It's the Word of the Day for June 24th.

Today's word is Noisome, spelled N-O-I-S-O-M-E.

Noisome is an adjective.

It's a formal and literary word used to describe things that are very

unpleasant or disgusting. It's used especially to describe offensive smells. Noisome can also mean

highly obnoxious or objectionable, as in we were put off by their noisome habits.

Here's the word used in a sentence from where we meet the world. as in we were put off by their noisome habits.

Here's the word used in a sentence from where we meet the world, the story of the senses by Ashley Ward. During the 14th century, the bubonic plague outbreak that came to be known as the

Black Death claimed thousands of victims, condemning them to a rapid and painful end. As the sufferers deteriorated,

the disease tainted them with a telltale repellent stench, which seemed to confirm smell as the root

cause of the illness. Noisome dwellings were set right by fumigation, while roams were doused with strong-smelling substances like vinegar and turpentine, anything to keep at bay the dreaded miasma.

The word noisome looks like a close relation of the word noisy, but it's not.

While noisy describes what is excessively loud, noisome typically describes what

is excessively stinky. It is also used to describe things offensive to the senses generally,

as well as things that are highly obnoxious, objectionable, or simply harmful.

Noisome comes from the synonymous middle English word noisum spelled with

a Y, which combines the suffix sum as O-M-E, meaning characterized by a specified thing,

and the noun, noi, meaning annoyance. Noisy, incidentally, comes ultimately from the Latin nausea, meaning nausea.

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

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