It's the Word of the Day podcast for June 2nd.

Today's word is Herculian, spelled capital H-E-R-C-U-L-E-A-N.

Herculian is an adjective.

Something described as Herculian, which is often uncapitalized,

is characterized by extraordinary power, extent, intensity, or difficulty. Here's the word used,

in a sentence from The Ringer by Mirren Fader. Strong doesn't even properly describe

Ashton Gente's Herculian, how is he doing that kind of strength? Before his sophomore year in college,

he squatted 575 pounds. Coach James Montgomery thought that Junti had maxed out. He was wrong. Now Jente

easily squats 605 pounds like a hot knife through butter, Montgomery says.

The hero Hercules, son of the god Zeus, by a human mother, was famous for his superhuman strength.

To pacify the wrath of the god Apollo, he was forced to perform 12 enormously difficult

tasks or labors.

These ranged from descending into the underworld to bring back the terrifying dog

that guarded its entrance to destroying the many-headed monster called the hydra. The feats he

accomplished explain how the word Herculian in the 16th century came to be used for any job or task

that's extremely difficult or calls for enormous strength.

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

Visit Miriamwebster.com today for definitions, wordplay, and trending word lookups.