Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for August 18, 2014 is: backstairs • \BAK-stairz\ • adjective : secret, furtive; also : sordid, scandalous Examples: The article accuses the influential Washington lobbyist of having been involved in a number of backstairs deals to limit regulation of financial institutions. "During the protracted balloting-it went four rounds before Jackson was declared the winner-backstairs talks began, aimed at stopping Jackson, according to operatives." -Jeff E. Schapiro, Richmond Times-Dispatch (Virginia), May 22, 2013 Did you know? When Roger Boyle, 1st Earl of Orrery, wrote in 1654 about leading someone "down a back-stairs," he wasn’t referring to anything scandalous. He simply meant "down a secondary set of stairs at the back of a house." Just over a decade earlier, however, Boyle’s contemporary, Sir Edward Dering, had used the phrase "going up the back-stairs" in a figurative way to suggest a means of approach that was not entirely honest and upfront. The figurative use likely arose from the simple notion that the stairs at the rear of a building are less visible and thus allow for a certain degree of sneakiness. By 1663, "backstairs" was also being used adjectivally to describe something done furtively, often with an underhanded or sinister connotation. 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 August 17, 2014 is: crazy-quilt • \KRAY-zee-KWILT\ • adjective : resembling a patchwork quilt without a design : haphazard Examples: "No one questioned her comings and goings; her crazy-quilt schedule was attributed to familial and civic duties." - Toni Cade Bambara, Those Bones Are Not My Child, 1999 "The crazy quilt nature of the music Miles Davis made at the Fillmore in 1970 is one of its best features. His rowdy players showed him other ways to bring the funk." - Kevin Whitehead, National Public Radio, May 16, 2014 Did you know? A crazy quilt is a quilt with no perceivable design or pattern, lacking repeating motifs, and often made out of discarded scraps of cloth. Shortly after crazy quilts became popular in the late nineteenth century, the term "crazy quilt" found a place in English as a metaphor for things that appear random, unplanned, or out of order; for example, testimony in the 1896 Proceedings of the Illinois State Bar Association asserted that "We all know that as juries are instructed now, the instructions are a crazy-quilt-just a crazy-quilt, and nothing else." The adjective came about soon afterward. A more common term to describe crazy quilts, "patchwork," also describes something composed of ill-assorted, miscellaneous, or incongruous parts. 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 August 16, 2014 is: jink • \JINK\ • verb : to move quickly or unexpectedly with sudden turns and shifts (as in dodging) Examples: "Two fighters immediately launched missiles, and the American aircraft jinked up, then down to lose them." - Tom Clancy, Red Storm Rising, 1986 "Robben jinked and juked his way down Holland’s right wing seemingly at will, leaving helpless defenders tackling air as he motored past them into open space." - Nicholas Nehamas and Jacob Feldman, The Miami Herald, July 14, 2014 Did you know? The investigation into the origins of "jink" begins with documents from 18th century Scotland. Unfortunately, they contain no clear indication of how this shifty little word was formed. What can be said with certainty is that the word has always expressed a quick or unexpected motion. For instance, in two poems from 1785, Robert Burns uses the verb to indicate both the quick motion of a fiddler's elbow and the sudden disappearance of a cheat around a corner. In the 20th century, the verb caught on with air force pilots and rugby players, who began using it to describe their elusive maneuvers to dodge opponents and enemies. "Jink" can also be used as a noun meaning "a quick evasive turn" or, in its plural form, "pranks." (Etymologists are quite certain that the latter use is connected with the term "high jinks.") 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 August 15, 2014 is: rapport • \ra-POR\ • noun : relation : especially : relation marked by harmony, conformity, accord, or affinity Examples: Once our daughter had developed a rapport with her piano teacher, she began to show some real enthusiasm for learning and practicing the piano. "In general, the new superintendent will be responsible for promoting the individual identity of each of the parks, and building rapport with members of communities in which the historic sites are located." - Joe L. Hughes II, The Gaffney Ledger (South Carolina), July 11, 2014 Did you know? One thing that may occur to you when considering today’s word is its resemblance to an even more common English word, "report." "Report" comes from the French verb "reporter" and "rapport" comes from the French "rapporter." Both verbs mean "to bring back" and can be traced back to the Latin verb "portare," meaning "to carry." "Rapporter" also has the additional sense of "to report," which influenced the original English meaning of "rapport" ("an act or instance of reporting"). That sense of "rapport" dropped out of regular use by the end of the 19th 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 August 14, 2014 is: aperçu • \ap-er-SOO\ • noun 1 : a brief survey or sketch : outline 2 : an immediate impression; especially : an intuitive insight Examples: "On every other page, there's a nice apercu: breath is 'cooked air'; perfume is 'liquid memory'; when astronauts are weightless in their spaceship, they lose their sense of smell…." - Anatole Broyard, New York Times Book Review, 29 July 1990 "As a poet, Mr. Lehman has always been conversational in style, given to seemingly casual aperçus that take on a larger resonance…." - Sarah Douglas, New York Observer, October 29, 2013 Did you know? In French, "aperçu" is the past participle of the verb "apercevoir" ("to perceive" or "to comprehend"), which in turn comes from Latin "percipere" ("to perceive"). (The same verb also gave us "apperceive," meaning "to have consciousness of oneself," and the noun "apperception," meaning "introspective self-consciousness" or "mental perception.") "Aperçu" in French is also a noun meaning "glimpse" or "outline, general idea." English speakers borrowed the noun "aperçu," meaning and all, in the early 19th 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 August 13, 2014 is: Janus-faced • \JAY-nus-fayst\ • adjective : having two contrasting aspects; especially : duplicitous, two-faced Examples: The dancers wore grotesque Janus-faced masks, flashing faces of terror and pleasure as they twirled about the stage. "The helmsman decreased speed a fraction, steering the boat to mid-river. The surface was glassy and the reflections of the trees made it difficult to tell up from down. A Janus-faced river, Harry thought." - Ward Just, American Romantic, 2014 Did you know? In Roman religion, Janus was the deity who presided over doors, gates, archways, and all beginnings, structural and temporal (the month of January is named for him). He is represented as having a single head with two faces looking in opposite directions. The shrine of Janus in the Roman Forum was a rectangular bronze structure with double doors at each end. Traditionally, the doors were left open in times of war and kept closed in times of peace. That open/closed dichotomy, along with the deity's two-faced head, confers duplicity and contrariness to the word "Janus," evinced in the meaning of the term "Janus-faced." 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 August 12, 2014 is: abscond • \ab-SKAHND\ • verb : to depart secretly and hide oneself Examples: Before anyone could catch on to the fact that Roger was embezzling funds from the company, he had absconded to Mexico with over $100,000. "Turns out that if you get caught gatecrashing a White House state dinner with your wife, after which said wife absconds with the guitarist from Journey, who you wrongly accuse of kidnapping her, it tends to stick in people's minds." -Marianna Garvey, Brian Niemietz and Oli Coleman, The Daily News (New York), June 2, 2014 Did you know? First appearing in English in the 16th century, "abscond" derives from Latin "abscondere," meaning "to hide away," a product of the prefix "ab-" and "condere," a verb meaning "to conceal." ("Condere" is also the root for "recondite," a word meaning "concealed" as well as "hard to understand" or "obscure.") In general usage, "abscond" refers to any act of running away and hiding (usually from the law and often with funds), but, in legal circles, the word is used specifically when someone who has already become the focus of a legal proceeding hides or takes off in order to evade the legal process (as in "absconded from parole"). 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 August 11, 2014 is: wyvern • \WYE-vern\ • noun : a mythical animal usually represented as a 2-legged winged creature resembling a dragon Examples: Symbols commonly used in heraldry include a number of mythical creatures, among them the winged wyvern. "Wyverns keep a silent watch over the people of Leicester from rooftops and steeples across the city. Their coiled, winged bodies, part serpent part dragon, have been entwined in our ancient history for hundreds of years." - Leicester Mercury (United Kingdom), June 13, 2014 Did you know? Wyverns are often depicted as having the tail of a viper-a venomous snake-and that fact is reflected in the etymology of "wyvern": it comes ultimately from the Latin word "vipera," which means "viper." ("Vipera" is also, of course, the source of our word "viper.") The creature the wyvern most closely resembles, however, is the also-mythical dragon. "Dragon" is a much older word-it has been in use since the 13th century, while "wyvern" dates to the early 17th-but it too has snakes in its history. The word originally referred not to the lizard-like creature we imagine today but to a huge serpent. 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 August 10, 2014 is: bootless • \BOOT-lus\ • adjective : useless, unprofitable Examples: We already knew that our mechanic was on vacation, so any attempt to call him at his garage would be bootless. "The international alliance that won the Cold War has been bootless in the case of Syria." -David Ignatius, Washington Post, February 12, 2014 Did you know? This sense of "bootless" has nothing to do with footwear. The "boot" in this case is an obsolete noun that meant "use" or "avail." That "boot" descended from Old English "bōt" and is ultimately related to our modern word "better," whose remote Germanic ancestor meant literally "of more use." Of course, English does also see the occasional use of "bootless" to mean simply "lacking boots," as Anne Brontë used the word in Agnes Grey (1847): "And what would their parents think of me, if they saw or heard the children rioting, hatless, bonnetless, gloveless, and bootless, in the deep soft snow?" 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 August 9, 2014 is: apophasis • \uh-PAH-fuh-sis\ • noun : the raising of an issue by claiming not to mention it Examples: "I won't bring up that little incident that happened the last time you tried to cook a meal," said Laura, in a blatant display of apophasis. "The hope is that if people recognize when rhetoric is being used to deceive, they will learn to use more persuasive language themselves. For example, salespeople tell us 'you don't need to decide now.' This is apophasis, whereby the negative words do not stick in our minds and appear to reject a point while actually emphasizing it." - Nicholas Cole, Alternatives Journal, 2014 Did you know? Apophasis is a sly debater's trick, a way of sneaking an issue into the discussion while maintaining plausible deniability. It should come as no surprise, then, that the roots of "apophasis" lie in the concept of denial-the word was adopted into English from Late Latin, where it means "repudiation," and derives from the Greek "apophanai," meaning "to deny." ("Apophanai," in turn, comes from "apo-," meaning "away from" or "off," and "phanai," meaning "to say.") This particular rhetorical stunt is also known by the labels "preterition" and "paraleipsis" (which is a Greek word for "omission"), but those words are rarer than "apophasis." Incidentally, don’t confuse "apophasis" with "apophysis"; the latter is a scientific word for an expanded or projecting part of an organism. 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 August 8, 2014 is: foolscap • \FOOLZ-kap\ • noun 1 : a cap or hood usually with bells worn by jesters 2 : a conical cap for slow or lazy students 3 : a size of paper formerly standard in Great Britain; broadly : a piece of writing paper Examples: The exhibit includes a number of early legal documents written on foolscap with quill and ink. "In 1894, Lincoln's personal secretary, John Nicolay, published what he called 'the autograph manuscript' of the Gettysburg Address. The first page was written in pen on lined stationery marked 'Executive Mansion'; the second is in pencil on bluish foolscap." - Allen G. Breed, Watertown Daily Times (New York), November 24, 2013 Did you know? These days, we are most likely to encounter "foolscap" as a reference to a sheet of paper or, more specifically, to a sheet of paper that is similar in size to a sheet of legal paper. In the mid-1600s, when the use of "foolscap" was first attested to in English, we would have encountered it as a reference to an actual fool's cap-the cap, often with bells on, worn as part of a jester's motley. How did we get from this colorful cap to a sheet of paper? The connection is attributable to the former use of a watermark depicting a fool's cap that was used on long sheets of writing or printing paper. There are various explanations for the introduction of this watermark-including the claim that a 1648 British parliamentary group substituted it for the royal arms during exceptionally turbulent times-but such explanations remain unsupported by historical facts. 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 August 7, 2014 is: florescence • \flor-ESS-unss\ • noun : a state or period of being in bloom or of flourishing Examples: "Salmonberry flowers … add their showy magenta florescence to the visual banquet." -Carla Peterson, Capital City Weekly (Alaska), May 25, 2011 "Just one year later, the Solidarność movement was flourishing, animated by a new sense of national unity and a commitment to non-violence.… But this florescence occurred against a backdrop of fear that, at any point, the Soviet Union might intervene…." - Victor Gaetan, The National Catholic Register, June 18, 2014 Did you know? The flowering of botany as a science in the 18th century produced a garden of English words that came about as adaptations of Latin words. Botanists picked "florescence" as a showy word to refer to the blooming of a flower-a good choice given that the term grew out of the New Latin "florescentia," meaning "blossoming." "Florescentia" is related to the Latin verb "florēre" ("to blossom or flourish") and rooted in the Latin noun "flos," meaning "flower." Less literal types appreciated the word, too, and applied it to anything that seemed to be thriving or flourishing, as in "the highest florescence of a civilization." 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 August 6, 2014 is: chicane • \shih-KAYN\ • verb : to use deception : to trick or cheat Examples: Claiming to be their long-lost grandson, the scammer chicaned the couple into wiring money to him. "There are two related issues here. One being the commercialization of education and the other being that education is regarded as solely a vehicle for job training. They feed on each other and now we are chicaned into discussing education in purely economic terms." - Dunstan Chan, Sound and Silence, 2013 Did you know? There's no mystery about the origins of "chicane." It's from the Middle French verb "chicaner," meaning "to quibble" or "to prevent justice," and print evidence of its use as a verb in English dates to around 1672. The noun form of "chicane" was first used in print in 1686. In addition to referring to "trickery," the noun "chicane" is used to refer to an obstacle or a series of tight turns in opposite directions on a racecourse. In card games, "chicane" refers to the absence of trumps in a hand of cards. One curiosity of this word set is that the word that would appear to be a derivative of "chicane"-"chicanery" (a synonym of "chicane" in its "trickery" sense)-actually appeared in English over 60 years before "chicane." 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 August 5, 2014 is: viridity • \vuh-RID-uh-tee\ • noun 1 a : the quality or state of being green b : the color of grass or foliage 2 : naïve innocence Examples: "Those who can barely remember that the 't' is silent in 'merlot' may be tempted to stay away, fearing wine snobs will chortle at their viridity." - Christopher Muther, Boston Globe, January 27, 2005 "From the top of the 'mountain,' if you want to call 600 feet a mountain, Penobscot Bay shimmered blue against the viridity of the forested hills in a true postcard moment." - Mary Ann Anderson, Pittsburgh Tribune Review, August 16, 2009 Did you know? "Viridity" is simply a highfalutin way to say "greenness" in both its literal and figurative senses. "Greenness" goes all the way back to Old English "grēnnes," from "grēne" ("green"), a word akin to Old English "grōwan" ("to grow"). "Viridity" did not enter the language until the 15th century, when it was adopted into Middle English (as "viridite") from Middle French "viridité." The ultimate source of "viridity," however, is Latin "viriditas" ("greenness"), itself drawn from the root "viridis" ("green"). "Viridis" is also the source (by way of Middle French "verdoyant") of English "verdant," as well as "verdancy," yet another fancy synonym for "greenness." 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 August 4, 2014 is: Noachian • \noh-AY-kee-un\ • adjective : of or relating to the patriarch Noah or his time Examples: "He eventually concluded that all the many floods he now recognized had antedated the Noachian deluge." - Stephen Jay Gould, The Flamingo's Smile, 1985 "The Noachian covenant indicates to her that God had evolved from an omnipotent, omniscient deity 'to a sadder, wiser deity' who realizes that his punishment was 'a bit excessive'…." - Brigid Curtin Frein, Theological Studies, September 2009 Did you know? Students of the Bible know that Noah survived the Great Flood by stowing himself, his family, and two of every kind of creature on his Ark. "Noachian" is derived from the Hebrew name for Noah. Modern contexts find "Noachian" used in reference to the Great Flood or, more humorously, to describe torrential rainstorms and flooding reminiscent of the Biblical event. It could be said that usage of "Noachian" spans even beyond planet Earth. Astronomers studying the surface of the planet Mars use "Noachian" to refer to the epoch between 4.6 and 3.5 billion years ago when that planet's oldest craters were believed to be formed. This usage is based on "Noachis Terra" one of the landmasses of Mars. The name, which translates as "Land of Noah," was chosen in the 19th century by Italian astronomer Giovanni Schiaparelli. 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 August 3, 2014 is: balkanize • \BAWL-kuh-nyze\ • verb 1 : to break up (as a region or group) into smaller and often hostile units 2 : divide, compartmentalize Examples: "Even if Richards wanted to balkanize his life into personal and professional spheres, he would have had difficulty, for his private life resounds with his public concerns, often in disturbing ways." - Samuel G. Freedman, New York Times Magazine, November 22, 1987 "And such are the gifts of diplomatic nicety still being bestowed upon Russian President Vladimir Putin that the United States continues to treat him as a recalcitrant child at reform school rather than as a lying authoritarian who still seeks to partition or balkanize Ukraine." - Michael Weiss, The Daily Beast, June 19, 2014 Did you know? The Balkan Peninsula of southeastern Europe is named for the Balkan Mountains, which stretch through Bulgaria from its western border with Serbia to the Black Sea. ("Balkan" derives from a Turkish word that means "mountain.") The region known as the Balkans is commonly thought to include Albania, Greece, Romania, the European portion of Turkey, and often surrounding areas. The decline of the Ottoman Empire in the 18th century led to a series of revolts that accelerated the fracturing of the region into a number of smaller states whose unstable coexistence led to violence that came to a head in World War I. Since 1919, "balkanize" and its related noun, "balkanization" have come to refer to the kind of divisive action that can weaken countries or groups, as well as other things. 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 August 2, 2014 is: jardiniere • \jahr-duh-NEER\ • noun 1 a : an ornamental stand for plants or flowers b : a large usually ceramic flowerpot holder 2 : a garnish for meat consisting of several cooked vegetables cut into pieces Examples: For dinner we ate slow-braised beef short ribs served with a jardiniere of garden-fresh vegetables. "The show's most spectacular piece, displayed in the center of the exhibition space, is a jade-green stoneware jardiniere called 'Vase des Binelles' (1903) by Hector Guimard…." - Ken Johnson, The New York Times, February 13, 2014 Did you know? The seeds of "jardiniere" were planted back in ancient Germanic languages whose words for "garden" eventually grew into Old French "jardin," a term that produced several offshoots, including the French word "jardinier," meaning "gardener," and its feminine form "jardinière" (literally, "female gardener"). It was that "jardinière" that blossomed into the French (and later the English) word for a large ornamental flowerpot or plant stand. By the way, the Germanic forerunners of the French terms are also distantly linked to another word important to English-speakers: "garden." 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 August 1, 2014 is: southpaw • \SOUTH-paw\ • noun : left-hander; especially : a left-handed baseball pitcher Examples: "MLB's best team against righties has been one of its worst against southpaws…." - Brian Lewis, New York Post, July 7, 2012 "The Marlins added left-handed pitcher Michael Mader with the 105th overall pick of the 2014 First-Year Player Draft on Friday.… As a freshman, the southpaw went 8-3 with a 3.19 ERA and won the 2013 Panhandle Conference Player of the Year Award." - Maria Torres, MLB.com, June 6, 2014 Did you know? "Southpaw" is of obscure origin. A popular theory holds that it comes from the onetime position of ballparks in relation to the sun. Supposedly, late 19th-century ballparks were laid out so that the pitcher looked in a westerly direction when facing the batter. The throwing arm of a left-handed pitcher would then be to the south-hence the name "southpaw." This theory of its origin is undermined, however, by the fact that the original use of "southpaw" does not involve baseball at all. Rather, the term was used as early as 1848 to describe, simply, the left hand or a punch or blow given with the left hand. Today, we often use "southpaw" as a good-natured term for a left-handed person, but the word is sometimes viewed as stigmatizing by left-handed people. 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 July 31, 2014 is: kludge • \KLOOJ\ • noun : a system and especially a computer system made up of poorly matched components Examples: Ralph was extremely pleased when his employer purchased a new computer system to replace the kludge that had continually crashed at critical moments. "Many biologists, from Darwin to Crick, have pointed out that evolution is frequently a kludge: Bits are added on to other bits, organs originally selected for one function assume another, and so on." - John Staddon, The New Behaviorism, Second Edition, 2014 Did you know? The first recorded use of the word "kludge" is attributed to Jackson W. Granholm, who defined the word in a 1962 issue of the magazine Datamation as: "an ill-assorted collection of poorly-matching parts, forming a distressing whole." He further explained that it was derived from the German word "klug," meaning "smart" or "witty." Why Granholm included a "d" in his spelling is not known. What we do know is that speakers of American English have agreed to keep it silent, making the vowel pronunciation of "kludge" reflect the pronunciation of German "klug" (KLOOK). We can also tell you that not everyone agrees with Granholm on the "d" matter: the spelling "kluge" is also popularly used. 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 July 30, 2014 is: selfie • \SEL-fee\ • noun : an image of oneself taken by oneself using a digital camera especially for posting on social networks Examples: Before the game started, David had a chance to take several selfies of himself posing with his favorite players. "Still, results of a survey by the Pew Research Center released in March show that 55 percent of millennials-those ages 18 to 33-have posted a selfie on a social media site-compared with 26 percent of all Americans." - Doug Moore, Chicago Tribune, June 29, 2014 Did you know? The first-known appearance of "selfie" in written form occurred in 2002 on an Australian news website, but the word didn't see much use until 2012. By November 2013, "selfie" was appearing frequently enough in print and electronic media that the Oxford English Dictionary chose the word as its Word of the Year. This announcement itself led to a significant increase in the use of the word by news organizations, an increase that was further boosted following the December 10, 2013, memorial service for Nelson Mandela, at which American President Barack Obama was caught taking a selfie with Danish Prime Minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt and British Prime Minister David Cameron. The word "selfie," with its suggestions of self-centeredness and self-involvement, was particularly popular with critics who saw this moment as a reflection of the President's character. 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 July 29, 2014 is: tweep • \TWEEP\ • noun : a person who uses the Twitter online message service to send and receive tweets Examples: "Rapper Snoop Dogg changed his name to Snoop Lion. Know how I found out? My tweeps told me." - Marc Munroe Dion, The Messenger (Madisonville, Kentucky), August 12, 2012 "More than two million people tweeted their elation and frustration during the game between Australia and Chile yesterday. A whopping 2,223,143 tweets were posted on Twitter as tweeps used the hashtag #CHIAUS during the 90-minute match." - The Advertiser (Australia), June 15, 2014 Did you know? Twitter and "tweeting" began in 2006, and two years later folks were referring to those who tweet as "tweeps." (The word "tweep" persisted despite a reproach by one blogger in 2008: "Do not post Good morning Twitter peeps! the second you wake up. Or some even more annoying variation like Yo Tweeps!") Today, the portmanteau "tweep" is easy to accept with the omnipresence of Twitter: it's a blend of Twitter's "tweet" and slang's "peeps." The slang use of "peeps" for "people" became common sometime around the mid-20th century. In a 1951 article in the Chicago Tribune, for example, it was reported that "high schoolers are greeting each other with 'Hi, peeps' (short for 'hello, people,' of course)." 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 July 28, 2014 is: numismatic • \noo-muz-MAT-ik\ • adjective 1 : of or relating to the study or collection of coins, tokens, and money 2 : of or relating to currency : monetary Examples: Jasmine was disappointed to learn that the 1936 buffalo nickel she owned had virtually no numismatic value. "Steve is well-known in the numismatic community as a specialist in National Currency and is very passionate in his teachings and publications…." - Lake Sun Leader (Camdenton, Missouri), March 21, 2014 Did you know? The first metal coins are believed to have been used as currency by the Lydians, a people of Asia Minor, during the 7th century B.C.E., and it is likely that folks began collecting coins not long after that. The name that we give to the collection of coins today is "numismatics," a word that also encompasses the collection of paper money and of medals. The noun "numismatics" and the adjective "numismatic" came to English (via French "numismatique") from Latin and Greek "nomisma," meaning "coin." "Nomisma" in turn derives from the Greek verb "nomizein" ("to use") and ultimately from the noun "nomos" ("custom" or "usage"). From these roots we also get "numismatist," referring to a person who collects coins, medals, or paper money. 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 July 27, 2014 is: execrate • \EK-suh-krayt\ • verb 1 : to declare to be evil or detestable : denounce 2 : to detest utterly Examples: The school principal execrated the individuals who had stolen the cashbox from the raffle table. "Long execrated by Republicans as a 'death tax,' the posthumous federal levy on accumulated wealth has Democratic detractors as well, especially those who represent significant numbers of rural landowners." - The Washington Post, December 12, 2012 Did you know? To Latinists, there's nothing cryptic about the origins of "execrate"-the word derives from "exsecratus," the past participle of the Latin verb "exsecrari," meaning "to put under a curse." "Exsecrari" was itself created by combining the prefix "ex-" ("not") and the word "sacer" ("sacred"). "Sacer" is also an ancestor of such English words as "sacerdotal" ("relating to priests"), "sacral" ("holy or sacred"), "sacrifice," "sacrilege," and of course "sacred" itself. There's also "execration," which, true to its "exsecrari" roots, means "the act of cursing" or "the curse so uttered." 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 July 26, 2014 is: celerity • \suh-LAIR-uh-tee\ • noun : rapidity of motion or action : swiftness Examples: Monica was impressed by the ease and celerity with which the new waiter she had hired could wipe down and set up a table. "The Common Core entered public discourse suddenly this year, due in large part to the celerity with which the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation financed and coordinated its implementation in 2010." - Micah Meadowcroft, The American Spectator, June 9, 2014 Did you know? In the novel Of Human Bondage, W. Somerset Maugham tells of an undertaker's shop that used the words "Economy, Celerity, Propriety" as part of a window display involving "silver lettering on a black cloth" and "two model coffins." But "celerity" isn't dead in English writing, where it has proven its vitality since the Middle Ages. Shakespeare used it in Henry V when the chorus recited, "Thus with imagin'd wing our swift scene flies, / In motion of no less celerity / Than that of thought." Benjamin Franklin used it as a synonym of "velocity." And the speedy term (which can be traced back to "celer," a Latin word meaning "swift") is still keeping pace 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 July 25, 2014 is: requisite • \REK-wuh-zut\ • adjective : essential, necessary Examples: The application will not be considered until all of the requisite forms have been submitted. "This smaller, slightly more upscale pizza shop … has all the requisite Wicker Park trappings: chalkboard menu, exposed brick, communal seating." - Kate Bernot, Chicago Tribune, June 20, 2014 Did you know? Acquiring an understanding of where today's word comes from won't require a formal inquiry. Without question, the quest begins with Latin "quaerere," which means "to ask" and is an ancestor of a number of English words, including "acquire," "require," "inquiry," "question," "quest," and, of course, "requisite." From "quaerere" came "requirere," meaning "to ask again." Repeated requests can express a need, and the past participle of "requirere," which is "requisitus," came to mean "needed" or "necessary." The English language acquired "requisite" when it was adopted into Middle English back in the 1400s. 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 July 24, 2014 is: silhouette • \sil-uh-WET\ • noun 1 a : a picture (as a drawing or cutout) of the outline of an object filled in with a solid usually black color b : a profile portrait done in silhouette 2 : the shape or outline of something; especially : the outline of an object seen or as if seen against the light Examples: "The tree-tops rose against the luminous blue sky in inky silhouette, and all below that outline melted into one formless blackness." - H. G. Wells, The Island of Doctor Moreau, 1896 "This is not a season for shoehorning yourself into your pants. Painted-on is out, and loose, slouchy silhouettes are in." - Christine Whitney and Jessica Prince, Harper's Bazaar, April 2014 Did you know? Before the age of the photograph, the silhouette, either cut from paper or painted, was the most affordable portrait that could be made. The art enjoyed a golden age in the second half of the 18th and first half of the 19th centuries, when many people collected them. Although silhouettes were well-loved, the man for whom they were named was not: Étienne de Silhouette was France's finance minister under Louis XV and was notorious for both his frugality and his hobby of making cut-paper shadow portraits. The phrase "à la Silhouette" came to mean "on the cheap," and portraits like the ones he produced were (satirically) bestowed with his name 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 July 23, 2014 is: interpolate • \in-TER-puh-layt\ • verb 1 a : to change (as a text) by inserting new or foreign matter b : to insert (words) into a text or into a conversation 2 : to insert (something) between other things or parts : to make insertions 3 : to estimate values of (data or a function) between two known values Examples: "Ellis nicely interpolated a harpsichord solo between Bach's two movements…." - Tom Aldridge, NUVO (Indiana), May 18, 2013 "Most scanners can scan at higher resolutions than their maximum optical resolutions by using software to interpolate more dots per inch, but you really aren't getting any better quality." - Jim Rossman, The Virginian-Pilot, June 23, 2014 Did you know? "Interpolate" comes from Latin "interpolare," a verb with various meanings, among them "to refurbish," "to alter," and "to falsify." "Interpolate" entered English in the 17th century and was applied early on to the alteration (and in many cases corruption) of texts by insertion of additional material. Modern use of "interpolate" still sometimes suggests the insertion of something extraneous or spurious, as in "she interpolated her own comments into the report." 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 July 22, 2014 is: Yooper • \YOO-per\ • noun : a native or resident of the Upper Peninsula of Michigan - used as a nickname Examples: The land of the Yoopers-the Upper Peninsula, or U.P.-is connected to Michigan's Lower Peninsula by means of the Mackinac Bridge. "Every Yooper I've ever met was an uncommonly unique character-a real salt-of-the-earth townie, skilled at mechanics, deer hunting, and/or ice fishing." - Kelly O, The Stranger, January 29, 2014 - February 4, 2014 Did you know? The word "Yooper" comes from the common nickname of Michigan's Upper Peninsula-the "U.P."-and the etymology requires the same follow-up question that a challenging joke does: "Get it?" If you're not there yet, try saying them both out loud: Yooper, U.P. Yoopers have been saying both out loud now for about 40 years, but it's only in recent years that those beyond the U.P. and its geographical neighbors have begun to encounter "Yooper" in use. Yoopers refer to people who live in the Lower Peninsula as "trolls" (they live "under" the Mackinac Bridge, after all), but that nickname is still at this point too regional for entry in our dictionaries. 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 July 21, 2014 is: fiduciary • \fuh-DOO-shee-air-ee\ • adjective 1 : involving a confidence or trust 2 : held or holding in trust for another Examples: "While bank trust departments have a fiduciary duty to file claims on behalf of their clients, many are overworked and understaffed." - Business Wire, September 17, 2010 "The Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals decided a case in which it addressed a variety of fiduciary breaches alleged by employees participating in an employer’s 401(k) plans." - Peter K. Bradley, Anita Costello Greer, Michael J. Flanagan, Richard W. Kaiser, Arthur A. Marrapese III and Ryan M. Murphy, Lexology.com, May 30, 2014 Did you know? Fiduciary relationships often concern money, but the word "fiduciary" does not, in and of itself, suggest financial matters. Rather, "fiduciary" applies to any situation in which one person justifiably places confidence and trust in someone else and seeks that person's help or advice in some matter. The attorney-client relationship is a fiduciary one, for example, because the client trusts the attorney to act in the best interest of the client at all times. "Fiduciary" can also be used as a noun for the person who acts in a fiduciary capacity, and "fiduciarily" or "fiducially" can be called upon if you are in need of an adverb. The words are all faithful to their origin: Latin "fidere," which means "to trust." 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 July 20, 2014 is: big data • \BIG-DAY-tuh\ • noun : an accumulation of data that is too large and complex for processing by traditional database management tools Examples: "The age of big data has driven advances in technology that make it possible to collect, store, and transmit nearly infinite amounts of information." - Sean Lahman, Rochester Democrat and Chronicle, May 30, 2014 "In other words, how do you use big data about people and things productively and profitably without risking a loss of trust and business patronage from consumers who are beginning to question it?" - Mary Shacklett, TechRepublic.com, June 16, 2014 Did you know? "Big data" is a new addition to our language, but exactly how new is not an easy matter to determine. A 1980 paper by Charles Tilly provides an early documented use of "big data," but Tilly wasn't using the word in the exact same way we use it today; rather, he used the phrase "big-data people" to refer to historians engaged in data-rich fields such as cliometrics. Today, "big data" can refer to large data sets or to systems and solutions developed to manage such large accumulations of data, as well as for the branch of computing devoted to this development. Francis X. Diebold, a University of Pennsylvania economist, who has written a paper exploring the origin of big data as a term, a phenomenon, and a field of study, believes the term "probably originated in lunch-table conversations at Silicon Graphics Inc. (SGI) in the mid 1990s…." 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 July 19, 2014 is: blandish • \BLAN-dish\ • verb 1 : to coax or persuade with flattery : cajole 2 : to act or speak in a flattering or coaxing manner Examples: Some of Tim's coworkers even managed to blandish him into doing their work for them by complimenting him shamelessly. "Glennan believed a presidential statement would help to gain initiative against Congress and the media, and he repeatedly blandished Eisenhower to make a greater public relations effort." - Yanek Mieczkowski, Eisenhower's Sputnik Moment, 2013 Did you know? The word "blandish" has been a part of the English language since at least the 14th century with virtually no change in its meaning. It ultimately derives from "blandus," a Latin word meaning "mild" or "flattering." One of the earliest known uses of "blandish" can be found in the sacred writings of Richard Rolle de Hampole, an English hermit and mystic, who cautioned against "the dragon that blandishes with the head and smites with the tail." Although "blandish" might not exactly be suggestive of dullness, it was the "mild" sense of "blandus" that gave us our adjective "bland," which has a lesser-known sense meaning "smooth and soothing in manner or quality." 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 July 18, 2014 is: lèse-majesté • \layz-MAJ-uh-stee\ • noun 1 : an offense violating the dignity of sovereign 2 : a detraction from or affront to dignity or importance Examples: "That kind of suppression actually harkens back … to the 1976 coup, when the penalty for lèse majesté was increased to a maximum of 15 years in prison per count.…" -David Streckfuss, Vice News, June 3, 2014 "You can look it up, but every man who beat Roger Federer this year lost his next match. Maybe there is a psychic price to pay for lèse-majesté." - Roger Kaplan, The American Spectator, June 4, 2014 Did you know? "Lèse-majesté" (or "lese majesty," as it is also styled in English publications) came into English by way of Middle French, from Latin "laesa majestas," which literally means "injured majesty." The English term can conceivably cover any offense against a sovereign power or its ruler, from treason to a simple breach of etiquette. "Lèse-majesté" has also acquired a more lighthearted or ironic meaning, that of an insult or impudence to a particularly pompous or self-important person or organization. As such, it may be applied to a relatively inoffensive act that has been exaggeratedly treated as if it were a great affront. 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 July 17, 2014 is: walleyed • \WAWL-EYED\ • adjective 1 : having walleyes or affected with walleye 2 : marked by a wild irrational staring of the eyes Examples: After getting beaned by the pitcher, the walleyed batter was immediately checked by the paramedics for signs of a concussion. "And then after that, there's a picture with 10-year-old me holding a dog toy, staring at the viewer, sort of walleyed.…" - Allie Brosh, NPR (Fresh Air) interview, November 12, 2013 Did you know? The noun "walleye" has several meanings. It can refer to an eye with a whitish or bluish-white iris or to one with an opaque white cornea. It can also refer to a condition in which the eye turns outward away from the nose. The extended second sense of the adjective "walleyed" came from the appearance of eyes affected with the condition of walleye. You might guess that "walleyed" has an etymological connection with "wall," but that's not the case. Rather, it is derived from "wawil-eghed," a Middle English translation of the Old Norse word "vagl-eygr," from "vagl" ("beam") and "eygr" ("eyed"). 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 July 16, 2014 is: steampunk • \STEEM-punk\ • noun : science fiction dealing with 19th-century societies dominated by historical or imagined steam-powered technology Examples: "The multiroom bar and restaurant is now decked out with steampunk-ish exposed ducts, geometric light fixtures, and rustic barn doors." - Anna Roth, SF Weekly, June 18, 2014 "It is also the vision of steampunk, a subculture that is the aesthetic expression of a time-traveling fantasy world, one that embraces music, film, design and now fashion, all inspired by the extravagantly inventive age of dirigibles and steam locomotives, brass [diving bells](/dictionary/diving bells) and jar-shaped protosubmarines." - Ruth La Ferla, New York Times, May 8, 2008 Did you know? "I think Victorian fantasies are going to be the next big thing, as long as we can come up with a fitting collective term for [Tim] Powers, [James] Blaylock and myself." So wrote the science-fiction author K. W. Jeter, credited with coining the term "steampunk" in 1987 to describe a wave of fantasy novels set in Victorian times and celebrating the technology of the era, much of which was powered by steam. In both name and subject, "steampunk" is an antithesis to "cyberpunk," a genre often noted for featuring computerized, futuristic, or unearthly settings. The popularity of steampunk has since carried over to motion pictures, fashion, and even things like restaurant décor. 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 July 15, 2014 is: instigate • \IN-stuh-gayt\ • verb : to cause to happen or begin : to goad or urge forward : provoke Examples: "The catcher instigated the collision by blocking home plate without the ball." - Ryne Sandberg, quoted in The Philadelphia Inquirer, June 8, 2014 "U.S. and European Union officials accuse Russian President Vladimir Putin of instigating the insurgency against Kiev…."- Carol J. Williams, Los Angeles Times, June 3, 2014 Did you know? "Instigate" is often used as a synonym of "incite" (as in "hoodlums instigating violence"), but the two words differ slightly in their overall usage. "Incite" usually stresses an act of stirring something up that one did not necessarily initiate ("the court's decision incited riots"). "Instigate" implies responsibility for initiating or encouraging someone else's action and usually suggests dubious or underhanded intent ("he was charged with instigating a conspiracy"). Another similar word, "foment," implies causing something by means of persistent goading ("the leader's speeches fomented a rebellion"). Deriving from the past participle of the Latin verb "instigare," "instigate" first appeared in English in the mid-16th century, approximately 60 years after "incite" and about 70 years before "foment." 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 July 14, 2014 is: undertaker • \UN-der-tay-ker\ • noun 1 : one that undertakes : one that takes the risk and management of business : entrepreneur 2 : one whose business is to prepare the dead for burial and to arrange and manage funerals 3 : an Englishman taking over forfeited lands in Ireland in the 16th and 17th centuries Examples: The undertaker offered the family several choices of coffin for the burial service. "An undertaker has admitted selling uninsured funeral plans in order to support himself and his struggling business." - Manchester Evening News, May 28, 2014 Did you know? You may wonder how the word "undertaker" made the transition from "one who undertakes" to "one who makes a living in the funeral business." The latter meaning descends from the use of the word to mean "one who takes on business responsibilities." In the 18th century, a funeral-undertaker was someone who undertook, or managed, a funeral business. There were many undertakers in those days, undertaking all sorts of businesses, but as time went on "undertaker" became specifically identified with the profession of arranging burial. Today, "funeral director" is more commonly used, but "undertaker" still appears. 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 July 13, 2014 is: tortuous • \TOR-chuh-wus\ • adjective 1 : marked by repeated twists, bends, or turns : winding 2 a : marked by devious or indirect tactics : crooked, tricky b : circuitous, involved Examples: After it left the tree, the leaf followed a tortuous path through the air before settling on the ground. "The decision in Vergara vs. California also describes the tortuous procedure schools must go through to fire teachers, a process that makes it so difficult to get rid of even the worst teachers that many schools don't bother trying." - The Los Angeles Times, June 11, 2014 Did you know? Be careful not to confuse "tortuous" with "torturous." These two words are relatives-both ultimately come from the Latin verb "torquere," which means "to twist," "to wind," or "to wrench"-but "tortuous" means "winding" or "crooked," whereas "torturous" means "painfully unpleasant." Something "tortuous" (such as a twisting mountain road) might also be "torturous" (if, for example, you have to ride up that road on a bicycle), but that doesn't make these words synonyms. The twists and turns that mark a tortuous thing can be literal ("a tortuous path" or "a tortuous river") or figurative ("a tortuous argument" or "a tortuous explanation"), but you should consider choosing a different descriptive term if no implication of winding or crookedness is present. 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 July 12, 2014 is: hobbyhorse • \HAH-bee-horss\ • noun 1 a : a stick having an imitation horse's head at one end that a child pretends to ride b : a rocking horse c : a toy horse suspended by springs from a frame 2 : a topic to which one constantly reverts Examples: "The intricate toys, hobbyhorses and tiny working carriages, were made for child play before the eras of radio, TV, Nintendo or Internet." - Wendi Winters, The Capital (Annapolis, Maryland), December 24, 2006 "This has long been a hobbyhorse for McCain; who could forget-literally, because he said it roughly 1 billion times during the 2000/2008 campaigns-that Congress spent $3 million to study the DNA of bears in Montana?" - Chris Cillizza, WashingtonPost.com, May 7, 2014 Did you know? The hobbyhorse is a toy of yesteryear, dating back to a homespun era predating automobiles. In the 1400s, the word "hobby" could refer to a real-life horse of small or average size. It soon came to refer to the horse costume worn by one participating in a morris dance or burlesque performance, and then, later, to the child's toy. Another meaning of "hobbyhorse" was "a favorite pursuit or pastime"; our modern noun "hobby" ("an activity that one does for pleasure when not working") was formed by shortening this word. From "pastime," the meaning of "hobbyhorse" was extended to "a subject to which one repeatedly returns." The sense is typically encountered as part of such metaphorical phrases as "get on one's hobbyhorse" or "ride one's hobbyhorse." 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 July 11, 2014 is: unregenerate • \un-rih-JEN-uh-rut\ • adjective 1 : not spiritually reborn or converted 2 a : not reformed : unreconstructed b : obstinate, stubborn Examples: "She sings … in a voice that could melt the heart of the most unregenerate musical hater." - Charles Isherwood, The New York Times, May 18, 2008 "A string of revivals later known as the Great Awakening blazed up and down the eastern seaboard-although scholars suspect that many of these new converts soon backslid into their unregenerate ways." - Molly Worthen, The Daily Beast, June 1, 2014 Did you know? One long-standing meaning of the adjective "regenerate" is "spiritually reborn or converted." By the late 1500s, English speakers had added "un-" to "regenerate" to describe someone who refused to accept spiritual reformation. Since then, "unregenerate" has taken on a life of its own, gaining the extended specific meanings of "unconverted to a particular doctrinaire viewpoint," "persisting in a reactionary stand," or just plain "stubborn." "Regenerate" and "unregenerate" trace back to the Latin word "genus," meaning "birth" or "descent." 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 July 10, 2014 is: pho • \FUH\ • noun : a soup made of beef or chicken broth and rice noodles Examples: Joan and Rob decided they were too tired to cook, and ordered pho with an assortment of other Vietnamese food. "As a first-generation Vietnamese-American growing up in Stillwater, I enjoyed my family's Sunday tradition that paid tribute to both cultures near and far: We read the local newspaper together, ate pho and watched the Minnesota Vikings game or any other sporting event that was on at the time." - Nancy Ngo, St. Paul Pioneer Press, January 28, 2014 Did you know? "Pho," which first appeared in print in English in 1935, was borrowed from a Vietnamese word which was spelled "phở." English speakers replaced the vowel with "o" but preserved the pronunciation as "fuh," rather than "foh." Another Vietnamese food word that was borrowed into English is "nuoc mam," which refers to a type of fish sauce that is fermented in brine. In that case as well, the original Vietnamese word had accent marks that were lost on the journey into English. "Nuoc mam" was recorded in English just a few years before "pho" arrived. 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 July 9, 2014 is: vaunted • \VAWN-tud\ • adjective : highly or widely praised or boasted about Examples: We were able to overcome our opponents' vaunted defense and achieve an upset victory which will take us to the finals. "The vaunted school for years has sent its best students to the nation's top conservatories." - Ericka Mellon, Houston Chronicle, June 8, 2014 Did you know? The verb "vaunt" has been used since the 15th century with the meaning "to make a vain display of one's own worth or attainments"-in other words, "to brag or boast." Over time, "vaunt" developed the meaning "to boast of (something)," as in "the promotional flier vaunts the natural beauty of the area," and gave rise to the adjectival form "vaunted." The history of "vaunt" and "vaunted" leads back to the Latin word "vanus," meaning "vain" or "empty." (The word "vain" itself is also a descendant of "vanus.") 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 July 8, 2014 is: epenthesis • \ih-PEN-thuh-sis\ • noun : the insertion or development of a sound or letter in the body of a word Examples: The "b" in the adjective "nimble" is the result of epenthesis; in Middle English, the word was spelled "nimel." "When Yogi Bear talks about swiping 'pick-a-nick' baskets in Jellystone Park, it sounds as if he's just having fun, but he's also demonstrating 'epenthesis,' inserting a vowel to avoid the consonants bumping up against each other." - Ruth Walker, The Christian Science Monitor, August 15, 2012 Did you know? If you say "film" as "FIL-um," with two syllables, you've committed epenthesis. It isn't a punishable offense-in fact, it's not an offense at all. It is simply a natural way to break up an awkward cluster of consonants. It's easier for some people to say "film" as two syllables instead of one, just as it's easier for some to insert a "b" sound into "cummerbund," pronouncing that word as "CUM-ber-bund." 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 July 7, 2014 is: sclaff • \SKLAF\ • verb : to scrape the ground instead of hitting the ball cleanly on a golf stroke Examples: "Despite a bogey on his penultimate hole of the morning, where he sclaffed about in the sand and made things worse with three putts, it was a second consecutive 72 for the former Open champion." - Paul Forsyth, Scotland on Sunday, April 13, 2003 "Good luck to him while he's chasing his wee white ball on the golf course from one clump of bushes to another, sclaffing out of miniature beaches in pursuit of his unseen target hole several hundred yards away." - Daily Record, July 7, 2012 Did you know? There's no dearth of names for bad shots on the golf course. The duffer can dub, slice, hook, top, pull, push, sky, shank, or sclaff a shot. "Sclaff" is a word at home-albeit not warmly welcomed-on the Scottish links. In Scots, "sclaff" originally referred to a slap with the palm of the hand and was likely of onomatopoeic origin. The similarity of the painful resonance of a sclaff to the disheartening thud of a golf club striking the ground behind a ball did not go unnoticed by grimacing golfers on the fairway. By the 19th century's end, "sclaff" was being used as both a noun and verb for such a stroke. 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 July 6, 2014 is: duplicity • \doo-PLISS-uh-tee\ • noun : the disguising of true intentions by deceptive words or action Examples: In a shameful act of duplicity, Jerry took the money he was entrusted to donate to the homeless shelter and instead used it to buy drugs. "Duplicity abounds in the Athenian Berean Community Players production of Oscar Wilde's 'The Importance of Being Earnest.' That duplicity extends to the play's title, and how one chooses to read 'Earnest' will determine its meaning." - Gary L. Molina, Athensnews.com, May 7, 2012 Did you know? If someone's duplicity has left you feeling like you're seeing double, take heart in the word's etymology. "Duplicity" comes from a long line of "double" talk, starting with its Latin grandparent "duplex," which means "double" or "twofold." As you might expect, "duplex" is also the parent of another term for doubling it up, "duplicate." And of course, the English "duplex" (which can be a noun meaning "a two-family house" or an adjective meaning "double") comes from the Latin word of the same spelling. 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 July 5, 2014 is: homonymous • \hoh-MAH-nuh-mus\ • adjective 1 : ambiguous 2 : having the same designation 3 : of, relating to, or being homonyms Examples: We always called the elder Michael "Big Mike" to distinguish him from his homonymous son. "Weezer's latest disc and its third to be self-titled (it's being referred to as 'The Red Album' just as the previous pair of homonymous albums are commonly called the 'Blue' and 'Green' albums, respectively) has no shortage of the kind of pure pop melodies that endeared Weezer to millions of geek-rock kids back in the mid-'90s." - Jonathan Perry, The Boston Globe, September 23, 2008 Did you know? The "ambiguous" sense of "homonymous" refers mainly to words that have two or more meanings. In the 1600s, logicians and scientists who wanted to refer to (or complain about) such equivocal words chose a name for them based on Latin and Greek, from Greek "hom-" ("same") and "onyma" ("name"). In time, English speakers came up with another sense of "homonymous," referring to two things having the same name (Hawaii, the state, and Hawaii, the island, for example). Next came the use of "homonymous" to refer to homonyms, such as "see" and "sea." There's also a zoological sense. Sheep and goats whose right horn spirals to the right and left horn spirals to the left are said to be "homonymous." 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 July 4, 2014 is: firework • \FYRE-werk\ • noun a : a device for producing a striking display by the combustion of explosive or flammable compositions 2 plural : a display of fireworks 3 plural b : a display of temper or intense conflict c : a spectacular display Examples: We made sure to arrive at the waterfront early enough to grab a good spot for viewing the fireworks. "The landmark court battle between Apple and Samsung over smartphone patents wrapped up today with verbal fireworks between dueling attorneys as they made closing arguments." - Alan Farnham, ABCNews.com, April 29, 2014 Did you know? The word "fireworks" burst upon the scene in the 1500s as a reference to military explosives (a sense that is now obsolete). These explosives were originally used as weapons, of course, but soon they were also being used in explosive displays celebrating victory or peace. By 1575 people were oohing and aahing over "fireworks shewed upon the water; the which were both strange and wel [sic] executed." Figurative uses have been popping up ever since the 1600s. In addition to the angry explosion sense illustrated in our second example sentence, "fireworks" can also refer to a spectacular display of musical, visual, or verbal brilliance, as in "an outstanding album, bursting with spectacular musical fireworks." 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 July 3, 2014 is: misbegotten • \miss-bih-GAH-tun\ • adjective 1 : unlawfully conceived : illegitimate 2 : having a disreputable or improper origin 3 : not worthy of respect or approval Examples: Many hoped that the newly-elected administration would focus on ending what they perceived to be a misbegotten war. "The annals of medical history are strewn with wrongheaded theories, misbegotten paradigms and woefully ill-conceived treatments. U.S. physicians no longer prescribe heroin to children afflicted by coughs-common practice in 1912. Lobotomies, all the rage into the 1950s, too, are passé." - Chase Olivarius-Mcallister, The Durango Herald (Colorado), May 18, 2014 Did you know? In the beginning, there was "bigietan," and "bigietan" begot "beyeten"; then in the days of Middle English "beyeten" begot "begeten," and from thence sprung "misbegotten." That description may be a bit flowery, but it accurately traces the path that led to "misbegotten." All of the Old English and Middle English ancestors listed above basically meant the same thing as the modern "beget"-that is, "to father" or "to produce as an effect or outgrowth." That linguistic line brought forth "misbegotten" by adding the prefix "mis-" (meaning "wrong," "bad," or "not") in the mid-1500s. 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 July 2, 2014 is: catfish • \KAT-fish\ • noun 1 : any of numerous usually freshwater stout-bodied fishes with large heads and long thin feelers about the mouth 2 : a person who sets up a false personal profile on a social networking site for fraudulent or deceptive purposes Examples: Mariah's mother worried that anyone her daughter interacted with via online dating sites would turn out to be a catfish with ulterior motives. "There's also a lot more cyber-bullying this season as well, and people who are using catfish profiles for a lot of different motives, not just to seduce people and fall in love with people, but also to use them and to turn people against each other." - Nev Schulman, quoted in The Huffington Post, April 2, 2014 Did you know? For centuries, a catfish was merely a type of fish with a distinctive face. Then, in 2010, Ariel Schulman released Catfish, a documentary about his brother Nev's experiences with a woman who pretended to be someone else online. (The movie was popular enough to spawn a television show by the same title.) In the documentary, the woman's husband explained the title with an anecdote about how fishermen transporting live cod used to put catfish in with the cod on long-haul shipments to keep the desirable cod active and alert until arrival. The man implied that his wife was like those catfish, keeping the lives of others fresh and interesting. 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 July 1, 2014 is: germane • \jer-MAYN\ • adjective : being at once relevant and appropriate : fitting Examples: While his comments were witty and entertaining, they weren't particularly germane to the overall discussion. "They contend the Senate did not merely 'amend' the original House bill because the health care reform amendment was not germane to the original bill." - The New York Times, May 19, 2014 Did you know? "Wert thou a Leopard, thou wert Germane to the Lion." So wrote Shakespeare in Timon of Athens (circa 1607), using an old (and now obsolete) sense of "germane" meaning "closely akin." "Germane" derives from the Latin word "germen," meaning "bud" or "sprout," which is also at the root of our verb "germinate," meaning "to sprout" or "begin to develop." An early sense of "germane" referred specifically to children of the same parents, who were perhaps seen as being like buds on a single tree. 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 June 30, 2014 is: gamification • \gay-muh-fuh-KAY-shun\ • noun : the process of adding games or gamelike elements to something (as a task) so as to encourage participation Examples: "Establishing user identity opens the door for brands to create incentives for customers to keep coming back through interactive reward systems and loyalty programs like gamification. The ability to earn exclusive rewards for taking desired actions makes customers feel recognized and valued…." - Kevin White, Business2Community.com, May 23, 2014 "Users can pop open a dating app on a lunch break or at happy hour and scan for suitable matches in their free time…. There's also a gamification aspect: the delight of swiping through and discovering a match is something Tinder has accurately captured, and it makes it all feel like a game." - Lauren Hockenson, Gigaom, May 23, 2014 Did you know? The basic concept of gamification isn't new, but the word itself is a 21st-century addition to the English lexicon. The word refers to the incorporation of game elements, like point and reward systems, to tasks as incentives for people to participate. In other words, "gamification" is about making something potentially tedious into a game. Gamification is effective because it taps into people's natural desires for competition and achievement. Teachers, managers, and others use gamification to increase participation and improve productivity. Gamification is also often an essential feature in apps and websites designed to motivate people to meet personal challenges, like weight-loss goals and learning foreign languages; tracking your progress is more fun if it feels like a game. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.