Word of the Day
malinger
verb
to pretend illness, especially in order to shirk one's duty, avoid work, etc.
More about malinger
Malinger, “to pretend illness,” is an adaptation of French malingre, “sickly, ailing,” with a change in spelling perhaps because of the influence of English linger, which is not at all related. A common hypothesis is that malingre is formed from Old French mal, “badly,” and heingre, “haggard, scrawny.” Alternatively, the mal- element may come from the related term malade, “sick,” the source of malady. Heingre is also of unclear origin, but a clue may lie in German hager, “gaunt,” which is—yet again—of unknown origin. Nevertheless, hager is perhaps connected to English haggard. Malinger was first recorded in English in the 1810s.
EXAMPLE OF MALINGER USED IN A SENTENCE
When the sun is shining and the birds are singing, it may be tempting to malinger.
More about jeu d'esprit
Jeu d’esprit, “a witticism,” is a borrowing from French, in which it literally means “game of spirit.” Jeu, “game,” comes from Latin jocus, “joke,” which is the source of jeopardy, jewel, and jocular. Meanwhile, esprit comes from Latin spīritus, “spirit, breath,” from spīrāre, “to breathe”; compare aspire, expire, perspire, and respire. The plural of jeu d’esprit is jeux d’esprit, in both English and French, with only the “game” element becoming plural. Though most French nouns add -s when made plural, most nouns ending in -eu add -x. Jeu d’esprit was first recorded in English in the 1710s.
EXAMPLE OF JEU D’ESPRIT USED IN A SENTENCE
The unexpected jeu d’esprit that closed the speech had the entire room roaring with laughter.
steppe
noun
an extensive plain, especially one without trees.
More about steppe
Steppe, “an extensive, treeless plain,” is a borrowing by way of either French or German from Russian step’, of unknown origin. In the English transliteration of Russian step’, the apostrophe (’) represents the Cyrillic letter (ь), known to the Russians as myágkiĭ znak, “soft sign.” This indicates that the consonant immediately before it is palatalized, or pronounced with the tongue against the hard palate, adding a slight “yuh” to the consonant. Though English doesn’t use palatalization quite as Russian does, this phenomenon is still somewhat visible in words such as assume, which some pronounce as “uh–soom” and others as “uh–syoom.” Steppe was first recorded in English circa 1670.
EXAMPLE OF STEPPE USED IN A SENTENCE
The animals ventured south across the steppe to find a warmer home for the coming winter.