Shindig

WORD OF THE DAY

shindig / noun / SHIN-dig

Definition

1a: a social gathering with dancing

1b: a usually large or lavish party

2: fracas, uproar

Examples

"In the program notes, director Isaac Lamb says he's aiming for the vibe of a ceilidh—an impromptu Irish shindig with instruments, singing, dancing and booze." 

— Lee Williams, The Oregonian (Portland, Oregon), 11 Oct. 2019

"Justin Bieber and Hailey Baldwin tied the knot for the second time, one year after legally getting married in a New York City courthouse. The star-studded shindig took place in South Carolina … with a weekend of festivities culminating in a ceremony and reception for 150 guests." 

— Jordan Julian, The Daily Beast, 2 Oct. 2019

Did You Know?

At a glance, shindig appears to combine shin and dig, and thus might seem to suggest a painful kick to the leg—especially when you know that one of the first senses of shindig in English refers to a gathering at which people dance. 

It is more likely, however, that shindig is an alteration of shindy, which is itself the alteration of another word, shinny, used of a variation of hockey that is played with a curved stick and a ball or block of wood. 

It's not entirely clear how the game of shinny gave shindy its first meaning (the "social gathering with dancing" meaning that is also the original meaning of shindig) but shinny remains the most likely origin.

Impervious

WORD OF THE DAY

impervious / adjective / im-PER-vee-us

Definition

1a: not allowing entrance or passage 

1b: impenetrable  

1c: not capable of being damaged or harmed

2: not capable of being affected or disturbed

Examples

"Because porcelain is impervious to water, stains and temperature changes, it's a durable and practical choice for high-traffic areas." 

— Michelle Brunner, The Washington Post, 14 Oct. 2019

"I happen to love long trips.… No one could be more excited than I am about the chance to sit for an extended stretch of time, Wi-Fi-less, in business class with access to dozens of movies and TV shows that you would never pay to watch at home. I am impervious to jet lag! Sleep is for losers." 

— Sarah Lyall, The New York Times, 13 Nov. 2019

Did You Know?

The English language is far from impervious, and, of course, a great many Latinate terms have entered it throughout its history. 

Impervious is one of the many that broke through in the 17th century. It comes from the Latin impervius, which adds the prefix im- to pervius, meaning "passable" or "penetrable." 

Pervius—which is also the source of the relatively uncommon English word pervious, meaning "accessible" or "permeable"—comes from per-, meaning "through," and via, meaning "way."

Punctilio

WORD OF THE DAY

punctilio / noun / punk-TILL-ee-oh

Definition

1 : a minute detail of conduct in a ceremony or in observance of a code

2 : careful observance of forms (as in social conduct)

Examples

"It is hard to write a novel in a Christian setting in such a secular age; 'The End of the Affair' manages to make even the punctilios of Catholic doctrine feel profoundly relevant." 

— Alex Preston, The Independent, 17 Feb. 2012

"At picnics, lawn-parties, little country gatherings of all sorts, she was, in her own quiet, natural manner, always the presiding spirit of general comfort and general friendship. Even the rigid laws of country punctilio relaxed before her unaffected cheerfulness and irresistible good-nature." 

— Wilkie Collins, Basil, 1852

Did You Know?

We'll get straight to the point: there are a number of English words that come from Latin pungere, meaning "to prick" or "to sting." Punctilio is one of these words. 

It traces back to pungere by way of Italian puntiglio (meaning "small point," "point of honor," or "scruple"), Spanish puntillo (the diminutive of punto, meaning "point"), and Latin punctum (also meaning "point"). 

The adjective punctilious, meaning "marked by or concerned about precise accordance with the details of codes or conventions," is a close relative of punctilio. Do you have any guesses for other pungere derivatives? 

Punctuate, puncture, compunction, punctual, and pungent are some of the more common ones.

Luminaria

WORD OF THE DAY

luminaria / noun / loo-muh-NAIR-ee-uh

Definition

: a traditional Mexican Christmas lantern originally consisting of a candle set in sand inside a paper bag

Examples

"Mount Vernon Avenue will be illuminated by thousands of luminarias and feature storefront windows hand-painted for the holidays." 

— The Alexandria (Virginia) Living Magazine, 9 Nov. 2019

"The simple bag of sand with a candle inside has undergone some upgrades to keep up with the times—some people use fire-resistant bags or battery-powered candles—but the luminaria remains a part of Arizona's holiday tradition." 

— Weldon B. Johnson, The (Phoenix) Arizona Republic, 3 Dec. 2018

Did You Know?

Luminaria is a fairly recent addition to English; early usage dates from the 1930s, about the time that the Mexican Christmas custom started to gain popularity among Anglo-Americans. In some parts of the U.S., particularly New Mexico, these festive lanterns are also called farolitos, which means "little lanterns" in Spanish. 

We borrowed luminaria from Spanish, but the word has been around with exactly the same spelling since the days of Late Latin. 

The term ultimately traces to the classical Latin luminare, meaning "window," and to lumen, meaning "light." It is related to other light-bearing words such as luminary, illuminate, and phillumenist (a fancy name for someone who collects matchbooks).

Evergreen

WORD OF THE DAY

evergreen / adjective / EV-er-green

Definition

1: having foliage that remains green and functional through more than one growing season

2a: retaining freshness or interest 

2b: perennial

2c: universally and continually relevant : not limited in applicability to a particular event or date

Examples

"For years, it was assumed that in order to have a garden of constant color, you needed to plant vivid annual flowers in every season. This was a somewhat costly proposition, however, especially when compared to a garden of evergreen and colorful succulents, where red, blue, yellow, green, pink and gold are on display 365 days a year." 

— Joshua Siskin, The Orange County (California) Register, 29 Oct. 2019

"Pinterest, in particular, is a great place for sharing evergreen content like recipes or DIY tutorials…." 

— Danielle Wiley, Adweek, 12 Dec. 2018

Did You Know?

Which adjective do you think has existed longer in English, evergreen or perennial? If you count the hyphenated form ever-green (which of course means "always green"), then evergreen is older; its earliest known use dates from the 16th century. 

The hyphen-free form is first seen in writing from the 17th century as an adjective as well as a noun, meaning "conifer." 

The earliest known use of perennial as an adjective meaning "remaining green all year long" appears in the first half of the 17th century. 

Evergreen also wins in the more general "long lasting" sense. It began appearing in figurative use circa mid-17th century, whereas perennial began to be used with that "enduring" meaning in the early 18th.

Whipsaw

WORD OF THE DAY

whipsaw / verb / WIP-saw

Definition

1: to saw with a whipsaw

2: to beset or victimize in two opposite ways at once, by two-phase operation, or by the collusive action of two opponents

Examples

The community has been growing steadily safer and more prosperous after years of being whipsawed by climbing crime rates and plunging employment.

"In a study that is bound to be controversial—and confusing for consumers who feel whipsawed by conflicting nutrition advice—researchers from seven countries have reported finding few health benefits associated with cutting back on red or processed meats." 

— Mari A. Schaefer, The Philadelphia Inquirer, 30 Sept. 2019

Did You Know?

A whipsaw is a type of hand-powered saw worked by two people, one of whom stands on or above the log being sawed and the other below it, usually in a pit. 

The tool dates back to the 15th century, but it was not until the 19th century that anyone thought to use the saw's name figuratively to describe situations in which someone or something is doubly "cut," or hurt. 

Today, the word is commonly used when discussing financial crises or losses as well as ideological changes (as in government policy) that might "cut."

Discriminate

WORD OF THE DAY

discriminate / verb / diss-KRIM-uh-nayt

Definition
1a: to see the special features of
1b: to perceive a difference in
1c: differentiate
2a: to distinguish by discerning or exposing differences; especially
2b: to distinguish from another like object
3 : to make a difference in treatment or favor on a basis other than individual merit

Examples
"Cashless restaurants … have faced criticism that they discriminate against low-income consumers who may not have bank accounts."
— Leslie Patton, Bloomberg.com, 13 Nov. 2019

"That evening … he was conscious of a keen desire to get away, to go abroad, to leave behind him the little chatter his resignation would be sure to produce in an age of publicity which never discriminated as to the quality of events."
— Henry James, The Tragic Muse, 1890

Did You Know?
Although many methods or motives for discriminating are unfair and undesirable (or even illegal), the verb itself has a neutral history.
English speakers borrowed it from the past participle of the Latin verb discriminare (meaning "to distinguish or differentiate"), which, itself, is derived from the verb discernere, meaning "to distinguish between."
Discernere, in turn, was formed by combining the prefix dis- (meaning "apart") and cernere ("to sift"). Other descendants of include discern and discernible (as you no doubt guessed), discreet, and indiscretion.
In addition, the root cernere gives us concern, certain, decree, and even secret.

Xenophobia

WORD OF THE DAY

xenophobia / noun / zen-uh-FOH-bee-uh

Definition
: fear and hatred of strangers or foreigners or of anything that is strange or foreign

Examples
"George Kennan, who served at the U.S. Embassy in Moscow…, wrote in 1947 that Soviet hostility toward the West was based upon more than Marxist ideology or traditional Russian xenophobia."
— Philip Gold, Insight, 29 Dec. 1986

"Although the Great Depression prompted an exodus of foreign workers—spurred in part by a wave of popular xenophobia—the presence of foreigners in France was sustained by the arrival of refugees from the Spanish Civil War."
— Peter Gatrell, The Unsettling of Europe, 2019

Did You Know?
If you look back to the ancient Greek terms that underlie the word xenophobia, you'll discover that xenophobic individuals are literally "stranger fearing."
Xenophobia, that elegant-sounding name for an aversion to persons unfamiliar, ultimately derives from two Greek terms: xenos, which can be translated as either "stranger" or "guest," and phobos, which means either "fear" or "flight."
Phobos is the ultimate source of all English -phobia terms, but many of those were actually coined in English or New Latin using the combining form -phobia.
Xenophobia itself came to us by way of New Latin and first appeared in print in English in the late 19th century.

Haggard

WORD OF THE DAY

haggard / adjective / HAG-urd

Definition
1 (of a hawk): not tamed
2a: wild in appearance
2b: having a worn or emaciated appearance
2c: gaunt

Examples
"When I met her at her subsidized apartment in the fall of 2018, she still had the haggard air of someone learning how to use the subway, navigate welfare programs, and raise two children by herself in an alien country."
— Doug Bock Clark, GQ, 26 Mar. 2019

"East Avenue, the town's main drag, is fronted by stately if slightly haggard red-brick buildings, including the historic Cottrill Opera House (currently raising funds for its restoration) as well as several art galleries and antiques shops…."
— Anna Altman, The Washingtonian, 15 Jan. 2019

Did You Know?
Haggard comes from falconry, the sport of hunting with a trained bird of prey. The birds used in falconry were not bred in captivity until very recently.
Traditionally, falconers trained wild birds that were either taken from the nest when quite young or trapped as adults.
A bird trapped as an adult is termed a haggard, from the Middle French hagard. Such a bird is notoriously wild and difficult to train, and it wasn't long before the falconry sense of haggard was being applied in an extended way to a "wild" and intractable person.
Next, the word came to express the way the human face looks when a person is exhausted, anxious, or terrified. Today, the most common meaning of haggard is "gaunt" or "worn."

Aught

WORD OF THE DAY

aught / pronoun  / AWT

Definition
1: anything
2: all, everything

Examples
"Xury said it was a lion, and it might be so, for aught I know...."
— Daniel Defoe, Robinson Crusoe, 1719

"All the ways into this grot were then sealed against the entry of water or aught else, all save one."
— J. R. R. Tolkien, The Two Towers, 1954

Did You Know?
"If you know aught which does behove my knowledge
Thereof to be inform'd, imprison't not
In ignorant concealment,"

Polixenes begs Camillo in William Shakespeare's The Winter's Tale, employing the "anything" sense of aught. Shakespeare didn't coin the pronoun aught, which has been a part of the English language since before the 12th century, but he did put it to frequent use.
Writers today may be less likely to use aught than were their literary predecessors, but the pronoun does continue to turn up occasionally.
Aught can also be a noun meaning "zero," and "the aughts" is heard occasionally for the decade at the beginning of a century (say, 1900-1909 or 2000-2009) in which the penultimate digit is a zero.

Flibbertigibbet

WORD OF THE DAY

flibbertigibbet / noun / flib-er-tee-JIB-ut

Definition
: a silly flighty person

Examples
She plays a flibbertigibbet in the movie—a character completely at odds with her real-life reputation as a prolific writer and masterful actor and director.

"As played by a breathless Vinny Chavez, the young prince is a petulant flibbertigibbet obsessed with visual glamor, which gets in the way of his search for a suitable princess to marry."
— Kerry Lengel, The (Phoenix) Arizona Republic, 10 Nov. 2014

Did You Know?
Flibbertigibbet is one of many incarnations of the Middle English word flepergebet, meaning "gossip" or "chatterer" (others include flybbergybe, flibber de' Jibb, and flipperty-gibbet).
It is a word of onomatopoeic origin, created from sounds that were intended to represent meaningless chatter. William Shakespeare apparently saw a devilish aspect to a gossipy chatterer; he used flibbertigibbet in King Lear as the name of a devil.
This use never caught on, but the devilish connotation of the word reappeared over 200 years later when Sir Walter Scott used Flibbertigibbet as the nickname of an impish urchin in the novel Kenilworth.
The impish meaning derived from Scott's character was short-lived and was laid to rest by the 19th-century's end, leaving us with only the "silly flighty person" meaning.

Mellifluous

WORD OF THE DAY

mellifluous / adjective / muh-LIFF-luh-wus

Definition
1: having a smooth rich flow
2: filled with something (such as honey) that sweetens

Examples
"As you explore each room, you also hear a mellifluous voice-over uttering the relevant environmental facts and recommendations…. The 13,000-square-foot exhibition, which was designed with social media in mind, requires a free iPhone app to experience fully."
— Laurel Graeber, The New York Times, 23 Oct. 2019

"Her voice alone is a stunner, a mellifluous soprano, more delicate than her big sister's powerhouse belt."
— Peter Larsen, The Orange County Register (Anaheim, California), 10 Nov. 2019

Did You Know?
In Latin, mel means "honey" and fluere means "to flow." Those two linguistic components flow smoothly together in mellifluus (from Late Latin) and mellyfluous (from Middle English), the ancestors of mellifluous.
The adjective these days typically applies to sound, as it has for centuries. In 1671, for example, poet John Milton wrote, "Wisest of men; from whose mouth issu'd forth Mellifluous streams." Paradise Regained.
But mellifluous can also be used of flavor, as when wine critics Eric Asimov and Florence Fabricant used it to describe pinot grigio in the 2014 book Wine With Food: "Most pinot grigios give many people exactly what they want: a mellifluous, easy-to-pronounce wine that can be ordered without fear of embarrassment and that is at the least cold, refreshing, and for the most part cheap."

Tractable

WORD OF THE DAY

tractable / adjective / TRAK-tuh-bul

Definition

1a: capable of being easily led, taught, or controlled 

1b: docile

2a: easily handled, managed, or wrought 

2b: malleable

Examples

"He also looks … at the biological and cultural implications of 'self-domestication,' a process by which humans school themselves out of their feral nature and into habits of being that moderate violence—though, as he adds, while other domesticated species such as dogs and guinea pigs are 'delightfully tractable,' human adaptability and cultural learning add up to something more." 

— Kirkus Reviews, 15 Oct. 2018

"The computer scientist Alan Turing noted that the question of whether a machine can think is incredibly difficult to determine, not least because of the lack of a clear definition of 'thinking'; he proposed investigating instead the more tractable question of whether a machine can convince a human interlocutor that it's human—the so-called Turing test." 

— William Egginton, The New York Times, 17 Mar. 2019

Did You Know?

Docile, obedient, and amenable are synonyms of tractable, but those four words have slightly different shades of meaning. Tractable describes an individual whose character permits easy handling, while docile implies a predisposition to submit readily to authority. 

Obedient is often used to describe compliance with authority, although that compliance is not necessarily offered eagerly. 

Amenable, on the other hand, is usually used when someone cooperates out of a desire to be agreeable. 

Tractable dates from the early 16th century and derives from the Latin verb tractare ("to handle" or "to treat"). Despite the resemblance, this root did not give us the noun tractor or verbs such as contract or attract—those all derive from a loosely related Latin verb trahere ("to draw or pull").

Vexillology

WORD OF THE DAY

vexillology / noun / vek-suh-LAH-luh-jee

Definition
: the study of flags

Examples
"I was recently watching a rerun episode of The Big Bang Theory that featured one of the main characters. Sheldon Cooper was videoing a new episode of Sheldon Cooper Presents: Fun With Flags, a YouTube/podcast show that Sheldon makes to teach vexillology, the scientific study of the history, symbolism and usage of flags."
— Alicia Vandine, The Brighton Independent (Belleville, Ontario), 12 July 2019

"After self-study in vexillology—the art of flag design—and a lot of erasing, [Laurin] Stennis settled on the circle-star design. The 20 stars represent Mississippi's entry into the union as the 20th state; the blue star on the white background is an inversion of the white star on a blue field of 'Bonnie Blue Flag,' which was waved when the state seceded."
— Steve Hendrix, The Washington Post,20 Jan. 2019

Did You Know?
"The flag is the embodiment, not of sentiment, but of history." Woodrow Wilson was speaking of the U.S. flag when he made that statement in an address in June of 1915, but those who engage in vexillology—that is, vexillologists—would likely find the comment applicable to any national banner. Vexillologists undertake scholarly investigations of flags, producing papers with titles such as "A Review of the Changing Proportions of Rectangular Flags since Medieval Times, and Some Suggestions for the Future."
In the late 1950s, they coined vexillology as a name for their field of research, basing it on vexillum, the Latin term for a square flag or banner of the ancient Roman cavalry.
The adjectives vexillologic and vexillological and the noun vexillologist followed soon thereafter.

Sodden

WORD OF THE DAY

sodden / adjective / SAH-dun

Definition
1a: dull or expressionless especially from continued indulgence in alcoholic beverages
1b: torpid, sluggish
2a: heavy with or as if with moisture or water
2b: heavy or doughy because of imperfect cooking

Examples
"… with these apt closing words Mr. Slyme fell forward with his head upon the table, and so declined into a sodden sleep."
— Charles Dickens, Martin Chuzzlewit, 1844

"I'll never forget [football quarterback Eli] Manning repeatedly rising up from the sodden San Francisco turf, literally pulling pieces of the field from his facemask."
— Tara Sullivan, The Boston Globe, 7 Oct. 2019

Did You Know?
Nowadays, seethed is the past tense and past participle form of the verb seethe (which originally meant "to boil or stew").
Originally, however, seethe could also be conjugated in the past tense as sod and in the past participle as sodden.
By the 14th century, sodden had become an independent adjective synonymous with boiled. And, by the 16th century, it had taken on the figurative sense used to describe someone who appears dull, expressionless, or stupid, particularly as a result of heavy drinking.
Today, sodden is commonly used as a synonym of soaked or saturated.
Seethe followed a different figurative path: while one who is sodden may appear dull, torpid, or sluggish, one who is seething is highly agitated, like a pot of boiling water.

Reiterate

WORD OF THE DAY

reiterate / verb / ree-IT-uh-rayt

Definition
: to state or do over again or repeatedly sometimes with wearying effect

Examples
"Flanery reiterated that the new hotel, HRM facility and expanded seating will not require Churchill Downs to expand outside of its current property. Churchill Downs will continue to have a 'constant dialogue' with neighbors, Flanery said."
— Sarah Ladd, The Courier-Journal (Louisville, Kentucky), 31 Oct. 2019

"In addition to addressing the situation with Green, Durant reiterated that he won't be playing this season. He tore his Achilles tendon during Game 5 of the NBA Finals."
— Connor Letourneau, The San Francisco Chronicle, 31 Oct. 2019

Did You Know?
Can you guess the meaning of iterate, a less common relative of reiterate? It must mean simply "to state or do," right? Nope. Actually, iterate also means "to state or do again."
It's no surprise, then, that some usage commentators have insisted that reiterate must always mean "to say or do again AND AGAIN." No such nice distinction exists in actual usage, however.
Both reiterate and iterate can convey the idea of a single repetition or of many repetitions. Reiterate is the older of the two words—it first appeared in the 15th century, whereas iterate turned up in the 16th century.
Both stem from the Latin verb iterare, which is itself from iterum ("again"), but reiterate took an extra step, through Latin reiterare ("to repeat").

Oxymoron

WORD OF THE DAY

oxymoron / noun / ahk-sih-MOR-ahn

Definition
: a combination of contradictory or incongruous words (such as cruel kindness); broadly : something (such as a concept) that is made up of contradictory or incongruous elements

Examples
"Truly antisocial celebrity-level pop is probably an oxymoron, but part of the thrill of one new arrival, Billie Eilish, is that she gets close to achieving it."
— Spencer Kornhaber, The Atlantic, 10 May 2019

"'Liquid crystal' ought to be an oxymoron, but technology has rendered it sensible instead. A crystal is by definition a solid with a repeating, orderly, three-dimensional lattice. Liquid crystals are electrically activated to become quasi-crystals that act as polarizing filters. The wave nature of light manifests as oscillating electric and magnetic fields that wave like a rope tied to a post as it is shaken."
— Richard Brill, The Honolulu Star-Advertiser, 20 Oct. 2019

Did You Know?
The Greeks exhaustively classified the elements of rhetoric, or effective speech and writing, and gave the name oxymoron—literally "pointed foolishness"—to the deliberate juxtaposing of seemingly contradictory words.
The roots of oxymoron, oxys meaning "sharp" or "keen," and mōros meaning "foolish," are nearly antonyms themselves, making oxymoron nicely self-descriptive.
Oxymoron originally applied to a meaningful paradox condensed into a couple of words, as in "precious bane," "lonely crowd," or "sweet sorrow."
Today, however, what is commonly cited as an oxymoron is often simply a curiosity of language, where one or both elements have multiple meanings (shrimp in "jumbo shrimp" doesn't mean "small"; it refers to a sea creature), or a phrase whose elements seem antithetical in spirit, such as "classic rock."

Gingerly

WORD OF THE DAY

gingerly / adjective / JIN-jer-lee

Definition
: very cautious or careful

Examples
"The reality: I am averse to wet clothes, squishy shoes and algae in my hair, so I cautiously stepped into a kayak, trying my darndest not to rock the boat, and set out at a gingerly pace on a still lake."
— Liz Carey, The Virginian-Pilot (Norfolk, Virginia), 15 May 2012

"The 2019 Emmy Awards … were home to more than a few memorable moments. One we can't get out of our heads was owned by Gwyneth Paltrow, whose sleek-yet-restrictive silver dress made for a gingerly walk across the stage that caught the internet's attention."
— Andy Moser, Mashable, 23 Sept. 2019

Did You Know?
Etymologists take a gingerly approach to assigning any particular origins to this word. While it might have come from the name of the spice, there's nothing concrete to back up that idea.
Another conjecture is that it's related to an Old French word, gensor, which meant "delicate." That's because in 16th century English an earlier sense of gingerly often referred to dancing or walking with dainty steps.
Not till the 17th century did it change to apply to movements that were cautious in order to avoid being noisy or causing injury, and to a wary manner in handling or presenting ideas.
Not too surprisingly, given its -ly ending, gingerly is also quite often correctly used as an adverb, as in "they moved gingerly on the icy pond."

Acquiesce

WORD OF THE DAY

acquiesce / verb / ak-wee-ESS

Definition
: to accept, comply, or submit tacitly or passively —often used with in or to

Examples
Eventually, the professor acquiesced to the students' request to have the seminar's final class be a potluck.

"Moving him back to second grade didn't seem like a realistic option. The third-grade teacher reassured us that he seemed ready both academically and socially. We acquiesced, and he became an official third-grader a few weeks later."
— Lisa L. Lewis, The Washington Post, 8 Oct. 2019

Did You Know?
Acquiesce means essentially "to comply quietly," so it should not surprise you to learn that it is ultimately derived from the Latin verb quiēscere, meaning "to be quiet."
It arrived in English in the early 1600's, via the French acquiescer, with the senses "to agree or comply" and "to rest satisfied" (this latter sense is now obsolete).
An early example of the word acquiesce in the sense of "to agree or comply" can be found in the writings of the English philosopher Thomas Hobbes who, in his 1651 masterpiece, Leviathan, argued that people must subject themselves completely to a sovereign and should obey the teachings of the church.
Encouraging his readers to adopt his position he wrote, "Our Beleefe … is in the Church; whose word we take, and acquiesce therein."

Coup de Grâce

WORD OF THE DAY

coup de grâce /noun / koo-duh-GRAHSS

Definition
1: a deathblow or death shot administered to end the suffering of one mortally wounded
2: a decisive finishing blow, act, or event

Examples
"Quarterback Jake Luton completed 18 of 26 passes for 285 yards and five TDs. He added the coup de grace in the fourth quarter with a 19-yard bootleg scamper for OSU's final score." 
— Ken Goe, The Oregonian, 7 Oct. 2019

"The Bahama nuthatch was already thought to be extinct before Dorian hit, and the hurricane nailed Grand Bahama, where one or two nuthatches may have still been alive. 'This could have been the coup de grâce for the nuthatch,' Dr. Steadman said."
— James Gorman, The New York Times, 17 Sept. 2019

Did You Know?
Borrowed directly from French and first appearing in English at the end of the 17th century, coup de grâce (also sometimes styled without the circumflex as coup de grace) translates literally as "stroke of grace" or "blow of mercy," and originally referred to a mercy killing, or to the act of putting to death a person or animal who was severely injured and unlikely to recover. (In some contexts the term is used to refer to the final act of executing a convicted criminal.)
Later, coup de grâce had come to mean "an act or event that puts a definite end to something." Other coup terms that have made the jump from French to English include coup de main, for a sudden, forceful attack, and coup d’état for a violent overthrow of a government usually by a small group.

Ersatz

WORD OF THE DAY

ersatz / adjective / AIR-sahts

Definition
: being a usually artificial and inferior substitute or imitation

Examples
"If you want to keep your drinks cold without constantly running to the ice machine, using the laundry bag as an ersatz ice chest is a great option…."
— Melissa Locker, Time, 7 Oct. 2019

"Painting a cow to look something like a zebra has been found to reduce fly bites by 50%.... Only 55 flies were observed on the zebra cows, compared with 111 on the black-painted cows and 128 on the control cows. The ersatz zebras were observed to demonstrate only 40 fly-repelling behaviours (such as flicking their tails and shaking their heads) every 30 minutes, compared with 53 and 54 fly-repelling behaviours in the others.
— Naaman Zhou, The Guardian (London), 11 Oct. 2019

Did You Know?
Ersatz can be traced back in English to the 1870s, but it really came into prominence during World War I.
Borrowed from German, where Ersatz is a noun meaning "substitute," the word was frequently applied as an adjective in English to modify terms like coffee (made from acorns) and flour (made from potatoes)—ersatz products resulting from the privations of war.
By the time World War II came around, bringing with it a resurgence of the word along with more substitute products, ersatz was wholly entrenched in the language.
Today, ersatz can be applied to almost anything that seems like an artificial imitation.

Bon Vivant

WORD OF THE DAY

bon vivant / noun / bahn-vee-VAHNT

Definition

: a sociable person who has cultivated and refined tastes especially with respect to food and drink

Examples

"The Major was somewhat of a bon vivant, and his wine was excellent." 

— Sir Walter Scott, Waverley, 1814

"The Swiss-born chef and bon vivant saw life through rose-colored beer glasses, preferring to keep negativity at bay by drinking, eating, laughing, loving and yodeling." 

— Mike Hale, The Monterey (California) County Herald, 4 Sept. 2019

Did You Know?

Fans of fine French wine and cuisine won't be surprised to hear that the French language gave us a number of words for those who enjoy good living and good eating. 

Gourmet, gourmand, and gastronome come from French, as does bon vivant. In the late 17th century, English-speakers borrowed this French phrase, which literally means "good liver." No, we don't mean liver, as in the organ. 

We mean liver, as in "one who lives (in a specified way)"—in this case, "one who lives well."