Skip to content

Table of Contents

The word for today is…

audacious (adjective):

1a: intrepidly daring : adventurous
b: recklessly bold : rash
2: contemptuous of law, religion, or decorum : insolent
3: marked by originality and verve

Source : Merriam -Webster

Etymology : Fortune favors the bold—or, as ancient Romans are known to have said, “audentes Fortuna iuvat.” Audentes here is the present participle of the Latin verb audere, meaning “to dare,” a word that also led, via several etymological twists and turns through the centuries, to the English adjective audacious. When it first appeared in English in the mid-1500s, audacious meant “intrepidly daring,” a sense we still use today when we apply the word to various feats of derring-do and those who dare to do them. Since then it has developed several additional meanings, including the closely related “recklessly bold” and “marked by originality and verve,” as in “her audacious new album heralds the future of hip-hop.” Of course, with audacity (another audere descendent) comes risk that fortune, despite the maxim, doesn’t always favor: as fungi foragers know, there are sagacious mushroomers, and audacious mushroomers, but there are no sagacious audacious mushroomers.

If you enjoyed this BFD word of the day please consider sharing it with your friends and, especially, your children.

Latest

We Can’t Say We Weren’t Warned

We Can’t Say We Weren’t Warned

What does all this mean for New Zealand? Unsurprisingly and happily, America’s National Security Strategy makes no mention of New Zealand. It would be great if the US forgot about us entirely in a situation where we have no obvious enemies, unless of course we choose to ally ourselves with the US.

Members Public