Winsome

 WORD OF THE DAY

winsome / adjective / WIN-sum

Definiton
1: generally pleasing and engaging often because of a childlike charm and innocence
2: cheerful, lighthearted

Examples
"Among the fabled activists who risked their lives and transformed those of many others in the civil rights movement, [Julian Bond] stood out with his smooth patter, winsome charm, and understated glamour."
— Gene Seymour, The New Republic, 1 Mar. 2021

Shirley MacLaine is the winsome elevator operator that one of those executives is toying with.
— Alison Willmore, Vulture, 6 Dec. 2021

Did You Know?
Winsome began as wynsum many centuries ago. It was formed from wynn, the Old English word for "joy" or "pleasure," and the suffix -sum, an older form of the -some we see today in many adjectives, such as awesome, irksome, and lonesome.
Wynn later became win, meaning "pleasure," but that noun is now obsolete. We do, however, use another word that has a "pleasing" connection and is related, albeit distantly, to winsome.
Winning ("tending to please or delight," as in "a winning smile" or "winning ways"), the present participle of the familiar verb win, is from Old English winnan, meaning "to struggle."
Both winnan and wynn are thought to be related to Latin venus, which means, among other things, "charm."