#wotd — Public Fediverse posts

📕 Word of the Day: ingratiate

ingratiate • \in-GRAY-shee-ayt\ • verb

To ingratiate yourself with others is to gain their favor or approval by deliberately doing or saying things they will like. Ingratiate is usually used with with, and is often (though not always) used disapprovingly.

// Scam artists often have an uncanny ability to ingratiate themselves with their victims using subtle flattery that only seems obvious in retrospect.

// Although she was nervous to be the new girl in school, Emma quickly ingratiated herself with her classmates through her effortless charm and kind demeanor.

📝 Examples:
“In ever greater numbers, Elizabeth’s subjects flocked north to ingratiate themselves with the Queen’s likely successor.” — Tracy Borman, The Stolen Crown: Treachery, Deceit, and the Death of the Tudor Dynasty, 2025

📜 Did you know?
When you ingratiate yourself, you put yourself in someone’s good graces in order to gain their approval or favor. While the word ingratiate does not necessarily imply that your behavior is obsequious or otherwise improper, the word may be used disapprovingly by those who distrust your motives. The word entered English in the early 1600s from the combining of the Latin noun gratia, meaning “grace” or “favor,” with the English prefix in-. Gratia comes from the adjective gratus, meaning “pleasing, grateful.” Gratus has, over the centuries, ingratiated itself well with the English language as the ancestor of a whole host of words including gratuitous, congratulate, and grace.

#English #Vocabulary #wordoftheday #MW #WOTD

gewin-stōw, f.n: a place to contend in, battle-place, wrestling-place. (yeh-WIN-stoh / jɛ-ˈwɪn-stoː)
Image: Gorleston Psalter; England (Suffolk), 1310-1324; British Library, Add MS 49622, f. 210v.
#OldEnglish #WOTD

gewin-stōw, f.n: a place to contend in, battle-place, wrestling-place. (yeh-WIN-stoh / jɛ-ˈwɪn-stoː)
Image: Gorleston Psalter; England (Suffolk), 1310-1324; British Library, Add MS 49622, f. 210v.
#OldEnglish #WOTD

gewin-stōw, f.n: a place to contend in, battle-place, wrestling-place. (yeh-WIN-stoh / jɛ-ˈwɪn-stoː)
Image: Gorleston Psalter; England (Suffolk), 1310-1324; British Library, Add MS 49622, f. 210v.
#OldEnglish #WOTD

gewin-stōw, f.n: a place to contend in, battle-place, wrestling-place. (yeh-WIN-stoh / jɛ-ˈwɪn-stoː)
Image: Gorleston Psalter; England (Suffolk), 1310-1324; British Library, Add MS 49622, f. 210v.
#OldEnglish #WOTD

gewin-stōw, f.n: a place to contend in, battle-place, wrestling-place. (yeh-WIN-stoh / jɛ-ˈwɪn-stoː)
Image: Gorleston Psalter; England (Suffolk), 1310-1324; British Library, Add MS 49622, f. 210v.
#OldEnglish #WOTD

📕 Word of the Day: benevolent

benevolent • \buh-NEV-uh-lunt\ • adjective

Benevolent can describe someone or something that is kind and generous or something that is organized for the purpose of doing good.

// The event's reception was courtesy of a benevolent donor who's chosen to remain anonymous.

// They belong to several benevolent societies and charitable organizations.

📝 Examples:
"The Community Service Award is presented at the local, state and national levels to individuals and groups who have made outstanding voluntary, civil, heroic or benevolent contributions to their communities." — Devin Weeks, The Coeur d'Alene (Idaho) Press, 24 Dec. 2025

📜 Did you know?
One who is benevolent genuinely wishes other people well, a meaning reflected clearly in the word's Latin roots: benevolent comes from bene, meaning "good," and velle, meaning "to wish." Other descendants of velle in English include volition, which refers to the power to make one's own choices or decisions, and voluntary, as well as the rare velleity, meaning either "the lowest degree of volition" or "a slight wish or tendency." A more familiar velle descendant stands directly opposed to benevolent: malevolent describes someone or something having or showing a desire to cause harm to another person.

#English #Vocabulary #wordoftheday #MW #WOTD

ǣfen-lāc, n.n: evening offering. (AV-en-LAHK / ˈæː-vɛn-ˌlaːc)
#OldEnglish #WOTD

ǣfen-lāc, n.n: evening offering. (AV-en-LAHK / ˈæː-vɛn-ˌlaːc)
#OldEnglish #WOTD

ǣfen-lāc, n.n: evening offering. (AV-en-LAHK / ˈæː-vɛn-ˌlaːc)
#OldEnglish #WOTD

ǣfen-lāc, n.n: evening offering. (AV-en-LAHK / ˈæː-vɛn-ˌlaːc)
#OldEnglish #WOTD

ǣfen-lāc, n.n: evening offering. (AV-en-LAHK / ˈæː-vɛn-ˌlaːc)
#OldEnglish #WOTD

📕 Word of the Day: Gordian knot

Gordian knot • \GOR-dee-un-NAHT\ • noun

Gordian knot refers to a complicated and difficult problem. It is often used in the phrase cut the Gordian knot, which means “to solve a difficult problem in a very direct way by doing something forceful or extreme.”

// The organization’s change in leadership is being widely applauded as a step toward stability, but many are less than optimistic about the new director’s ability to cut the Gordian knot at the center of its troubles.

📝 Examples:
“Meanwhile, officials are having high-level conversations about the long-term effectiveness of Michigan’s aging dam infrastructure and the growing need for effective flood mitigation measures. Whitmer noted a Gordian knot of complexity around the state’s dams, many of which are operated through murky public-private arrangements.” — Byron McCauley, The Holland (Michigan) Sentinel, 23 Apr. 2026

📜 Did you know?
According to legend, when the peasant Gordius became king of Gordium, capital of the ancient district of Phrygia (in what is now modern Türkiye), he fastened the yoke of his wagon to a beam with a very complex knot. Centuries later, when Alexander the Great arrived on the scene, he was told that he couldn’t conquer and rule Asia unless he proved himself worthy by untying the knot. Alexander quickly solved his problem—and gained a new kingdom—by slicing the knot in half with his sword. Since then, Gordian knot has been a term for a difficult problem, and the phrase “cut the Gordian knot” has been a way to describe a direct and forceful solution to an apparently insurmountable difficulty.

#English #Vocabulary #wordoftheday #MW #WOTD

rysel, m.n: fat. (RUE-zell / ˈry-zɛl)
#OldEnglish #WOTD

rysel, m.n: fat. (RUE-zell / ˈry-zɛl)
#OldEnglish #WOTD

rysel, m.n: fat. (RUE-zell / ˈry-zɛl)
#OldEnglish #WOTD

rysel, m.n: fat. (RUE-zell / ˈry-zɛl)
#OldEnglish #WOTD

rysel, m.n: fat. (RUE-zell / ˈry-zɛl)
#OldEnglish #WOTD

The #ConnectedAtBirth #etymology of the week is CANCEL/DERANGE #wotd #lateshow #colbert #cancel #cancel #derange #circumscribe #circus #incarcerate

The #ConnectedAtBirth #etymology of the week is CANCEL/DERANGE #wotd #lateshow #colbert #cancel #cancel #derange #circumscribe #circus #incarcerate

The #ConnectedAtBirth #etymology of the week is CANCEL/DERANGE #wotd #lateshow #colbert #cancel #cancel #derange #circumscribe #circus #incarcerate

The #ConnectedAtBirth #etymology of the week is CANCEL/DERANGE #wotd #lateshow #colbert #cancel #cancel #derange #circumscribe #circus #incarcerate

The #ConnectedAtBirth #etymology of the week is CANCEL/DERANGE #wotd #lateshow #colbert #cancel #cancel #derange #circumscribe #circus #incarcerate

📕 Word of the Day: sacrosanct

sacrosanct • \SAK-roh-sankt\ • adjective

Sacrosanct is a formal word that describes something too important and respected to be changed or criticized. It can also mean "most sacred or holy."

// While the family's new matriarch aimed to maintain the familiar traditions of the holidays, she did not consider the details of their celebration to be sacrosanct.

📝 Examples:
"Sen. Paul Strommen of Sidney ... said there's no appetite among senators to empty the Veterans Aid Fund. 'There's certain things that are kind of sacrosanct, and veterans' aid is one of those things.'" — Todd von Kampen, The North Platte (Nebraska) Telegraph, 7 Mar. 2026

📜 Did you know?
Contrary to the beliefs of some, language is not sacrosanct; rather, it is subject to constant modification based on the needs, experiences, and even whims of those who use it. Take the word sacrosanct itself, which likely comes from the Latin phrase sacro sanctus meaning "made holy by a sacred rite." There's a definite semantic softening from that to the "too important and respected to be changed or criticized" meaning of sacrosanct. But holy moly, has sanctus led to a whole bunch of other English words with a truly pious flavor, from saint and sanctimony to sanctify and sanctuary. Sacrum ("a sacred rite"), source of the sacro in sacro sanctus, is no slouch either, living on in English anatomy as the name for our pelvic vertebrae—a shortening of os sacrum, which translates literally as "holy bone."

#English #Vocabulary #wordoftheday #MW #WOTD

ge-untrumian, wk.v: to make weak or sick; to be weak or sick. (yeh-UN-trum-i-ahn / jɛ-ˈʌn-trʌm-ɪ-an)
Image: Personification of Old Age in Roman de la Rose; France (Paris), between 1340 and 1350; Morgan Library & Museum, MS M.48, f. 4r.
#OldEnglish #WOTD

ge-untrumian, wk.v: to make weak or sick; to be weak or sick. (yeh-UN-trum-i-ahn / jɛ-ˈʌn-trʌm-ɪ-an)
Image: Personification of Old Age in Roman de la Rose; France (Paris), between 1340 and 1350; Morgan Library & Museum, MS M.48, f. 4r.
#OldEnglish #WOTD

ge-untrumian, wk.v: to make weak or sick; to be weak or sick. (yeh-UN-trum-i-ahn / jɛ-ˈʌn-trʌm-ɪ-an)
Image: Personification of Old Age in Roman de la Rose; France (Paris), between 1340 and 1350; Morgan Library & Museum, MS M.48, f. 4r.
#OldEnglish #WOTD

ge-untrumian, wk.v: to make weak or sick; to be weak or sick. (yeh-UN-trum-i-ahn / jɛ-ˈʌn-trʌm-ɪ-an)
Image: Personification of Old Age in Roman de la Rose; France (Paris), between 1340 and 1350; Morgan Library & Museum, MS M.48, f. 4r.
#OldEnglish #WOTD

ge-untrumian, wk.v: to make weak or sick; to be weak or sick. (yeh-UN-trum-i-ahn / jɛ-ˈʌn-trʌm-ɪ-an)
Image: Personification of Old Age in Roman de la Rose; France (Paris), between 1340 and 1350; Morgan Library & Museum, MS M.48, f. 4r.
#OldEnglish #WOTD

📕 Word of the Day: onus

onus • \OH-nuss\ • noun

Onus is a formal word typically used to refer to a responsibility, obligation, or burden. It is usually preceded by the word the.

// Management has made it clear that the onus is on employees to ask for further training if they don’t understand the new procedures.

📝 Examples:
“The [London Book Fair] comes the week before the government is due to deliver its progress report on AI and copyright, after proposals for a relaxation of existing laws caused outrage last year. Philippa Gregory, the novelist, described the plans for an ‘opt-out’ policy, which puts the onus on writers to refuse permission for their work to be trawled, as akin to putting a sign on your front door asking burglars to pass by.” — The Guardian (London), 13 Mar. 2026

📜 Did you know?
Understanding the etymology of onus shouldn’t be a burden; it’s as simple as knowing that English borrowed the word—spelling, meaning, and all—from Latin in the 17th century. Onus is also a distant relative of the Sanskrit word anas, meaning cart (as in, a wheeled wagon or vehicle that carries a burden). English isn’t exactly loaded with words that come from Latin onus, but onerous (“difficult and unpleasant to do or deal with”) is one, which is fitting since in addition to being synonymous with “burden,” onus has also long been used to refer to obligations and responsibilities that one may find annoying, taxing, disagreeable, or distasteful.

#English #Vocabulary #wordoftheday #MW #WOTD

cyric-weard, m.n: custodian of a church, sacristan. (CHUE-rich-WEH-ard / ˈtʃy-rɪtʃ-ˌwɛard)
#OldEnglish #WOTD

cyric-weard, m.n: custodian of a church, sacristan. (CHUE-rich-WEH-ard / ˈtʃy-rɪtʃ-ˌwɛard)
#OldEnglish #WOTD

cyric-weard, m.n: custodian of a church, sacristan. (CHUE-rich-WEH-ard / ˈtʃy-rɪtʃ-ˌwɛard)
#OldEnglish #WOTD

cyric-weard, m.n: custodian of a church, sacristan. (CHUE-rich-WEH-ard / ˈtʃy-rɪtʃ-ˌwɛard)
#OldEnglish #WOTD

cyric-weard, m.n: custodian of a church, sacristan. (CHUE-rich-WEH-ard / ˈtʃy-rɪtʃ-ˌwɛard)
#OldEnglish #WOTD

📕 Word of the Day: expedite

expedite • \EK-spuh-dyte\ • verb

To expedite something is to cause it to happen faster.

// We’ll do what we can to expedite the processing of your application.

📝 Examples:
“The new task force ... is required to submit an initial report in 60 days and final report in 90 days with recommendations to simplify, improve and expedite hiring.” — Blake Paterson, NOLA.com (New Orleans, Louisiana), 7 Apr. 2026

📜 Did you know?
Need someone to do something in a hurry? You can tell that person to step on it, or you can tell them to expedite it. Figurative feet are involved in both cases, though less obviously in the second choice. Expedite comes from the Latin verb expedire, meaning “to free from entanglement or difficulty.” The feet come in at that word’s root: it traces back to Latin ped- or pes, meaning “foot.” Expedient and expedition also stepped into English by way of expedire.

#English #Vocabulary #wordoftheday #MW #WOTD

bed-strēaw, n.n: straw used for bedding. (BED-STRAY-aw / ˈbɛd-ˌstreaː)
#OldEnglish #WOTD

bed-strēaw, n.n: straw used for bedding. (BED-STRAY-aw / ˈbɛd-ˌstreaː)
#OldEnglish #WOTD

bed-strēaw, n.n: straw used for bedding. (BED-STRAY-aw / ˈbɛd-ˌstreaː)
#OldEnglish #WOTD

bed-strēaw, n.n: straw used for bedding. (BED-STRAY-aw / ˈbɛd-ˌstreaː)
#OldEnglish #WOTD

bed-strēaw, n.n: straw used for bedding. (BED-STRAY-aw / ˈbɛd-ˌstreaː)
#OldEnglish #WOTD

📕 Word of the Day: fraught

fraught • \FRAWT\ • adjective

Fraught describes something that causes or involves a lot of emotional stress or worry. When fraught is used in the phrase “fraught with,” it means “full of something bad or unwanted.”

// The siblings had a fraught relationship.

// The paper was poorly researched and fraught with errors.

📝 Examples:
"We might think replicating one of these ideas will deliver that perfectly walkable, equitable, sustainable and prosperous city of our hopeful imagination. Not likely. Many of these were hard wins, often fraught and contested in their local context." — Gia Biagi, The Chicago Tribune, 5 Apr. 2026

📜 Did you know?
An early instance of the word fraught occurs in the 14th century poem Richard Coer de Lyon, about England's King Richard I, aka Richard the Lionheart. The line "The drowmound was so hevy fraught / That unethe myght it saylen aught" describes a large fast-sailing ship so heavily fraught—that is, loaded—that it can barely sail. The poet's use of fraught is typical for the time; originally, something that was fraught was laden with freight. For centuries, fraught continued to be used in relation to loaded ships, but that use is now considered archaic. These days, fraught is used in reference to situations that are heavy with tension, emotion, or some other weighty characteristic.

#English #Vocabulary #wordoftheday #MW #WOTD

sam-wist, f.n: life together, cohabitation, matrimony. (SAHM-WIST / ˈsam-ˌwɪst)
Image: Omne Bonum; England (London), 1360-1375; British Library, Royal 6 E VI, f. 286v.
#OldEnglish #WOTD

sam-wist, f.n: life together, cohabitation, matrimony. (SAHM-WIST / ˈsam-ˌwɪst)
Image: Omne Bonum; England (London), 1360-1375; British Library, Royal 6 E VI, f. 286v.
#OldEnglish #WOTD

sam-wist, f.n: life together, cohabitation, matrimony. (SAHM-WIST / ˈsam-ˌwɪst)
Image: Omne Bonum; England (London), 1360-1375; British Library, Royal 6 E VI, f. 286v.
#OldEnglish #WOTD

sam-wist, f.n: life together, cohabitation, matrimony. (SAHM-WIST / ˈsam-ˌwɪst)
Image: Omne Bonum; England (London), 1360-1375; British Library, Royal 6 E VI, f. 286v.
#OldEnglish #WOTD

sam-wist, f.n: life together, cohabitation, matrimony. (SAHM-WIST / ˈsam-ˌwɪst)
Image: Omne Bonum; England (London), 1360-1375; British Library, Royal 6 E VI, f. 286v.
#OldEnglish #WOTD

📕 Word of the Day: lacuna

lacuna • \luh-KOO-nuh\ • noun

Lacuna is a formal word that refers to a gap or blank space in something—in other words, a missing part. When used with respect to biology, lacuna also refers to a small cavity, pit, or discontinuity in an anatomical structure.

// The absence of hemlock pollen from one stretch of the fossil record is a notable lacuna that suggests the tree may have once suffered from some type of blight that nearly wiped out the species.

// An osteocyte is a cell that is isolated in a lacuna of bone.

📝 Examples:
“At the heart of every biography ... lies a lacuna—something unknowable, no matter how candid or heavily documented the subject, no matter how familiar or diligent the biographer.” — Casey Cep, The New Yorker, 14 Apr. 2025

📜 Did you know?
If you find yourself drawing a blank when it comes to the definition of lacuna, it might help to imagine drawing water instead, ideally from a lake or lagoon. Lacuna, lake, and lagoon all come ultimately from lacus, the Latin word for “lake.” Latin speakers modified lacus into lacuna to form a word meaning “pit,” “gap,” or “pool.” When English speakers borrowed the term in the 17th century, they used it to refer to a figurative gap in or missing portion of something, such as information or text. (Note that lacuna comes with two plural options: the Latin lacunae \luh-KYOO-nee\ or \luh-KOO-nye\, or the anglicized lacunas \luh-KOO-nuz\.) Lagoon, meanwhile, hewed closer to the Latin lacuna, referring first to a shallow sound, channel, or pond near or connected to a larger body of water, and later to a shallow artificial pool or pond.

#English #Vocabulary #wordoftheday #MW #WOTD

scyhtan, wk.v: to instigate, prompt, urge. (SHUE’H-tahn / ˈʃyx-tan)
#OldEnglish #WOTD

scyhtan, wk.v: to instigate, prompt, urge. (SHUE’H-tahn / ˈʃyx-tan)
#OldEnglish #WOTD