It's the Word of the Day podcast for February 25th.

Today's word is superfluous, spelled S-U-P-E-R-F-L-U-O-U-S.

Superfluous is an adjective.

It's a formal word used to describe things that exceed what is necessary F-L-U-O-U-S. Superfluous is an adjective.

It's a formal word used to describe things that exceed what is necessary or sufficient or that are simply not needed.

Here's the word used in a sentence from Pitchfork by Ariel Gordon.

On the final single from his album, Manning Fireworks,

M.J. Lenderman sketches a character study of a man

so preoccupied with superfluous status symbols that he finds himself totally isolated from the world.

If, say, you were to go chasing waterfalls, in addition to the rivers and the lakes that you're

used to, such a pursuit would be superfluous.

In other words, you would be exceeding what is necessary to satisfy your need for water-based

enjoyment and recreation.

You've already got rivers and lakes, your friends might advise you with a bit of TLC.

Just stick to them.

Extra water is also key to understanding the history of the word

superfluous, which entered Middle English from the Latin adjective superfluous, meaning literally

running over. The Latin word in turn comes from the verb superfluere, meaning to overflow,

which combines the prefix super, meaning over,

and fluere, meaning to flow. In addition to influencing the word superfluous, fluere also flowed

into the English words affluent, influence, and fluid, among others. With your word of the day,

I'm Peter Sokolowski.

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