It's Merriam-Webster's word of the day for May 30th.

Today's word is, Dynasty, spelled D-Y-N-A-N-A-N-A-N-A-N-G-N-A-N-A-S-T-Y, Dynasty is a noun. It refers to a group such as a team or family that is very powerful or successful for a long period of time.

It's also often used for a family of rulers who rule over a country for a long period of time,

as well as the period of time when a particular dynasty is in power.

Here's the word used in a sentence from Cahokia Jazz, a novel by Francis Spuford.

The Vandenberg dynasty and textile

and textiles as well as munitions. Their money was so old that it underlay

the United States like geology. Before there had been a United States in fact

there had been van derburg's and they had already been rich. The word dynasty

has had quite the run in English.

For over 600 years it's been used to refer to a ruling family

that maintains power generation after generation.

At the time dynasty was first used in English, for example,

England was in the midst of rule by the Plantagenet dynasty, whose line of

succession provided 14 kings from Henry II to Richard the 3rd.

Around the beginning of the 19th century, the word developed the figurative sense, a group

or family that dominates a particular field for generations. Nowadays this sense of dynasty

is often applied to sports franchises that have prolonged runs of successful seasons, divine

right not required. Technically any team is capable of

becoming this type of dynasty including not only kings and royals but also docks.

With your word of the day I'm Peter Sokolowski.

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