It's Marion Webster's Word of the Day for April 20th.

Today's word of the day for April 20th.

Today's word is gingerly, spelled G-I-N-G-E-O-G-E-O-G-E-O-G-I-N-G-E-R-L-Y. Gingerly is an adjective, an act or manner described as gingerly is very cautious or careful. Here's the word used in a sentence from the

Chinook Observer from Long Beach, Washington. Note, bears do not in a gingerly manner put their paws against each stem of a lovely ripe pair

and gently pull upward against the branch. The proper harvesting method.

Picked in bear lingo means tearing down carefully constructed tree cages and

knocking as many branches to the ground as needed.

Then taking several bites out of each luscious pair, leaving scattered remnants all over the ground.

Though more common as an adverb, meaning very cautiously and carefully, as in moving gingerly across the icy pond, gingerly has for more than four centuries

functioned both as an adverb and as an adjective. Etymologyists take a gingerly approach to assigning any

particular origins to gingerly. While it might have come from the name of the

spice, there's nothing concrete to back up that idea. Another theory is that it's

related to an old French word Jean-Sau, meaning prettier or more beautiful, with evidence

being that in 16th century English, an earlier sense of

gingerly often described dancing or walking done with dainty steps.

It wasn't until the 17th century that gingerly was applied to movements done

with caution in order to avoid being noisy or causing injury and to a wary manner in handling or presenting ideas.

With your word of the day, I'm Peter Sokoloski.

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