It's the word of the day for July 7th.

Today's word is perfunctory, spelled P-E-R-F-U-N-C-T-O-R-Y.

Perfunctory is an adjective.

It's a formal word used to describe something that is done without energy or enthusiasm

because of habit or because it is expected.

Here's the word used in a sentence from NPR.

Even a perfunctory ending can't take away from the film's fiery commitment to bearing witness to misogyny's

bitter fruit. Harris's vision as a first-time filmmaker is crystal clear, and, Is God Is, already feels

timeless like a parable that could have been written decades ago, and will be handily passed down as pointed social critique for decades to come.

A perfunctory explanation of the origins of the word perfunctory would be this. It comes from Latin.

But given our passion for language, we can't resist giving you all the details. Borrowed in the late

16th century, the word is specifically from the late Latin perfunctorius, meaning done in a careless

or superficial manner. Perfunctorius traces back to a form of perfungi, meaning to accomplish, perform, get through with,

and ultimately comes from two Latin sources, per, P-E-R, meaning through, and fungi, meaning to perform.

Fungi is also a source of such words as function, defunct, and fungible, but not the word fungus. That word is

also from Latin, but it's most likely a modification of the Greek word spongos, meaning sponge.

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

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