Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day show

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day

Summary: Build your vocabulary with Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day! Each day a Merriam-Webster editor offers insight into a fascinating new word -- explaining its meaning, current use, and little-known details about its origin.

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 quaggy | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 2:40

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for August 14, 2015 is: quaggy \KWAG-ee\ adjective 1 : marshy or boggy 2 : flabby or soft Examples: "Today is the opening of 'Expedition Alaska: Dinosaurs,' the latest installation at the museum chronicling the reptilian behemoths—and even the little ones, too—that once spanned the state from the frozen North Slope to the quaggy Southeast." — Gary Black, Newsminer.com (Fairbanks, Alaska), May 23, 2015 "Life is a never-ending succession of tasks, some with quaggy deadlines, others with strict ones." — Hayley Mortimer, Gloucestershire Echo, June 6, 2015 Did you know? Quaggy is related to quag, a word for a marsh or bog, and quagmire—which can refer to wet, spongy land that gives way underfoot or, figuratively, to a predicament. Etymologists claim no firm footing when it comes to the origin of the syllable the words share in common, though it's been suggested that quag is imitative, echoing the soft, mushy sound that wet ground makes when you walk on it. The words are all roughly the same age, with earliest evidence of quagmire, quag, and quaggy dating to 1566, 1589, and 1596, respectively.

 contumely | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 2:40

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for August 13, 2015 is: contumely \kahn-TOO-muh-lee\ noun : harsh language or treatment arising from haughtiness and contempt; also : an instance of such language or treatment Examples: Deeply hurt by the contumely directed at her, Charlotte burst into tears and ran out of the room. "She occupied the outer margins of established theater and wore that status as a badge of honor, refusing to join Actors' Equity until the late 1980s and often seeming to revel in the contumely of the mainstream press." — Ben Brantley, New York Times, October 13, 2013 Did you know? English poet Geoffrey Chaucer wrote about the sin of contumelie, as it was spelled in Middle English, while composing "The Parson's Tale" back in the late 1300s. The word is a borrowing from Middle French (whence it had earlier arrived from Latin contumelia), and it has since seen wide literary use. Perhaps its most famous occurrence is in Hamlet's "To be or not to be" soliloquy (in which it is pronounced \KAHN-tyoom-lee\ or \KAHN-chum-lee\): "For who would bear the whips and scorns of time, / Th' oppressor's wrong, the proud man's contumely...."

 kindred | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 2:40

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for August 12, 2015 is: kindred \KIN-drud\ adjective 1 : of a similar nature or character : like 2 : of the same ancestry Examples: Jessica found a kindred songwriting spirit in Brigid, and soon the two women were collaborating on a new album. "The boys were well-behaved and inseparable. Kindred souls, as preschoolers they spoke to each other in 'twin language,' their mother said, using words that no one else understood." — Clare Ansberry, Wall Street Journal, March 3, 2015 Did you know? If you believe that advice and relatives are inseparable, the etymology of kindred will prove you right. Kindred comes from a combination of kin (a word for one's relatives) and the Old English word ræden ("condition"), which itself comes from the verb ræden, meaning "to advise." Kindred entered English as a noun first, in the 12th century. That noun, which can refer to a group of related individuals or to one's own relatives, gave rise to the adjective kindred in the 14th century.

 zydeco | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 2:40

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for August 11, 2015 is: zydeco \ZYE-duh-koh\ noun : popular music of southern Louisiana that combines tunes of French origin with elements of Caribbean music and the blues Examples: The restaurant, with architecture that looks like it's straight from the French quarter of New Orleans, features authentic Cajun cuisine and live zydeco music. "Prepare your palates for a mouthful of Cajun and Creole fare and your dancing feet for a weekend of zydeco and blues beats, because the Long Beach Bayou Festival, now in its 29th year, has just announced its 2015 lineup." — Asia Morris, Long Beach (California) Post, April 28, 2015 Did you know? You might say that the lively form of music known as zydeco is full of beans, etymologically speaking. Legend has it that the word zydeco originated in the lyrics of Les Haricots Sont Pas Salés, a popular Cajun dance tune. Loosely translated, the song's title means "the beans are not salty," and when spoken in French Creole, les haricots (French for "beans") sounds something like zydeco. Zydeco first appeared in print in 1949 and has been used to describe this kind of music ever since.

 multifarious | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 2:40

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for August 10, 2015 is: multifarious \mul-tuh-FAIR-ee-us\ adjective : having or occurring in great variety : diverse Examples: John listed his multifarious interests and activities on his college application. "The report presents a convincing case that the agency has been stretched too thin in its multifarious duties—from combating counterfeiters and computer criminals to standing guard over presidents present and past and their widows…." — editorial, New York Times, December 29, 2014 Did you know? Dictionary makers have dated the first appearance of multifarious in print as 1593—and rightly so—but before that time another word similar in form and meaning was being used: multifary, meaning "in many ways" and appearing (and disappearing) in the 15th century. Before either of the English words existed, there was the Medieval Latin word multifarius (same meaning as multifarious), from Latin multifariam, meaning "in many places" or "on many sides." Multi-, as you may know, is a combining form meaning "many." A relative of multifarious in English is omnifarious ("of all varieties, forms, or kinds"), created with omni- ("all") rather than multi-.

 pseudonym | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 2:40

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for August 09, 2015 is: pseudonym \SOO-duh-nihm\ noun : a fictitious name; especially : pen name Examples: Instead of using his real name, Edward signed his letter to the editor with the pseudonym "Jack Cramer." "Author J. K. Rowling announced on Twitter that she has written a third installment of her Cormoran Strike mystery series under the pseudonym Robert Galbraith." — Kaitlin Miller, The Sun-Times (Florida), June 16, 2015 Did you know? Pseudonym, has its origins in the Greek word pseudōnymos, which means "bearing a false name." Greek speakers formed their word by combining pseud-, meaning "false," and onyma, meaning "name." French speakers adopted the Greek word as pseudonyme, and English speakers later modified the French word into pseudonym. Many celebrated authors have used pseudonyms. Samuel Clemens wrote under the pseudonym "Mark Twain," Charles Lutwidge Dodgson assumed the pseudonym "Lewis Carroll," and Mary Ann Evans used "George Eliot" as her pseudonym.

 abstain | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 2:40

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for August 08, 2015 is: abstain \ub-STAYN\ verb : to refrain deliberately and often with an effort of self-denial from an action or practice Examples: The nurse advised Jacob to abstain from alcohol while he was on the medication. "Messick let the council know he would abstain from all votes regarding this downtown property …." — Aaron Little, Santa Rosa (Florida) Press, July 7, 2015 Did you know? If you abstain, you're consciously and usually with effort choosing to "hold back" from doing something that you would like to do. One may abstain from a vice, for example, or in parliamentary procedure, one might abstain from placing a vote. So it's no surprise that abstain traces back through Middle English and Anglo-French to the Latin abstinēre, which combines the prefix ab- ("from, away, off") with tenēre, a Latin verb meaning "to hold." Tenēre has many offspring in English—other descendants include contain, detain, maintain, obtain, pertain, retain, and sustain, as well as some words that don't end in -tain, such as tenacious. Abstain, like many of its cousins, has been used by English speakers since at least the 14th century.

 euphemism | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 2:40

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for August 07, 2015 is: euphemism \YOO-fuh-miz-um\ noun : the substitution of an agreeable or inoffensive expression for one that may offend or suggest something unpleasant; also : the expression so substituted Examples: Aunt Helen would never say that someone had "died"; she preferred to communicate the unpleasant news with euphemisms like "passed on." "Jane Grigson is sometimes described as 'the food writer's food writer,' which is probably a euphemism for 'the food writer all other food writers would secretly like to be.' I'm sure I'm not alone in the wide-eyed admiration and green-eyed envy with which I read her work." — Felicity Cloake, The New Statesman, July 9, 2015 Did you know? Euphemism derives from the Greek euphemos, which means "auspicious, sounding good." The first part of that root is the Greek prefix eu-, meaning "good." The second part is phēmē, a Greek word for "speech" that is itself a derivative of the verb phanai, meaning "to speak." Among the numerous linguistic cousins of euphemism on the eu- side of the family are eulogy, euphoria, and euthanasia; on the phanai side, its kin include prophet and aphasia (loss of the power to understand words).

 titanic | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 2:40

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for August 06, 2015 is: titanic \tye-TAN-ik\ adjective : having great magnitude, force, or power : colossal Examples: The slugger launched a titanic home run that landed in the parking lot beyond the stadium's center-field wall. "Murray has withstood a titanic challenge from Ivo Karlovic to reach his eighth consecutive Wimbledon quarter-final." — Stuart Bathgate, Evening Times (Glasgow), July 6, 2015 Did you know? Before becoming the name of the most famous ship in history, titanic referred to the Titans, a family of giants in Greek mythology who were believed to have once ruled the earth. They were subsequently overpowered and replaced by the younger Olympian gods under the leadership of Zeus. The size and power of the Titans is memorialized in the adjective titanic and in the noun titanium, a chemical element of exceptional strength that is used in the production of steel.

 hermitage | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 2:40

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for August 05, 2015 is: hermitage \HER-mih-tij\ noun 1 : the habitation of a hermit 2 : a secluded residence or private retreat; also : monastery 3 : the life or condition of a hermit Examples: "At a Catholic hermitage near Lac Saint-Jean, the Franciscan Capuchin friar Sylvain Richer told me he grew up saying 'Beam me up, Scotty.'" — Associated Press, June 29, 2015 "The facility will include a convent, a chapel, a library, a Rosary Walk area, coffee shops, hermitages or small cottages, and areas for larger retreat groups and for people or couples to stay." — Rebecca McKinsey, Daily Times Herald (Carroll, Iowa), December 22, 2014 Did you know? Hermitage is of course related to hermit, a word for one who retreats from society to live in solitude, often for religious reasons. The origins of hermitage and hermit are found in Greek. Erēmos (meaning "desolate") gave rise to erēmia (meaning "desert") and eventually to the noun erēmitēs, which was used for a person living in the desert, or, more broadly, for a recluse. The word journeyed from Greek to Latin to Anglo-French to Middle English, where it eventually transformed into hermit. The related hermitage was borrowed into English from Anglo-French in the 14th century. A hermitage can be the dwelling of a hermit (e.g., a mountain shack or a monastery) or simply a secluded home.

 infrangible | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 2:40

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for August 04, 2015 is: infrangible \in-FRAN-juh-bul\ adjective 1 : not capable of being broken or separated into parts 2 : not to be infringed or violated Examples: He declared firmly that he lived his life by a set of infrangible ethical principles. "[James Bond] is content enough with his new freedom on the fringe to make it a permanent lifestyle, but it's his infrangible sense of duty to country and M that brings him back to the fold when both are threatened." — Kirk Baird, Toledo (Ohio) Blade, November 9, 2012 Did you know? Infrangible comes to us via Middle French from the Late Latin infrangibilis, and it is ultimately derived from the prefix in- and the Latin verb frangere, meaning "to break." (Believe it or not, our break is ultimately derived from the same ancient word that gave rise to frangere.) Infrangible first appeared in print in English in the 16th century with the literal meaning "impossible to break"; it was later extended metaphorically to things that cannot or should not be broken.

 doppelgänger | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 2:40

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for August 03, 2015 is: doppelgänger \DAH-pul-gang-er\ noun 1 : a ghostly counterpart of a living person 2 a : a person who closely resembles another living person b : the opposite side of a personality : alter ego c : a person who has the same name as another Examples: Throughout the movie, the main character is frequently mistaken for someone else, and the plot thickens when this doppelgänger turns out to be a wanted criminal. "Astonished, frightened and fascinated, Finkel arranges to meet his deceiving doppelgänger in an Oregon prison." — Dann Gire, Chicago Daily Herald, April 17, 2015 Did you know? According to age-old German folklore, all living creatures have a spirit double who is invisible but identical to the living individual. These second selves are perceived as being distinct from ghosts (which appear only after death), and sometimes they are described as the spiritual opposite or negative of their human counterparts. In 1796, German writer Johann Paul Richter, who wrote under the pseudonym Jean Paul, coined the word Doppelgänger (from doppel-, meaning "double," and -gänger, meaning "goer") to refer to such specters.

 tantara | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 2:40

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for February 09, 2015 is: tantara \tan-TAIR-uh\ noun : the blare of a trumpet or horn Examples: A tantara announced the arrival of the Queen, and everyone snapped to attention. "… after restoring the tomb to its former condition, we returned to the palace. But hardly had we sat down ere we heard the … tantara of trumpets and clash of cymbals, and the rattling of war men's lances…." — Sir Richard Burton, The Arabian Nights, 1884-1886 Did you know? Tantara is a shortening of the Latin taratantara, an onomatopoetic word that in ancient times evoked the terrible sound of the war-trumpet. When tantara entered English in the 16th century, the sound it evoked was a merry one. "Tantara, tantara, the trumpets sound, / Which makes our hearte with joy abound," wrote Humphrey Gifford in 1580. Today, tantara is sometimes used as a synonym of fanfare, a word for a short, lively sound of trumpets that may also be onomatopoetic in origin.

 smarmy | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 2:40

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for February 08, 2015 is: smarmy \SMAR-mee\ adjective 1 : revealing or marked by a smug, ingratiating, or false earnestness 2 : of low sleazy taste or quality Examples: The candidate came across as a bit smarmy during the interview. "'No Control' has some punk-rock flair, more so in spirit than in sound. It's a little messy and smarmy and rages admirably here and there." — Joey Guerra, Houston Chronicle, November 17, 2014 Did you know? Something smarmy will often ooze with self-satisfaction and insincerity. Much like its synonyms unctuous and slick, smarmy has a history that starts with a meaning of literal slipperiness or oiliness. The verb smarm appeared in English in the mid-19th century. Etymologists don't know where it came from, but they do know that it meant "to smear," "to gush," or sometimes "to make smooth or oily." A few decades later, the use of smarm was extended to sometimes mean "to use flattery." The adjective smarmy appeared in the early 20th century. At first meaning "insincerely flattering" or "smug," it later took on an additional meaning: "sleazy."

 diapason | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 2:40

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for February 07, 2015 is: diapason \dye-uh-PAY-zun\ noun 1 a : the principal foundation stop in the organ extending through the complete range of the instrument b : the entire range of musical tones 2 a : tuning fork b : a standard of pitch Examples: We knew the audience enjoyed Heather's stand-up comedy from the diapasons of laughter that erupted throughout her routine. "The programme, genially introduced by Peter King, showed us what a very fine sound the Klais [organ] can produce, played by a master. From the tinkling bells to the mighty diapason, it filled the Abbey with a wealth of tuneful lush harmony." — Peter Lloyd Williams, Bath (UK) Chronicle, May 19, 2014 Did you know? Diapason covers a wide range of meanings in English, almost all pertaining to music or sound. The word derives from the Greek roots dia-, which means "through" and occurs in such words as diameter and diagonal, and pasōn, the genitive feminine plural of pas, meaning "all." Pas is related to the prefix pan-, which is used in such words as pantheism and pandemic. In Greek, the phrase hē dia pasōn chordōn symphōnia translates literally to "the concord through all the notes," with the word concord here referring to a combination of tones that are heard simultaneously and produce an agreeable impression on the listener.

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