It's the Word of the Day podcast for April 15th.

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You're built to win it. Today's word is mayhem, spelled M-A-Y-H-E-M. Mayhem is a noun. It refers to

needless or willful damage or violence, and especially to a scene or situation that involves a lot of violence.

In figurative use, it may refer to any instance of excited activity.

Here's the word used in a sentence from the Kansas City Star.

The storage space is a veritable Fort Knox safe from tornadoes, floods, earthquakes,

and all manner of mischief and mayhem, where the 68 degree temperature and 45% humidity

are ideal for preserving paper and film.

Legally speaking, the word mayhem refers to the gruesome crime of deliberately causing an injury

that permanently disfigures another. The word comes via Middle English from the Anglo-French verb

mehame, meaning to maim, and is probably of Germanic origin. The English verb, maim, comes from the same ancestor.

The disfigurement sense of mayhem first appeared in English in the 15th century.

Centuries later, the word came to refer to any kind of violent behavior.

Nowadays, mayhem is frequently used to suggest any kind of chaos or disorder, even in far less fraught circumstances, as in there was mayhem on the field after the winning goal was scored.

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

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

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