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# The BFD Word of the Day
- URL: https://goodoil.news/the-bfd-word-of-the-day-34/
- Published: 2020-03-04T17:15:00.000Z
- Updated: 2020-03-01T18:06:37.000Z
- Author: Peter Andersen
- Tags: General, #wp, #wp-post, #Import 2024-07-17 03:24

The word for today is…

lily-livered (adj) – Cowardly; timid.

Source : [The Free Dictionary](https://www.thefreedictionary.com/lily-livered?ref=goodoil.news)

Etymology : The basis of the word lily-livered lies in an old belief. Years ago, people thought that health and temperament were the products of a balance or imbalance of four bodily fluids, or humours: blood, phlegm, black bile, and yellow bile. It was believed that a deficiency of yellow bile, or choler, the humour that governed anger, spirit, and courage, would leave a person’s liver colourless or white. Someone with this deficiency, and so white-livered, would be spiritless and a coward. Lily-livered and white-livered have been used synonymously since the 17th century, but lily-livered is now the more common expression, probably because of its alliteration.

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