Word of the Day

Ejecta is a form of Latin ējectus, “thrown out.” Ējectus is ultimately derived from the verb jacere “to throw,” which is the source of numerous English words containing the element ject-, including adjective (literally “thrown toward”), rejection (“thrown back”), subject (“thrown under”), and the Word of the Day disjecta membra. Ejecta was first recorded in English in the late 1880s. EXAMPLE OF EJECTA USED IN A SENTENCE The ejecta from the volcano included minerals from deep inside the Earth.

Skijoring is a slight alteration of Norwegian skikjøring, which is composed of ski, “ski,” and kjøring, “driving.” Norwegian ski comes from Old Norse skīth, “stick, snowshoe.” Kjøring is from Old Norse keyra, “to whip” and by extension “to drive,” after the use of whips to incite vehicle-pulling animals. Skijoring was first recorded in English circa 1910. EXAMPLE OF SKIJORING USED IN A SENTENCE The day after the blizzard, the ski lodge guests headed outside for sledding, snowshoeing, and skijoring in the deep snow.

Romaji is a borrowing of Japanese rōma, “Rome, Roman,” combined with ji, “character.” Japanese ji can also be found in emoji, kanji, and the Word of the Day kaomoji, and is related to Mandarin zì, “character, word.” Romaji was first recorded in English in the late 1880s. EXAMPLE OF ROMAJI USED IN A SENTENCE Once the Japanese text was rendered in romaji, gamers throughout Europe and the Americas were able to pronounce the game characters’ names.

Nonpartisan is formed from the negative prefix non- and the adjective partisan, which comes from Latin pars, meaning “piece, portion, faction.” Pars is also the source of parcel and particle (both literally “little piece”), and compartment (“shared with”). For the origin of the -isan element, check out the Word of the Day bipartisan. Nonpartisan was first recorded in English in the early 1880s. EXAMPLE OF NONPARTISAN USED IN A SENTENCE Members of all parties banded together to release an independent, nonpartisan statement about the future of the economy.

Pizazz, which is also spelled pizzazz, pzazz, and even bezazz, is a term of unknown origin. Along with jazz, razzmatazz, and snazzy, pizazz belongs to a family of slang terms with double z’s that may reflect a longer trend of English speakers using the “zuh” sound to provoke a certain feeling or reaction. The first known instance of pizazz in writing dates to 1912, but it became popular when it appeared in the March 1937 issue of the magazine Harper’s Bazaar. EXAMPLE OF PIZAZZ USED IN A SENTENCE Though the singer hit every note, the director advised her to add some more pizazz to her performance to keep the audience’s attention.