It's Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for January 5th.

Today's word is Accolade, spelled ACC-O-S-N-T-N-T-S-N-T-E-A-L-E-A-L-E-A-L-E-A-L-E-A-L-A-L-E-A-L-A-L-E, Accolade is a noun. It refers to an award or expression of praise, praise praise, praise, it's often used in the plural form. Here's the word used in a sentence from Forbes

by Chelsea Davis. It is a tremendous honor to be mentioned on the extended world's 50 best list, says Executive Chef Lee, who later tells us it

wasn't necessarily one of their immediate goals, making the tremendous accolade quite the

surprise. I am extremely grateful that we are getting

attention on the world stage and I am so happy that the team here at Cézon gets the recognition

for their hard work.

Give credit where credit is due.

It's time to celebrate the word accolade

for its centuries of laudatory service.

Accolade joined English in the 16th century from the middle French noun

Acolad, which in turn comes from the verb Acolé, meaning to embrace.

When it was first borrowed from French, Accolade referred to a ceremonial embrace that formerly

conferred knighthood. The term was later extended to other ceremonial acts confering knighthood, such as the familiar

touching of the shoulders with the flat part of a sword's blade, and then to other ceremonies

marking the recognition of a special merit distinction or achievement.

Today it refers more broadly to an award or expression of praise. With your word of the day

I'm Peter Sokolowski.

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