It's Merriam-Webster's word of the day for May 21st.

Today's word of the day for May 21st.

Today's word is Neophyte, spelled Neopoe neophyte is a noun a neophyte is a

neophyte is a person who has just started learning or doing something.

Here's the word used in a sentence from Den of Geek

by Alec Bojalad.

First premiering in 2006, Ugly Betty

built up a devoted fan base, the series, which is now streaming on Netflix, started Ferreira

as the titular ugly Betty Suarez, a braces wearing 22-year-old fashion neophyte from Queens.

Neophyte is hardly a new addition to the English language.

It's been part of the English vocabulary

since the 14th century.

It traces back through late Latin to the Greek word neo-Fitos meaning

newly planted or newly converted. These Greek and Latin roots were directly

transplanted into the early English uses of Neophyte, which first referred

to a person newly converted to a religion or cause. By the 1600s, Neophyte had gained a more general sense of a beginner or novel. In the

16 hundreds, Neophyte had gained a more general sense of a beginner or novice. Today, you might consider it a formal elder sibling of such recent informal

coinages as Newby and Newb.

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

Visit Merriam Webster.com today, for definitions, word play, and trending word lookups.