51吃瓜 of the Day
pecuniary
adjective
of or relating to money.
More about pecuniary
Pecuniary, 鈥渞elating to money,鈥� comes from the Latin adjective 辫别肠奴苍颈腻谤颈耻蝉, a derivative of 辫别肠奴苍颈补 鈥減roperty, possessions, wealth, money,鈥� itself a derivative of 辫别肠奴 鈥渇lock, herd, farm animals,鈥� livestock being a very important source of wealth in early farming societies. 笔别肠奴 and its related nouns are derivatives of the Proto-Indo-European noun peku– 鈥渟heep,鈥� from the root pek-, pok- 鈥渢o pluck, fleece, card (wool, flax).鈥� Peku- is the source of Umbrian pequo 鈥渃attle鈥� (Umbrian was an Italic language spoken in Umbria, north of Rome), Greek 辫贸办辞蝉 and 辫茅办辞蝉 鈥渟heep鈥檚 wool, fleece,鈥� and Lithuanian pekus 鈥渃attle.鈥� By regular phonetic change peku- becomes fehu– in Proto-Germanic, becoming Gothic faihu 鈥減ossessions, property,鈥� German Vieh 鈥渃attle, beast, brute,鈥� Old English feoh, fioh, feh 鈥渃attle, property (in cattle),鈥� Middle English fe, feo, feh 鈥渓ivestock, herd of livestock, movable property, wealth, money.鈥� Modern English fee 鈥渃harge, payment, sum paid, 鈥� but also 鈥渓anded estate, inherited estate,鈥� comes partly from the Middle English and Old English nouns, but fee in the sense 鈥渋nherited estate, feudal estate鈥� also comes from Old French fieu, fief 鈥渆state in land鈥� and Anglo-French fe, fee, fie, from Germanic fehu. Pecuniary entered English in the early 16th century.
how is pecuniary used?
Whatever Mr. Penson鈥檚 civic convictions, he also has a pecuniary interest in the outcome.
As of last year, nearly half of America鈥檚 middle-aged adults found themselves members, willing or not, of聽what鈥檚 been called 鈥渢he sandwich generation,鈥� so named because these people have a child below them and an aging parent above them. … Given the pecuniary strain involved, it’s surprising that, about 150 years ago, parents might have gone out of their way to set up a situation like this.
pecuniary
More about nudnik
Everyone, unfortunately, has had experience with a nudnik, 鈥渁 persistently dull, boring pest.鈥� Nudnik is plainly a Yiddishism, a derivative of the Yiddish verb nudyen 鈥渢o bore, pester.鈥� Nudyen may come from Polish 苍耻诲锄颈膰 鈥渢o weary, bore,鈥� or Russian nudit鈥� 鈥渢o wear out (with complaints, pestering).鈥� The Yiddish suffix –nik, adopted into English as a noun suffix that refers to persons, usually derogatorily, involved in a political cause or group (such as beatnik, peacenik), is also of Slavic origin. The personal suffix –nik appears in English as early as 1905, but the launch of the Soviet satellite Sputnik, literally 鈥渢raveling companion,鈥� popularized –nik ad nauseam. Nudnik entered English in the first half of the 20th century.
how is nudnik used?
Mr. Daniels is one of those quintessential New York characters: a confessed nudnik. Dozens of times a year, he telephones city officials about local irritants, from the lack of sidewalk curb cuts to accommodate wheelchairs to a mound of asphalt left on a sidewalk after a repaving job.
We lie to protect our privacy (“No, I don’t live around here”); to avoid hurt feelings (“Friday is my study night”) … to escape a nudnik (“My mother’s on the other line”) …
nudnik
More about derring-do
The noun derring-do, 鈥渄aring deeds; heroic daring,鈥� has a curious history. In Middle English the phrase durring don, durring do meant 鈥渄aring to do,鈥� durring being the present participle of durren 鈥渢o have the courage (to do something),鈥� modern English dare, and don, do being a present infinitive verb, modern English do. Chaucer uses the phrase 鈥渃orrectly鈥� is his Troilus and Criseyde: Troilus was nevere鈥� secounde / In durryng don that longeth to a knight (鈥淭roilus was never鈥� second in daring to do what was fitting for a knight鈥�). Derrynge do, one of the later spellings of durring don, was misinterpreted by Edmund Spenser as a noun phrase meaning 鈥渕anhood and chivalry,鈥� and Spenser鈥檚 mistake was picked up and passed on by writers and historians like Sir Walter Scott. Derring-do entered English (spelled durring don) in the 14th century, Spenser鈥檚 derring-doe in the second half of the 16th century.
how is derring-do used?
Lancelot, naturally, had performed the bravest deeds; Galahad, the most noble. The rest scrambled for attention with various feats of derring-do, most of which were exaggerated, to say the least.
Summer revealed woollen tank-style swimwear and lakeside derring-do: balcony dives, greased-pole logrolling (鈥渨e don鈥檛 allow that anymore鈥�), jousting in rowboats (鈥渁nother thing we don鈥檛 allow鈥�).
derring-do