51吃瓜 of the Day
malinger
verb
to pretend illness, especially in order to shirk one's duty, avoid work, etc.
More about malinger
Malinger, 鈥渢o pretend illness,鈥� is an adaptation of French malingre, 鈥渟ickly, ailing,鈥� with a change in spelling perhaps because of the influence of English linger, which is not at all related. A common hypothesis is that malingre is formed from Old French mal, 鈥渂adly,鈥� and heingre, 鈥渉aggard, scrawny.鈥� Alternatively, the mal- element may come from the related term malade, 鈥渟ick,鈥� the source of malady. Heingre is also of unclear origin, but a clue may lie in German hager, 鈥済aunt,鈥� which is鈥攜et again鈥攐f unknown origin. Nevertheless, hager is perhaps connected to English haggard. Malinger was first recorded in English in the 1810s.
EXAMPLE OF MALINGER USED IN A SENTENCE
When the sun is shining and the birds are singing, it may be tempting to malinger.
More about jeu d'esprit
Jeu d鈥檈sprit, 鈥渁 witticism,鈥� is a borrowing from French, in which it literally means 鈥済ame of spirit.鈥� Jeu, 鈥済ame,鈥� comes from Latin jocus, 鈥渏oke,鈥� which is the source of jeopardy, jewel, and jocular. Meanwhile, esprit comes from Latin 蝉辫墨谤颈迟耻蝉, 鈥渟pirit, breath,鈥� from 蝉辫墨谤腻谤别, 鈥渢o breathe鈥�; compare aspire, expire, perspire, and respire. The plural of jeu d鈥檈sprit is jeux d鈥檈sprit, in both English and French, with only the 鈥済ame鈥� element becoming plural. Though most French nouns add -s when made plural, most nouns ending in -eu add -x.听Jeu d鈥檈sprit was first recorded in English in the 1710s.
EXAMPLE OF JEU D鈥橢SPRIT USED IN A SENTENCE
The unexpected jeu d鈥檈sprit that closed the speech had the entire room roaring with laughter.
steppe
noun
an extensive plain, especially one without trees.
More about steppe
Steppe, 鈥渁n extensive, treeless plain,鈥� is a borrowing by way of either French or German from Russian 蝉迟别辫鈥�, of unknown origin. In the English transliteration of Russian 蝉迟别辫鈥�, the apostrophe (鈥�) represents the Cyrillic letter (褜), known to the Russians as my谩gki沫 znak, 鈥�soft sign.鈥� This indicates that the consonant immediately before it is palatalized, or pronounced with the tongue against the hard palate, adding a slight 鈥測uh鈥� to the consonant. Though English doesn鈥檛 use palatalization quite as Russian does, this phenomenon is still somewhat visible in words such as assume, which some pronounce as 鈥�uh–soom鈥� and others as 鈥�uh–syoom.鈥� Steppe was first recorded in English circa 1670.
EXAMPLE OF STEPPE USED IN A SENTENCE
The animals ventured south across the steppe to find a warmer home for the coming winter.