Table of Contents
The word for today is…
beholden (adj) – Owing something, such as gratitude, to another; indebted.
Source : The Free Dictionary
Etymology : Have you ever found yourself under obligation to someone else for a gift or favour? It’s a common experience and, not surprisingly, many of the words describing this condition have been part of the English language for centuries. Beholden is recorded in the Middle-English Arthurian poem Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. Indebted, which entered English through Anglo-French, is older and still very much in use. Those who don’t mind sounding like English speakers of yore have another synonym of beholden to choose from: a now-archaic sense of bounden. That word is today more often used with the meaning “made obligatory” or “binding,” as in “our bounden duty.”
If you enjoyed this BFD word of the day please consider sharing it with your friends.
