winsome

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day

Merriam-Webster

Arts, Literature, Language Courses, Education

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🗓️ 8 August 2025

⏱️ 2 minutes

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Summary

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for August 8, 2025 is:

winsome • \WIN-sum\ • adjective

Winsome describes people and things that are cheerful, pleasant, and appealing.

// Though a relative newcomer to acting, Maya won the casting directors over with her winsome charm, which was perfect for the role of the plucky young superhero.

// Our winsome guide put us at ease immediately.

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Examples:

“Wilson’s take on Snow White is surprisingly winsome. It delivers a familiar story with a fresh perspective and some unexpected sources of nostalgia.” — Kristy Puchko, Mashable, 19 March 2025

Did you know?

Despite appearances, winsome bears no relation to the familiar word win, meaning “to achieve victory.” The Old English predecessor of winsome is wynsum, which in turn comes from the noun wynn, meaning “joy” or “pleasure.” And the ancestor of win is the Old English verb winnan, meaning “to labor or strive.” Given those facts, one might guess that the adjective winning, meaning “tending to please or delight,” as in “a winning personality,” is a winsome relation, but in fact it’s in the win/winnan lineage. Winning is more common today than the similar winsome in such constructions as “a winning/winsome smile,” but we sense no hard feelings between the two. It’s just the way things (lexically) go: you win some, you lose some.

Transcript

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0:00.0	It's the Word of the Day podcast for August 8th.
0:10.0	At Matalan, the big summer sale is on.
0:13.0	Get up to 50% off across women's men's and kid styles plus homeware too.
0:19.0	It's the perfect time to fill your basket with this season's favorites.
0:23.3	Head to your nearest store today or shop the sale online at matelan.com.uk.
0:29.1	Teas and C's apply.
0:32.1	Today's word is winsome, spelled W-I-N-S-O-M-E.
0:41.0	Winsome is an adjective. It describes people and things that are cheerful, pleasant, and appealing. Here's the word used in a sentence from Mashable by Christy Puchko.
0:47.4	Wilson's take on Snow White is surprisingly Winsome. It delivers a familiar story with a fresh
0:53.3	perspective and some unexpected sources of
0:56.0	nostalgia. Despite appearances, the word winsome bears no relation to the familiar word win,
1:02.9	meaning to achieve victory. The old English predecessor of winsome is winsome with a Y,
1:09.3	which in turn comes from the noun W-Y-N-N, meaning joy or pleasure.
1:15.7	And the ancestor of W-N-W-I-N is the old English verb W-N-AN, meaning to labor or strive.
1:23.2	Given those facts, one might guess that the adjective winning, meaning tending to please or delight,
1:29.4	as in a winning personality, is a winsome relation. But in fact, it's the win-win-un lineage.
1:36.7	Winning is more common today than the similar winsome in such constructions as a winning or
1:43.1	winsome smile. But we sense no hard feelings between
1:46.9	the two. It's just the way things lexically go. You win some, you lose some. With your word of the day,
1:53.1	I'm Peter Sokolowski.
1:58.5	Visit Miriamwebster.com today for definitions, wordplay, and trending word lookups.

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