Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for June 10, 2014 is: ambrosia \am-BROH-zhee-uh\ noun 1 a : the food of the Greek and Roman gods b : the ointment or perfume of the gods 2 : something extremely pleasing to taste or smell 3 : a dessert made of oranges and shredded coconut Examples: The company drew criticism for advertising the children's medicine as if it were ambrosia. "The pork loin was animal ambrosia nestled tenderly in great gravy. My taste buds treasure the memory…." — Tony Stein, The Virginian-Pilot, April 20, 2014 Did you know? "Ambrosia" literally means "immortality" in Greek; it is derived from the Greek word "ambrotos" ("immortal"), which combines the prefix "a-" (meaning "not") with "mbrotos" ("mortal"). In Greek and Roman mythology, only the immortals—gods and goddesses—could eat ambrosia. Those mythological gods and goddesses also drank "nectar," the original sense of which refers to the "drink of the gods." "Nectar" (in Greek, "nektar") may have implied immortality as well; "nektar" is believed to have carried the literal meaning "overcoming death." While the ambrosia of the gods implied immortality, we mere mortals use "ambrosia" in reference to things that just taste or smell especially delicious. Similarly, "nectar" can now simply mean "something delicious to drink."

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for June 09, 2014 is: faze \FAYZ\ verb : to disturb the composure of : disconcert, daunt Examples: My grandfather was a stolid individual who was not easily fazed by life's troubles. "Those comments might faze some players, but Lee's optimism was a trademark the past three seasons at USC and his happy-go-lucky attitude persisted even while analysts raised doubts." — Scott Wolf, Whittier Daily News (California), May 6, 2014 Did you know? "Faze" is a youngster among English words, relatively speaking; it first appeared in English in the early 1800s. That may not seem especially young, but consider that when "faze" first showed up in print in English, the works of Shakespeare were already over 200 years old, the works of Chaucer over 400 years old, and the Old English epic Beowulf was at least 800 years old. "Faze" is an alteration of the now-rare verb "feeze," which has the obsolete sense "to drive (someone or something) away" and which, by the 1400s, was also being used with the meaning "to frighten or put into a state of alarm." "Feeze" ("fesen" in Middle English and "fēsian" in Old English) is first known to have appeared in print in the late 800s, making it older than even the oldest extant copy of Beowulf in manuscript.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for June 08, 2014 is: contestation \kahn-tess-TAY-shun\ noun : controversy, debate Examples: The location of the new high school has been a recurrent item of contestation at town meetings. "Deputy Chief Justice Dikgang Moseneke told reporters the division of the [Nelson Mandela] estate … had been accepted by Mandela's family earlier on Monday with no contestation so far." — Miami Times (Florida), February 5, 2014 Did you know? If you guessed that "contestation" is somehow connected to "contest," you're right. They're linked both through meaning and through etymology. "Contest" can be a verb meaning "to dispute," and "contestation" essentially means "an act, instance, or state of contesting." Both words can be traced to the Latin verb "contestari," meaning "to call to witness." "Contestari" itself comes from "testis," a Latin noun meaning "witness," which is also the source of "attest" ("to bear witness to"), "testify" ("to bear witness"), and "testimony" ("a declaration made by a witness"), among others.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for June 07, 2014 is: totem \TOH-tum\ noun 1 : an animal or plant serving as the emblem of a family or clan; also : a representation of such an object 2 : a revered emblem or symbol : a person or thing that represents an idea Examples: All five members of the family are talented singers, so it might be appropriate that their totem animal is the canary. "This sense of the safe-deposit box as a totem of responsible security inspired me to rent a box myself shortly after the birth of our first child…." — Eric Zorn, Chicago Tribune, April 25, 2014 Did you know? "Totem" comes to us from Ojibwa, an Algonquian language spoken by an American Indian people from the regions around Lake Superior. The most basic form of the word in Ojibwa is believed to be "ote," but 18th-century English speakers encountered it as "ototeman" ("his totem"), which became our word "totem." In its most specific sense, "totem" refers to an emblematic depiction of an animal or plant that gives a family or clan its name and that often serves as a reminder of its ancestry. The term is also used broadly for any thing or person having particular emblematic or symbolic importance. The related adjective "totemic" describes something that serves as a totem, that depicts totems ("totemic basketry," for example), or that has the nature of a totem.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for June 06, 2014 is: perdure \per-DUR\ verb : to continue to exist : last Examples: The artist's influence perdures in the themes and stylistic choices of his students. "Wells brings the reader into the drama of multi-generational families, of friendships that perdure ... of relationships that grow as hardships and challenges color life." — Fran Salone-Pelletier, The Brunswick Beacon (Shallotte, North Carolina), August 1, 2012 Did you know? "Perdure" may be an unfamiliar word for many of our readers, but those who suspect they see hints of its ancestry in the more familiar synonym "endure" are correct. "Perdure" was borrowed into Middle English from Anglo-French and traces back to the Latin verb "perdurare," meaning "to continue." "Perdurare," in turn, was formed by combining the intensifying prefix "per-" with the verb "durare," meaning "to last." "Durare" is also an ancestor of the English words "endure," "durable," "indurate," and "during," among others.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for April 08, 2014 is: virescent \vuh-RESS-unt\ adjective : beginning to be green : greenish Examples: Buds formed on the bare trees, infusing the stark branches with a slight virescent tint. "While Heisman Trophy winner and National Football League quarterback Tim Tebow read 'Green Eggs and Ham,' during Dr. Seuss Week, Lincoln Elementary kindergarten teacher Mary Jo Bures quietly slipped away to a meeting. None of the kindergartners noticed, their eyes fixated on the screen, their ears absorbing the story of Sam I Am and his never wavering quest to get the narrator to try the virescent foods." — From an article by Chris Dunker in the Beatrice Daily Sun (Nebraska), February 25, 2014 Did you know? "Virescent" first appeared in English in 1826. It derives from the present participle of "virescere," a Latin verb meaning "to become green" and a form of another verb, "virēre," meaning "to be green." "Virēre" also gave us another adjective meaning green, "verdant," only the route to that adjective takes a stop at Old French "verdoier" ("to be green"). "Virescent" has seen occasional general use, as when Thomas Hardy wrote, in his 1881 novel A Laodicean, of "[t]he summer … tipping every twig with a virescent yellow." But it is nowadays found most frequently in scientific contexts, especially those pertaining to botany.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for April 07, 2014 is: spandex \SPAN-deks\ noun : any of various elastic textile fibers made chiefly of polyurethane; also : clothing made of this material Examples: While spandex is appropriate for running races and perhaps errands too, few of us can get away with donning it in the workplace. "[Olympic bobsled brakeman Chris] Fogt says his athletic life and his military career have some similarities, particularly the camaraderie forged in the trenches…. 'For us, it's obviously slightly different. Your life's not in danger. At the same time, you're sliding down an icy track in a bathtub with four men in spandex. You get very close.'" — From an article by Rick Maese in the Washington Post, February 24, 2014 Did you know? Spandex is a fiber that has had an impact on fashion high and low, casual and formal, outer and under. It's not a trademark, as a number of the names of other fibers are, among them "Dacron," "Lycra," and "Orlon." It's a generic term, coined in 1959 as an anagram of the word "expands." Anagrammatic coinages are not common; the only other in our dictionaries that the average person is likely to be familiar with is "sideburns." "Sideburns" is an anagram (and synonym) of "burnsides," from Ambrose E. Burnside, a Union general in the American Civil War credited with originating the fashion (in the U.S., at least) also known as "side-whiskers."

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for April 06, 2014 is: epistolary \ih-PIST-uh-lair-ee\ adjective 1 : of, relating to, or suitable to a letter 2 : contained in or carried on by letters 3 : written in the form of a series of letters Examples: "Jonathan Franzen, with whom he had struck up an epistolary friendship, offered to get together that April when he was in Boston." — From D.T. Max's 2012 biography Every Love Story is a Ghost Story: A Life of David Foster Wallace "If we replace simple letters with their instant always-on alternatives, we relinquish so much epistolary architecture too. The elegant opening address and sign-off, the politeness of tone and the correct grammar and spelling." — From an article by Simon Garfield in The Courier-Journal (Louisville, Kentucky), February 14, 2014 Did you know? "Epistolary" was formed from the noun "epistle," which refers to a composition written in the form of a letter to a particular person or group. In its original sense, "epistle" refers to one of the 21 letters (such as those from the apostle Paul) found in the New Testament. Dating from the 13th century, "epistle" came to English via Anglo-French and Latin from the Greek noun "epistolē," meaning "message" or "letter." "Epistolē," in turn, came from the verb "epistellein," meaning "to send to" or "to send from." "Epistolary" appeared in English four centuries after "epistle" and can be used to describe something related to or contained in a letter (as in "epistolary greetings") or composed of letters (as in "an epistolary novel").

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for April 05, 2014 is: debunk \dee-BUNK\ verb : to expose the sham or falseness of Examples: At the premiere of their new movie, the actor and actress addressed the media to debunk the rumor that they were dating. "Illusionists and comedians Penn and Teller have made a career out of pulling back the curtain, whether to reveal the methods magicians employ in their tricks or to debunk pseudoscientific claptrap on their former television series." — From a movie review by Marc Mohan in The Oregonian (Portland) , March 7, 2014 Did you know? If you guessed that "debunk" has something to do with "bunk," meaning "nonsense," you're correct. We started using "bunk" at the beginning of the 20th century. (It derived, via "bunkum," from a remark made by a congressman from Buncombe county, North Carolina.) A little less than 25 years later, "debunk" was first used in print for the act of taking the "bunk" out of something. There are plenty of synonyms for "debunk," including "disprove," "rebut," "refute," and the somewhat rarer "confute." Even "falsify" can mean "prove something false," in addition to "make something false." "Debunk" itself often suggests that something is not merely untrue, but also a sham; one can simply disprove a myth, but if it is "debunked," the implication is that it was a grossly exaggerated or foolish claim.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for March 31, 2014 is: reverberate \rih-VER-buh-rayt\ verb 1 : to reflect or to become reflected 2 : to continue in or as if in a series of echoes : resound Examples: The sound of footsteps reverberated through the hallway. "We take some comfort knowing that the guy who ran the backhoe-mounted pavement breaker that created weeks of ear-splitting din was able to feed his family and make his house payment. The money reverberated through the economy and left behind a roadway that will last long after we're gone." — From an editorial in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, February 20, 2014 Did you know? The letter sequence "v-e-r-b" in "reverberate" might make you think at first of such word-related brethren as "proverb," "verbal," and "verbose," all of which derive from the Latin noun "verbum," meaning "word." In fact, "reverberate" comes from a much different source: the Latin verb "verberare," meaning "to whip, beat, or lash," which is related to the noun "verber," meaning "rod." "Reverberate" entered the English language in the 15th century, and one of its early meanings was "to beat, drive, or cast back." By the early 1600s it began to appear in contexts associated with sound that repeats or returns the way an echo does.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for March 30, 2014 is: callous \KAL-us\ adjective 1 a : being hardened and thickened b : having calluses 2 a : feeling no emotion b : feeling or showing no sympathy for others : hard-hearted Examples: The company responsible for the fuel leak demonstrated callous disregard for the welfare of the people who lived downstream. "One of the most remarkable achievements of Carthage is Cressida Mayfield herself, and how utterly unlikable she remains…. Strong-willed yet sensitive, Cressida has a callous attitude toward others for which Oates peppers the story with vague explanations." —From a book review by Elizabeth Langemak on Philly.com, February 23, 2014 Did you know? A callus is a hard, thickened area of skin that develops usually from friction or irritation over time. Such a hardened area often leaves one less sensitive to the touch, so it's no surprise that the adjective "callous," in addition to describing skin that is hard and thick, can also be used as a synonym for "harsh" or "insensitive." Both "callus" and "callous" derive via Middle English from Latin. The figurative sense of "callous" entered English almost 300 years after the literal sense, and Robert Louis Stevenson used it aptly when he wrote, in Treasure Island, "But, indeed, from what I saw, all these buccaneers were as callous as the sea they sailed on."

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for March 29, 2014 is: yen \YEN\ noun : a strong desire or propensity : longing; also : urge, craving Examples: Though it has been years since he moved away from home, Johnnie still experiences the occasional yen for his grandmother's cooking. "The first of the five to enlist was Ford, a devout Irish American Catholic with a yen for the seafaring life." — From a book review by M.G. Lord in the Los Angeles Times (California), February 20, 2014 Did you know? Although "yen" suggests no more than a strong longing these days, at one time someone with a yen was in deep trouble indeed. The first meaning of "yen" was an intense craving for opium. The late 19th-century English term evolved from the Cantonese "yīn-yáhn," which itself combines "yīn,” meaning “opium,” and "yáhn," meaning "craving." In English, the Chinese syllables were transformed to "yen-yen" and ultimately abbreviated to simply "yen." Eventually, "yen" was generalized to the more innocuous meaning of "a strong desire," and the link to drug cravings was lost.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for March 28, 2014 is: adscititious \ad-suh-TISH-us\ adjective 1 : derived or acquired from something on the outside 2 : supplemental, additional Examples: "We should choose our books as we would our companions, for their sterling and intrinsic merit, not for their adscititious or accidental advantages." — From Charles Caleb Colton's 1832 book Lacon "I thrilled to crates of chilly hardware—coffee tins of rusty nails and mismatched bolts and nuts, odd attachments, gimcrack, rickrack, and adscititious crap…." — From William Davies King's 2008 book Collections of Nothing Did you know? "Adscititious" comes from a very "knowledgeable" family—it ultimately derives from "scire," the Latin verb meaning "to know." "Scire" also gave us "science," "conscience," "prescience" ("foreknowledge"), and "nescience" ("lack of knowledge"). "Adscititious" itself comes to us from "scire" by way of the Latin verb "adsciscere," which means "to admit" or "to adopt." This explains why "adscititious" describes something adopted from an outside source.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for March 27, 2014 is: infix \IN-fiks\ noun : a derivational or inflectional affix appearing in the body of a word Examples: The Philippine language of Tagalog adds infixes such as "-um-" and "-su-" to verbs to convey different tenses and voices. "As Mark Peters writes, [The Simpsons character Ned] Flanders is 'hyper-holy,' and his infixes sanctify a typically profane process. He is also gratingly cheerful … and diddly perfectly conveys his sunny attitude: murder and dilemma sound a lot less forbidding when infixed as murdiddlyurder and dididdlyemma…." — From Michael Adams' 2009 book Slang: The People's Poetry Did you know? Like prefixes and suffixes, infixes are part of the general class of affixes ("sounds or letters attached to or inserted within a word to produce a derivative word or an inflectional form"). Infixes are relatively rare in English, but you can find them in the plural forms of some words. For example, "cupful," "spoonful," and "passerby" can be pluralized as "cupsful," "spoonsful," and "passersby," using "s" as an infix. Another example is the insertion of an (often offensive) intensifier into a word, as in "fan-freakin'-tastic." Such whole-word insertions are sometimes called "infixes," though this phenomenon is more traditionally known as "tmesis."

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for March 26, 2014 is: sallow \SAL-oh\ adjective : of a grayish greenish yellow color suggesting sickliness Examples: She decided not to buy the beige blouse because it made her skin look washed-out and sallow. "Butterfield is perfect in the title role, his sallow complexion, sunken eyes and haunted gaze every inch the angst-ridden lad that Card created on the page." — From a movie review by Derrick Bang in The Davis Enterprise (California), November 1, 2013 Did you know? There is no hint of sickliness in the etymology of "sallow." The word appears in Old English as "salu" or "salo," and could mean "dusky" or "dark" or "grayish greenish yellow." "Salu" (or "salo") is akin to Old English "sōl" ("dark, dirty"), Old High German "salo" ("murky, dirty gray"), Old Norse "sölr" ("dirty"), and even Sanskrit "sāra" or "sāla," which carries the basic meaning of "dirty gray." "Sallow," however, has for much of its history been used specifically to describe the skin or complexion of one who is unwell.