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🗓️ 23 November 2023
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Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for November 23, 2023 is:
scrumptious • \SKRUMP-shus\ • adjective
Scrumptious is an informal word that is usually used as a synonym of delicious, but can also mean “delightful” or “excellent.”
// Parsnips may be an unconventional vegetable to serve on Turkey Day, but they are scrumptious with a little maple syrup drizzled on top.
Examples:
“Need a scrumptious Thanksgiving side dish that will have your holiday guests scrambling for the biggest helping? … This Thanksgiving casserole is more like a dessert than a side dish. It features a rich, silky smooth sweet potato filling that entices the taste buds with cream, butter, pure vanilla extract, and freshly grated nutmeg.” — USA Today, 18 Nov. 2022
Did you know?
First appearing in English in the early 1800s, scrumptious is a mouth-watering word that is used to describe things delightful and delectable. It may have originated as an alteration of sumptuous, carrying the elegant connotations of its parent, though this is not certain. The Oxford English Dictionary cites a dialect form of the word used to mean “cheap, stingy” as its earliest use, and posits that it could instead have been formed by combining the verb scrimp, meaning “to be frugal or stingy,” with the adjective suffix -ious. (Scrimption meaning “a tiny amount or pittance” could be a relation.) How could a word with such a meaning lead to the wholly positive scrumptious? The OED points to a similar path taken by the word nice, which began as a word meaning “wanton or lacking restraint” and is now, well, nice. Regardless, scrumptious today is a fun word to say and play around with, a fact apparent to British author Roald Dahl who used the variation scrumdiddlyumptious in his novel Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.
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0:00.0 | It's Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for November 23rd. |
0:11.5 | Today's word is scrumptuous, spelled S-C-R-U-M-P-T-I-O-S. |
0:20.0 | Scrum-S-S-S-S-S-S-S-S-S-C-E-S-S-C-E-S-C-O-S-S-E-O-S, Scumptus is an adjective. It's an informal word that's usually used as a synonym of the word |
0:25.9 | delicious, but can also mean delightful or excellent. Here's the word used in a sentence from |
0:31.7 | USA Today. |
0:33.0 | Need a scrumptious Thanksgiving side dish that will have your holiday guests |
0:37.0 | scrambling for the biggest helping? |
0:39.0 | This Thanksgiving casserole is more like a dessert than a side dish. It features a rich, silky smooth, sweet potato filling that entices the taste buds with cream, butter, pure vanilla extract, and freshly grated nutmeg. |
0:54.8 | First appearing in English in the early 1800s, |
0:58.2 | Scrumptious is a mouthwatering word that is used to describe things delightful and |
1:03.4 | delectable. It may have originated as an alteration of |
1:07.7 | sumptuous, carrying the elegant connotations of its parent, |
1:12.4 | though this is not certain. The Oxford English |
1:15.3 | Dictionary cites a dialect form of the word used to mean cheap or stingy as its |
1:20.6 | earliest use and posits that it could instead have been formed by combining the verb |
1:26.1 | Scrimp meaning to be frugal or stingy with the adjective suffix I-O-U-S. |
1:33.0 | Scrimption, meaning a tiny amount or pittance, could be a relation. |
1:38.2 | How could a word with such a meaning lead to the wholly positive scumptious. The OED points to a similar path |
1:45.7 | taken by the word nice, which began meaning wanton or lacking restraint and is now |
1:52.0 | well nice. |
1:54.0 | Regardless, Scrumptuous today is a fun word to say and play around with, |
1:58.0 | a fact apparent to British author Roll Dahl, |
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