Post by Ritva Paivomaa on Aug 23, 2006 5:27:57 GMT -5
Word Of the Day
Today's Word:
Peckish (adjective)
Pronunciation: ['pe-kish] Listen
Definition: Slightly hungry or, in North American only, irritable.
Usage: The noun is "peckishness." Here is one of those words like "rubber" and "knock up" that have radically different meanings in the U.S. vernacular than in others. Apply it wisely.
Suggested Usage: Be careful with this word. "You're probably a bit peckish after the long drive, aren't you?" will be interpreted differently inside the U.S., where peckish means "irritable" than elsewhere in the English-speaking world, where it means "moderately hungry." Also, avoid the temptation to say, "Being peckish makes her peckish." Attempts to straddle lines of regional dialects are rarely successful.
Etymology: An indigenous though slightly off-center derivation from "peck" via the suffix "-ish" that usually adds the meaning "somewhat" to adjectives (greenish, longish, largish) and that of "like" to nouns (girlish, elfish, foolish). "Peck" is a regional variant of "pick;" in fact, the two are often interchanged: "peck at one's food" versus "pick at one's food." (Our gratitude today to Philip Berk for picking up on the veiled ambivalence of today's word.)
–Dr. Language, YourDictionary.com
Today's Word:
Peckish (adjective)
Pronunciation: ['pe-kish] Listen
Definition: Slightly hungry or, in North American only, irritable.
Usage: The noun is "peckishness." Here is one of those words like "rubber" and "knock up" that have radically different meanings in the U.S. vernacular than in others. Apply it wisely.
Suggested Usage: Be careful with this word. "You're probably a bit peckish after the long drive, aren't you?" will be interpreted differently inside the U.S., where peckish means "irritable" than elsewhere in the English-speaking world, where it means "moderately hungry." Also, avoid the temptation to say, "Being peckish makes her peckish." Attempts to straddle lines of regional dialects are rarely successful.
Etymology: An indigenous though slightly off-center derivation from "peck" via the suffix "-ish" that usually adds the meaning "somewhat" to adjectives (greenish, longish, largish) and that of "like" to nouns (girlish, elfish, foolish). "Peck" is a regional variant of "pick;" in fact, the two are often interchanged: "peck at one's food" versus "pick at one's food." (Our gratitude today to Philip Berk for picking up on the veiled ambivalence of today's word.)
–Dr. Language, YourDictionary.com