It's the Word of the Day podcast for January 16th.

Today's word is Vendetta, spelled V-E-N-D-E-T-A. Vendetta is a noun. It refers to an active and

mutual hatred between two families or groups,

also known as a blood feud. It can also refer to an often prolonged series of retaliatory,

vengeful, or hostile acts, or to a commitment to carrying out such acts.

Here's the word used. a sentence from deep breath,

a novel by Rita Halash. Rita publicly refused a vendetta at his funeral. She wouldn't ask

her sons to avenge him, even though that wasn't just normal for the time. It was expected.

English speakers borrowed the word Vendetta, spelling and

all, from Italian in the 19th century, literally meaning revenge. Vendetta first referred specifically

to Italian and especially Corsican family or clan-based feuds. It later extended in meaning to cover the acts that tend to feature in such feuds,

and later still expanded further to refer to a commitment to carrying out such acts. Vendetta ultimately traces to the Latin verb Vindicta, meaning revenge or vindication.

That Latin word is also in the family tree of

other English terms related to getting even, including avenge, revenge, vengeance, vindicate, and

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

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