Podcasts about word of the day

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for September 21, 2026 is: elegiac • el-uh-JYE-ak • adjective Elegiac means “of, relating to, or comprising an elegy," an elegy being a sorrowful poem or song, and especially one that expresses sorrow for someone who is dead. Elegiac often describes a poem, song, piece of writing, etc. that mourns something now past. // The elegiac tone of the singer's first album always leaves me in tears. See the entry > Examples: “[Jacqueline] Harpman was writing in a different era, but the elegiac loneliness of her fiction anticipates our own solitary and screen-bound present. Is there anyone out there? her book seems to ask. How do I find you?” — Katy Waldman, The New Yorker, 3 Aug. 2026 Did you know? As a wise man once sang, “sad songs say so much.” Just how much they say has never been definitively quantified, but it is notable that English has the perfect adjective, elegiac, to describe things that are sorrowful or nostalgic in ways that suggest poetic and musical tearjerkers. Elegiac was borrowed into English in the 15th century from the Late Latin adjective elagiacus, which in turn comes from the Greek word elegeiakos. Elegeiakos traces back to the Greek word for “elegiac couplet,” which was elegeion. It is no surprise, then, that the earliest meaning of elegiac referred to such poetic couplets. These days, of course, the word is also used to describe anything sorrowful or nostalgic. As you may have guessed, another descendant of elegeion in English is elegy, which in its oldest sense refers to a poem in elegiac couplets, and now can also refer to a somewhat broader range of laments for something or someone that is now lost.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for September 20, 2026 is: volition • voh-LISH-un • noun Volition is a formal word that means “the power to make your own choices or decisions.” Usually, though not always, volition follows own, as in “left the company of her own volition.” // Every choice I made was of my own volition and not due to outside influence. See the entry > Examples: “Believe it or not, a lot of people find worms in their birdbaths. … Some birds, most notably crows, like to give their food a good dunking before eating, so there's a possibility worms in the birdbath were left by these fastidious birds. The most likely reason is that the worms crawled there on their own volition.” — Joan Morris, The Marin Independent Journal (San Rafael, California), 3 May 2026 Did you know? When you do something of your own volition, you do it voluntarily, which makes sense—both volition and voluntary ultimately come from the Latin velle, meaning “to wish” or “to will.” English speakers borrowed volition from French in the 17th century, using it at first to mean “an act of choosing,” a meaning Herman Melville employed in Moby-Dick (1851): “Almost simultaneously, with a mighty volition of ungraduated, instantaneous swiftness, the White Whale darted through the weltering sea.” By then, however, the word had also developed an additional meaning, “the power to choose,” which is now more common.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for September 19, 2026 is: aggrandize • uh-GRAN-dyze • verb To aggrandize someone (or something) is to enhance their power, wealth, position, or reputation. Aggrandize can also mean "to increase or enlarge" or "to praise highly." // Critics of the book argue that the author aggrandizes corrupt politicians. See the entry > Examples: "... many congregants spoke of their admiration for Tsietsi. They came forward to tell stories of previous encounters with him. While some were obvious fabrications, meant to aggrandize the narrator by his association with Tsietsi, most seemed true." — Lynda Schuster, Literary Hub, 16 June 2026 Did you know? Aggrandize is a grand word, and we don't just mean that in praise. The word literally traces back to the Latin adjective grandis, meaning "fully grown, large, great," and it has enhanced the English language for over three centuries. Nowadays, aggrandize is often paired with self, either the word or the prefix: to "aggrandize oneself" or to "be self-aggrandizing" is to glorify oneself, or to intently pursue power, wealth, and the like. It's of course great to take pride in a job well done, but we appreciate those who keep it real—after all, not every hit can be a grand slam.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for September 18, 2026 is: churlish • CHUR-lish • adjective Churlish is a formal word used to describe someone or something that is impolite or rude. // I was shocked by the churlish remarks made by my opponent. See the entry > Examples: “… I think a Bob Dylan concert is fundamentally for Bob Dylan himself. You could call it churlish, but I think it's self-assuredness, an elder's clarity: The man has a message he needs to send, a message important enough that he'll strip away anything that might distract from it. A Bob Dylan concert is not about what Bob Dylan's audience wants to hear; it's about what Bob Dylan wants to say even if he, you know, mumbles a bit.” —Jared Kaufman, The St. Paul (Minnesota) Pioneer Press, 7 July 2026 Did you know? In Old English, the word ceorl referred to a free peasant—someone who was neither part of the nobility nor enslaved or in debt. In Anglo-Saxon England, which lasted roughly from the 5th to 11th centuries, ceorls had many rights that peasants of lower social status did not, and a few even rose to the rank of thane, becoming a member of a kind of local nobility. However, as most ceorls were driven into the class of unfree villeins serving feudal lords over the centuries, especially following the Norman Conquest, the connotation of the word ceorl—spelled cherl in Middle English and then finally churl—diminished as well, eventually coming to mean “a lowly peasant” and later “a rude, coarse person.” Similarly, churlish began in the form ceorlisc in Old English as a simple descriptor of someone with the rank of ceorl, but today it describes a boorish person, or their rude and insensitive behavior.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for September 17, 2026 is: watershed • WAW-ter-shed • noun Watershed, used figuratively, refers to a crucial dividing point, line, or factor. Used literally, the word may refer to a ridge from which rivers drain on either side, or to the area of land that includes a particular river or lake and all the rivers, streams, etc. that flow into it. : a crucial dividing point, line, or factor // The protests marked a watershed in the nation's history. // The Continental Divide is the most well known watershed in the United States. See the entry > Examples: “For thousands of years, elk would have accounted for the second largest amount of meat in the diets of many eastern peoples, after the ubiquitous whitetail deer. Not only were the animals present in the East; for thousands of years they sustained human life and were integral to Indigenous material and spiritual culture. Although they were great and skilled hunters, Native Americans in the East rarely killed all of the elk or all of the deer in an entire watershed.” — Andrew Moore, Beasts of the East: The Fall and Rise of America's Eastern Wilderness, 2026 Did you know? Opinion on the literal geographic meaning of watershed is divided. On one side of the debate are those who think the word can only refer to a ridge of land separating rivers and streams flowing in one direction from those flowing in the opposite direction. That's the term's original meaning, one probably borrowed in the translation of the German Wasserscheide. On the other side of the argument are those who think watershed can also apply to the area through which such divided water flows. The latter sense is now far more common in America, but most speakers have apparently decided to leave the quarrel to hydrologists and geographers, choosing to limit their use of watershed to its figurative “turning point” sense.

Guiding principle: a fundamental idea or rule that helps direct actions, decisions, and behaviour. It's a compass when facing challenges. https://www.artisanenglish.jp/debate-and-discussion-online/guiding-principle/  Thanks for visiting ArtisanEnglish.jp, The Posts – The Podcast today.  These podcasts and posts are created to help our students and anyone who wants to access them improve their English vocabulary.  Take the first step to perfect your English ability.Take a FREE TRIAL LESSON with me, David, at https://www.artisanenglish.jp/contact/  https://links.artisanenglish.jp/TrialLesson  I provide 100% error correction, engaging discussion topics, and detailed written feedback after each lesson.  Here are some terms from today's episode that may have been new to you.  Time is money: a powerful phrase emphasizing the importance of not wasting time because it is as useful as money.  https://www.artisanenglish.jp/debate-and-discussion-online/time-is-money/  Website: https://www.artisanenglish.jp Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/artisanenglish.jp Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/david.artisanenglish.jp/ X: https://x.com/ArtisanEnglish YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@Artisanenglish Spotify: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/artisanenglishjp  

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for September 16, 2026 is: facsimile • fak-SIM-uh-lee • noun A facsimile is an exact copy of something. The word facsimile is also still sometimes used to refer to a system of transmitting and reproducing graphic matter, such as printed text or photos, though the word fax is more common. // The forged painting was an impressive facsimile of the original. // The documents can be sent by facsimile to the number below. See the entry > Examples: “The installation could be read as an invocation of [Widline] Cadet's mother's Washington Heights apartment. … ‘For Haitian families,' she says, ‘the living room is a sacred place.' And yet, this is no mere facsimile of a Haitian living room. Like much of Cadet's work, the installation, titled Altar #2, hovers between reality and fantasy.” — Elly Fishman, Vogue, 8 May 2026 Did you know? The facsimile machine (or fax machine) has long been an office staple, but its name is much, much older. Fac simile is a Latin phrase meaning “make alike.” English speakers began using facsimile to mean “an exact copy” in the late 1600s. In this sense, a facsimile might be a handwritten or hand-drawn copy, or even a copy of a painting or statue. (Today, we also use the phrase “a reasonable facsimile” for a copy that is fairly close but not exact.) In the 1800s, people developed facsimile technology that could reproduce printed material via telegraph. Now, of course, we use telephone lines or wireless technology, and we usually call the resulting facsimile a fax.

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Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for September 15, 2026 is: quorum • KWOR-um • noun Quorum refers to the smallest number of people who must be present at a meeting in order for official decisions to be made. Broadly speaking, quorum may refer to any select group. We need a quorum of fifteen staff members on the call in order to move forward with the items on the meeting agenda. See the entry > Examples: “In Jewish law, some prayers, such as those in the morning service, can only be said communally, in a quorum of 10 Jewish adults, called a minyan.” — Yonat Shimron, NPR, 16 July 2026 Did you know? It takes two drama queens to tango, three Nervous Nellies to change a lightbulb, and 218 U.S. House Representatives to constitute a formal meeting. Each of these minimums—especially the last one—may be described as a quorum. This word, which can be pluralized as quorums or quora, comes directly from the Latin word quorum, which translates as “of whom.” At one time, this Latin quorum was used in the wording of the commissions granting power to justices of the peace in England. Later, when it became an English noun, quorum initially referred to the number of justices of the peace who had to be present in order to hear a case. That sense is now rare, and today quorum is used to refer to the minimum number of people required to be present at a meeting in order for official business to take place. It can also be used more broadly to mean simply “a select group.”

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Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for September 14, 2026 is: empirical • im-PEER-uh-kul • adjective When we describe something, such as data, as empirical, we mean that it originated in, or was based on, observation or experience. Empirical can also be used to describe something that can be verified or disproved by observation or experiment, as in “empirical laws.” // The team of conservation biologists has over the years collected reams of empirical data, from species inventories to soil analyses. See the entry > Examples: “She speaks the language of food chemistry and can tell you, based on empirical facts, why raspberry should never be boiled if you want the taste of raspberry rather than the taste of raspberry jam, and why coffee and tomato, which share several of the same volatile compounds, taste obviously right together despite sounding obviously wrong.” — Maria Gunko, The California Courier (Glendale, California), 30 July 2026 Did you know? When empirical first appeared as an adjective in English, it meant simply “in the manner of an empiric.” In the ancient world, empirics were members of a sect of doctors who practiced medicine using treatments observed to be clinically effective, rather than treatments based on theoretical principles. This all sounds fine and good to a modern reader, but empirics were in direct opposition to Galen, the 2nd century Greek physician whose theories and practices (including the theory of bodily humors) dominated medicine in Europe from the Middle Ages until the mid-17th century. As the underdogs in this rivalry, empirics took some reputational hits, evidenced by the use of empiric to refer to someone who disregards or deviates from the rules of science or accepted practice; to be called an empiric was sometimes like being called a quack or charlatan. Empirical can still be used critically to describe ideas and practices that rely on experience or observation alone and without due regard for system or theory. But, perhaps in a bit of a case of “the Empirics strike back,” empirical more often keeps its narrower sense, and is used positively to describe evidence and information grounded in observation and experience, or capable of being verified or disproved by observation or experiment.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for September 13, 2026 is: shofar • SHOH-far • noun A shofar is the horn of an animal (usually a ram) blown as a trumpet by the ancient Hebrews in battle and during religious observances. It is used in modern Judaism especially during Rosh Hashanah and at the end of Yom Kippur. // As a child, Eli's favorite part of the High Holidays was the sounding of the shofar. See the entry > Examples: “Sheep were domesticated in ancient Mesopotamia over ten thousand years ago and we have the ancient cave paintings to prove it. Sheep appear in folklore, religion, and mythology from all over the world: the Greek golden fleece, the Jewish shofar, the Egyptian Pharaoh's shepherd's crook, Christianity's Agnus Dei.” — Celia Mattison, Literary Hub, 30 Oct. 2025 Did you know? One of the shofar's original uses was to proclaim the Jubilee year (a year of emancipation of enslaved Jews and restoration of alienated lands to their former owners). Today, it is mainly used in synagogues during the High Holidays. It is blown daily, except on Shabbat, during the month of Elul (the 12th month of the civil year or the 6th month of the ecclesiastical year in the Jewish calendar), and is sounded a number of times during the Rosh Hashanah services, and again at the end of the last service (known as neilah) on Yom Kippur. The custom is to sound the shofar in several series that alternate shorter notes resembling sobbing and wailing with longer unbroken blasts.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for September 12, 2026 is: hobnob • HAHB-nahb • verb To hobnob is to socialize with others, especially with people of high social status. // A great deal can be learned about the entertainment industry by hobnobbing with folks at film festivals. See the entry > Examples: “My whole attitude has been—because all I care about is the music—I don't need to make the scene. I don't need to hobnob with the executives because I see them all the rest of the year.” — Jem Aswad, quoted in Variety, 14 Apr. 2026 Did you know? In William Shakespeare's Twelfth Night, Sir Toby Belch warns Viola that Sir Andrew wants to duel, telling her “‘Hob, nob' is his word” and then adding the gloss “give't or take't.” In today's English, he might have said “take it or leave it.” Sir Toby's hob, nob is an alteration of hab nab (“hit or miss,” “however things may turn out”), itself likely a shortening of the Middle English phrase habbe or nabbe (“whether I have or don't have”). After Shakespeare's day, hob-nob and hob or nob were used adverbially to mean “randomly.” And to drink hobnob, or hob or nob, was to take turns with one's drinking buddies toasting each other's health. Later, hobnob (as well as hob or nob, hob-a-nob, etc.) was verbified to mean “to drink socially” and then, dropping the booze, “to spend time with someone in a friendly way.” Today hobnob is used especially in situations where someone is chatting up someone famous or important, as in “hobnobbing with celebs.”

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for September 11, 2026 is: patina • puh-TEE-nuh • noun A patina is a usually green film that forms on copper and bronze that is exposed to moist air for an extended time. The word patina can also refer to a shiny or dark surface that over time forms naturally on something (such as wood or leather), or to a literal or figurative thin layer. // The town erected a statue in her honor, which over the years developed a seafoam green patina. // Although the winery is brand-new, it has been constructed and decorated to give it a patina of old-world quaintness. See the entry > Examples: "Family, friends and neighbors filled the frames with dancing and dominoes; their apartments painted in shades of mint, butter yellow and ... pink, flecked with a patina cultivated by humidity and time." — Suzy Exposito, The Los Angeles Times, 28 July 2026 Did you know? When Italians applied the word patina to the green film that forms on the surface of copper, they were drawing from Latin, in which patina means "a shallow dish." (Presumably, the Italian meaning developed from the observation of such film forming on copper dishes.) By the mid-18th century, English speakers were also calling the green film patina, and by the 20th century, they'd expanded the word's application to surface appearances of things that have grown more beautiful with age or use—think of an old wooden desk or a tarnished silver goblet. Use of the word to refer to thin layers both literal and figurative ("a patina of grime," "a patina of respectability") followed soon after. The related verb patinate means "to give a patina to."

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for September 10, 2026 is: loath • LOHTH • adjective A person who is loath to do something is unwilling or reluctant to do that thing. // Proud of the company he had built, Henry was loath to admit that it was time to think about retiring. See the entry > Examples: “On these runs, I was loath to stop. I dreaded zebra crossings and the city-center pavements, and instead ran into the surrounding countryside, abandoning myself to the endless roads that seemed to be going nowhere.” — Madeline Potter, The Roma: A Traveling History, 2025 Did you know? Loath as some language sticklers may be to accept it—indeed, they may loathe the fact—loathe is an accepted, though less common, spelling variant of the adjective loath. The language sticklers know that loathe is most often used as a verb meaning "to hate," and their desire to keep the language tidy by letting loath alone mean "not willing or wanting to do something" is understandable. But here's the rub: language is very often untidy. Both loath and loathe trace back to the Old English word lāth, meaning “loathsome, disgusting.” Each has had a number of variant spellings over the years, and for at least some portion of their history each word has taken on the spelling of the other. If you would like to keep the two distinct according to prevailing preferences, remember that loath is how you feel (reluctant, unwilling), and loathe is what you do (hate, dislike).

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Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for September 9, 2026 is: stigma • STIG-muh • noun Stigma refers to a set of negative and often unfair beliefs that a society or group of people have about something. // The organization is animated by a commitment to challenging stigmas associated with the condition. See the entry > Examples: “The stigma surrounding workers of my generation is real—some depict us as burned-out, overworked employees who are difficult to manage and are merely looking for a paycheck while mapping out our exit strategy for retirement.” — Suzie Jimenez, Business Insider, 21 July 2026 Did you know? Tattoos are now common, but not long ago adorning one's body with ink was frowned upon by much of mainstream society. Even today, tattooed individuals in some communities and contexts face stigma based on their particular form of self-expression. It turns out that the link between tattoos and stigma is ancient, at least etymologically. The roots of stigma trace back all the way to the Greek verb stizein, meaning “to tattoo,” which led to the Latin noun stigma meaning “mark” or “brand.” The earliest English uses of stigma hew close to those of its Latin forebear; the word first referred to a brand left by a hot iron. In modern use, the scar is figurative: stigma most often refers to a set of negative and often unfair beliefs that a society or group of people have about something, as when people talk about the stigma associated with mental illness, or the stigma of poverty.

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Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for September 8, 2026 is: magnanimous • mag-NAN-uh-mus • adjective Magnanimous is a formal word that means “having or showing a generous and kind nature.” // She was too magnanimous to resent the unkind words of those grousing about her winning the spelling bee. See the entry > Examples: “Think before you act or speak. Drive and walk carefully. Be magnanimous and forgiving if others make a boo-boo.” — Georgia Nicols, The Boston Globe, 27 Nov. 2025 Did you know? When you see anima, animus, or a similar formation in a word, it's often an indicator of something alive, lively, or spirited. Something described as animated is full of life, for example, and the word animal refers to a living thing. The Latin word anima means “breath” or “soul” and animus means “spirit.” In magnanimous, animus is joined by the Latin word magnus, meaning “great.” Basically meaning “greatness of spirit,” magnanimity is the opposite of selfishness. A truly magnanimous person can lose without complaining and win without gloating, and angry disputes can sometimes be resolved when one side makes a magnanimous gesture toward the other.

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Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for September 7, 2026 is: gist • JIST • noun Gist, which almost always appears in the phrase “the gist,” refers to the general or basic meaning of something written or said. // I found the author's grandiloquent style of writing intolerable, but I got the gist of the story. See the entry > Examples: “His daughter dismissed the film they were watching early on, [Tim] Allen explained, because she'd already got the gist of what was going to happen.” — Steven McIntosh, BBC, 1 June 2026 Did you know? The main point, overarching theme, essence—that's gist in a nutshell. The gist of gist, if you will. The gist of a conversation, argument, story, or what-have-you is what we rely on when the actual words and details are only imperfectly recalled, inessential, or too voluminous to recount in their entirety. Gist was borrowed from the Anglo-French legal phrase laccion gist (“the action lies/is based [on]”) in the 17th century, and it was originally used in law as a term referring to the foundation or grounds for a legal action without which the action would not be legally sustainable.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for September 6, 2026 is: inexorable • i-NEK-suh-ruh-bul • adjective Inexorable is a formal word used to describe something that cannot be stopped or changed. // For some, the changing autumn foliage is a beautiful yet bittersweet reminder of the inexorable march of time. See the entry > Examples: “At the summer solstice, the Sun ‘stands still'—the meaning of the Latin solstice—and begins its progression back toward the south. Days shorten, shadows lengthen, and the cold and dreariness of winter return. Europeans across the entire continent have noted this simple and inexorable cycle for millennia. Neolithic monuments such as Ireland's Newgrange and England's Stonehenge, both of which date from around 5,000 years ago, were built to mark solstices.” — Thomas A. DuBois, The Conversation, 17 June 2026 Did you know? You can beseech and implore until you're blue in the face, but that won't have any effect on something that's inexorable. Inexorable, which has been part of the English language since the 1500s, was originally often applied to people, desires, or actions held to be particularly resistant to persuasion (or dissuasion). In Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, for example, Romeo declares that his “intents” are “more fierce and more inexorable far / Than empty tigers or the roaring sea.” These days, it is usually used to describe the progression of something through time, or toward an end result, commonly modifying nouns like drift, pull, rise, march, decline, or tide. Inexorable comes from the Latin adjective inexorabilis, which is itself a combination of the prefix in-, meaning “not,” plus exorabilis, meaning “pliant.” If you're wondering whether English has an exorable meaning “capable of being moved by entreaty,” indeed it does, though exorable is far less common than its antonym.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for September 5, 2026 is: matriculate • muh-TRIK-yuh-layt • verb To matriculate is to enroll or be enrolled as a student, especially at a college or university. // She matriculated at the Rhode Island School of Design and began classes in the fall. // A spokesperson for the college said the school is expected to matriculate approximately 1,000 students for the fall semester. See the entry > Examples: "Fresh off the heels of graduation from high school, many rising freshmen are choosing to step off of the treadmill for a year before matriculating in college." — DJ Didonna, Time, 13 July 2026 Did you know? Anybody who has had basic Latin knows that alma mater, a fancy term for the school you attended, comes from a phrase that means "fostering mother." If mater means "mother," then matriculate probably has something to do with a school nurturing you just like good old mom, right? Not exactly. If you go back far enough, matriculate is distantly related to the Latin mater, but its maternal associations were lost long ago—even in terms of Latin history. It is more closely related to the Late Latin word matricula, which means "public roll or register." Matricula has more to do with being enrolled than being mothered, but it is the diminutive form of the Latin noun matrix, which in Late Latin was used in the sense of "list" or "register" and earlier referred to female animals kept for the purposes of breeding.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for September 4, 2026 is: apiary • AY-pee-air-ee • noun Apiary refers to a place where bees are kept, and especially a collection of hives or colonies of bees kept for their honey. // One of the best parts of having a beekeeper for a sister-in-law is getting fresh jars of local honey from the family apiary. See the entry > Examples: “The 70-year-old retiree from South Philadelphia ordinarily would avoid bees out of fear, but this spring she suited up for a study on therapeutic beekeeping at the Half Mad Honey apiary in the Navy Yard. Led by Temple University occupational therapy student Meghan Robertson, the project tested if beekeeping could improve mental health and well-being in older adults.” — Kayla Yup, The Philadelphia Inquirer, 28 June 2026 Did you know? For those who enjoy honey and the fascinating creatures that make it, apiaries are the bee's knees. The word apiary—which comes ultimately from the Latin word apis, meaning “bee”—can refer to any place where bees are kept, but is used especially for a collection of hives or colonies of bees kept for their honey. Honeybee colonies are highly complex clusters of individuals that function virtually as single organisms (as by a hive mind). Queen bees, capable of laying more than a thousand eggs per day, develop from larvae that are fed solely on royal jelly. Drones are stingless male bees whose one job (they do not gather nectar or pollen) is to mate with the queen. Drones are vastly outnumbered by tens of thousands of female worker bees who do everything else—from foraging and feeding (royal jelly is produced from their pharyngeal glands) to cleaning and defense. In other words, they run the hive.

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Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for September 3, 2026 is: recalcitrant • rih-KAL-suh-trunt • adjective Recalcitrant is a formal word typically used to describe someone who stubbornly refuses to obey rules or orders. Recalcitrant can also describe something that is difficult to manage or operate. // The magazine, aimed at parents and caregivers of young children, will include the latest in child development science as well as practical information, like tricks for persuading even the most recalcitrant toddler to cooperate. See the entry > Examples: “One particularly recalcitrant driver … managed to rack up 29 speeding tickets during the 10-school-day span.” — Dave Werner, The Press-Republican (Plattsburgh, New York), 20 May 2026 Did you know? When given an order or command, a recalcitrant person (or animal) digs in their heels. They will not give an inch, so to speak, immovable in their determination to defy the rules. This makes a great deal of sense, etymologically, as recalcitrant traces back to calx, the Latin word for “heel.” (Calx is also responsible for such English words as calcaneus, “the large bone of the human heel,” and—mention this at your next pizza party—calzone.) From calx, Latin users formed first the verb calcitrare (“to kick”) and then recalcitrare (“to kick back”). In Late Latin, recalcitrare was used figuratively to mean “to be stubbornly disobedient,” leading to the English adjective we apply today to stubborn mules both human and asinine.

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Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for September 2, 2026 is: dissonant • DISS-uh-nunt • adjective Dissonant typically describes music that is not in harmony, or sounds and notes that clash. In non-music contexts, dissonant describes things that clash by not being in agreement or by not fitting well together. // The guitarist struck a dissonant chord. // The retrospective provided a sometimes dissonant journey through the artist's decades of work. See the entry > Examples: "Their disparate sonic elements form a dissonant but cohesive whole, wisps of trumpet and electronic woodwinds flashing by as quickly as flickering subway car lights." — Sam Goldner, Pitchfork, 23 July 2026 Did you know? At the root of dissonant is the Latin verb sonare. Can you guess what sonare means? Here's a hint: some related words are sonata, supersonic, and resonance. Does it sound to you as if sonare has something to do with sound? To invoke an approving sound in response: ding ding ding. In fact, sonare means "to sound," is related to the Latin noun sonus (meaning "sound"), and is also an ancestor of the English word sound. In musical contexts, dissonant and the related noun dissonance are used to describe a clashing or unresolved musical interval or chord. Consonance, in contrast, refers to a musical interval or chord that produces an impression of agreeableness or resolution.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for September 1, 2026 is: conscientious • kahn-shee-EN-shus • adjective Conscientious describes someone who is concerned with doing things correctly. It can be used as a synonym for both meticulous and careful. // She has always been a conscientious worker committed to painstaking research. See the entry > Examples: “Earth-friendly, conscientious gardeners learn to slow down and pay attention not only to plants but to the many creatures that share the garden. ... The garden teaches us valuable lessons. It reminds us that balance is achieved not through sorting the natural world into neat categories, but by respecting nature and allowing it to reveal to us its own complicated, interdependent and beautiful gray areas.” — Rita Perwich, The San Diego Union-Tribune, 4 July 2026 Did you know? As Mahatma Gandhi once wrote, “There is a higher court than courts of justice, and that is the court of conscience.” A person who is conscientious makes sure that they are judged well by such a court. This is true for someone who is “governed by their conscience” as the oldest sense of the word is defined—as in “a conscientious leader”—but it is also true for the conscientious person paying close, careful attention to the task at hand. Conscientious came to English from French, centuries after Middle English had adopted conscience from Anglo-French; both ultimately come from the Latin verb scire, meaning “to know.”

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for August 31, 2026 is: gumption • GUMP-shun • noun Gumption refers to courage and confidence. // It took a lot of gumption to speak up for yourself like that. See the entry > Examples: "Fourth graders devise machines powered by rubber bands and 10-year-old ingenuity, some of the most creative thinking you'll ever witness. Wonders of nature and humanity coexist in these spaces. Behind all this is the gumption and bravery of teachers who set this up." — Adam Johnston, The Daily Herald (Provo, Utah), 13 May 2026 Did you know? English speakers have had gumption (the word, that is) since the early 1700s. The term's source isn't known, but early examples of it are found in Scottish (the related terms rumblegumption and rumgumption can be found there too). Gumption originally referred to common sense, but it is now more commonly used to refer to the kind of courage and get-up-and-go that makes undertaking difficult things possible. Art historians may know a couple additional applications for the word: gumption was historically used both to refer to the art of preparing painters' colors, and as a synonym of megilp, which refers to a mixture of linseed oil and mastic varnish that is used as a vehicle for oil paints.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for August 30, 2026 is: illustrious • ih-LUSS-tree-us • adjective Illustrious describes a person or deed that is highly admired and respected. // During the ceremony, the illustrious star of stage and screen was presented with a lifetime achievement award. See the entry > Examples: “Two of the most respected professors—an academic power couple—invited me to their home for dinner. I was flattered and excited. When we sat down at the table, my heart sank. The first dish they served was steak tartare. Raw beef, no matter how well seasoned, no matter how swanky the cut, is not my jam. ... And in the home of these illustrious professors, I was ashamed about that. I feared they would consider me unsophisticated for not liking the dish.” — Leslie John, Revealing: The Underrated Power of Oversharing, 2026 Did you know? Today's spotlight is on illustrious, from the Latin adjective illustris, meaning “shining brightly with light.” Illustris itself was probably a back-formation of the Latin verb illustrare, a word with varied meanings, among them “to light up,” “to make clear,” and “to embellish.” (Our word illustrate also comes from illustrare, of course; its original meaning was “to enlighten intellectually, culturally, or spiritually.”) At one time, illustrious could be used synonymously with its immediate Latin forbear to describe things that glow brightly, but that meaning is now considered archaic. The word today is almost exclusively used to describe something—such as a career or achievement—that stands out figuratively, shining brilliantly in the mind's eye.