy to protect it from rust (as in galvanized carpentry nails). 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 April 14, 2016 is: canaille • \kuh-NYE\ • noun 1 : rabble, riffraff 2 : proletarian Examples: "I am not going to write for [The New York Weekly]—like all other papers that pay one splendidly, it circulates among stupid people & the canaille." — Mark Twain, letter, 1 June 1867 "Where the beau monde leads, the canaille will follow." — Richard Brookhiser, The New York Observer,12 May 2003 Did you know? For a creature said to be man's best friend, the dog doesn't get a whole lot of respect in the English language. Something that has "gone to the dogs," for example, has gone to ruin, and the Britishism dog's breakfast means a confused mess of something. The word canaille, which debuted in English in the 17th century, shows that we have no qualms about associating dogs with the lower levels of human society; it derives via French from Italian canaglia, and ultimately from canis, the Latin word for "dog." Canis, of course, is also the source of canine, which as a noun refers to a dog (as well as a conical pointed tooth), and as an adjective means "of or relating to dogs or to the family to which they belong." 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 April 13, 2016 is: sedentary • \SED-un-tair-ee\ • adjective 1 : not migratory : settled 2 a : doing or requiring much sitting b : not physically active 3 : permanently attached Examples: Erica much preferred working outside in the fresh air to the sedentary office job she held last summer. "It's well known that leading a sedentary life is detrimental to long-term health and puts a person at higher risk for chronic conditions such as heart disease, diabetes and cancer. But research shows that spending more time on the couch and less time being active is also a fast-track to cognitive decline." — Jessica Firger, Newsweek, 10 Feb. 2016 Did you know? English speakers borrowed sedentary in the late 16th century from Middle French sedentaire, which in turn derives from Latin sedentarius. Sedentarius, which means "of one that sits," is from the present participle of the verb sedēre, meaning "to sit." Other descendants of sedēre in English include dissident, insidious, preside, reside, and subsidy. Sedēre is also the base of the rare word sedens, a noun meaning "a person who remains a resident of the place or region of his birth." 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 April 12, 2016 is: hobnob • \HAHB-nahb\ • verb : to associate familiarly Examples: "We were so far from A-listers they couldn't see us with a telescope, yet there we were, hobnobbing with athletes and celebrities, all the while making good use of the free drinks and appetizers, especially the sushi rolls." — Eric Plummer, The Coeur d'Alene (Idaho) Press, 14 Feb. 2016 "The Oscars ceremony might be one of the most prestigious events in the celebrity world, but the Vanity Fair celebration is the most exclusive after-party … in which all of the movie stars in all of the land are brought to one large building to hobnob and glad-hand and get away from the mortals." — Monica Hesse, The Washington Post, 1 Mar. 2016 Did you know? Hob and nob first came together in print in Shakespeare's Twelfth Night, when Sir Toby Belch warns Viola (who is disguised as a man) that Sir Andrew wants to duel. "Hob, nob is his word," says Sir Toby, using hob and nob to mean something like "hit or miss." Sir Toby's words are probably from the term habnab (also styled as a phrase: hab or nab), which meant "in one way or another" or "however it may turn out." After Shakespeare's day, hob and nob became established in the phrase to drink hobnob (also styled as to drink hob or nob), which meant "to drink alternately to each other." Since "drinking hobnob" was generally done among friends, hobnob came to refer to congenial social interaction. 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 April 11, 2016 is: twee • \TWEE\ • adjective : (chiefly British) affectedly or excessively dainty, delicate, cute, or quaint Examples: The cutesy knickknacks sold in that shop are a bit twee for my taste. "Some of the footage from decades gone by showcases amusingly twee TV staging and set design…." — Jack Seale, The Guardian, 11 Mar. 2016 . Did you know? Most adults wouldn't be caught dead saying, "Oh, look at the twee little birdie!" but they probably wouldn't be averse to saying: "He went fishing with his dad," "She works as a nanny," or "Hey, buddy, how's it going?" Anyone who uses dad, nanny, or buddy owes a debt to "baby talk," a term used for both the childish speech adults adopt when addressing youngsters and for the speech of small children who are just learning to talk. Twee also originated in baby talk as an alteration of sweet. In the early 1900s, it was a term of affection, but nowadays British speakers and writers—and, increasingly, Americans as well—use twee for things that have passed beyond agreeable and into the realm of cloying. 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 April 10, 2016 is: exasperate • \ig-ZASS-puh-rayt\ • verb 1 : to excite the anger of : enrage 2 : to cause irritation or annoyance to Examples: Lila quickly became exasperated by her new roommate's habit of leaving her dirty dishes in the sink. "'Bless me, Father, for I have sinned' are the first words we hear from Mannix, a married Catholic who exasperates his priest in Confession by asking forgiveness on an almost daily basis." — Peter Travers, Rolling Stone, 23 Feb. 2016 Did you know? Exasperate hangs with a rough crowd. It derives from exasperatus, the past participle of the Latin verb exasperare, which in turn was formed by combining ex- with asper, meaning "rough." Another descendant of asper in English is asperity, which can refer to the roughness of a surface or the roughness of someone's temper. Another relative, albeit a distant one, is the English word spurn, meaning "to reject." Lest you wish to exasperate your readers, you should take care not to confuse exasperate with the similar-sounding exacerbate, another Latin-derived verb that means "to make worse," as in "Their refusal to ask for help only exacerbated the problem." 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 April 9, 2016 is: wherefore • \WAIR-for\ • adverb 1 : for what reason or purpose : why 2 : therefore Examples: "What had already fallen from her, however, had not only piqued his curiosity, but seriously alarmed him, wherefore he urged her to tell him the worst at once." — Charles Dickens, The Old Curiosity Shop, 1841 "There's a frivolity to the lopsidedness with which Hyundai designed the 2012 Veloster.... The left brain just doesn't know what to make of it, and frankly, we can sympathize: 'Wherefore the asymmetry?' it asks, brow furrowed in frustration." — Natalie Neff, AutoWeek, 31 Oct. 2011 Did you know? When Shakespeare's Juliet asks, "O Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou Romeo?" she is not inquiring into her beloved's whereabouts. Rather she is asking why it is that Romeo must be Romeo, a member of the Montague family and, therefore, an enemy of Juliet's own family, the Capulets. Yet, wherefore does wherefore mean "why"? Starting in the early 13th century, a number of new words were formed by combining where with a preposition. In such words, where had the meaning of "what" or "which," giving the English language such adverbs as wherein ("in what"), whereon ("on what"), and wherefore ("for what"). English speakers have largely dropped the adverb wherefore in favor of why, but the noun wherefore, meaning "an answer or statement giving an explanation," continues to be used, particularly in the phrase "the whys and wherefores." See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.