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# The BFD Word of the Day
- URL: https://goodoil.news/the-bfd-word-of-the-day-810/
- Published: 2022-04-18T18:15:00.000Z
- Updated: 2022-04-18T18:49:17.000Z
- Author: David Theobald
- Tags: General, #wp, #wp-post, #Import 2024-07-17 01:12

The word for today is…

transpire (verb):

1 : to take place  
2a : to become known or apparent  
b : to be revealed : come to light  
3 : to give off vaporous material specifically : to give off or exude watery vapor especially from the surfaces of leaves  
4 : to pass in the form of a vapor from a living body

Source : [Merriam -Webster](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/transpire?ref=goodoil.news)

Etymology : Transpire (based on Latin spirare, meaning “to breathe”) was originally used technically to describe the passage of vapor through the pores of a membrane (such as the skin). From this use developed the figurative sense: “to escape from secrecy” or “to become known.” That sense was used in ambiguous contexts and often meant “to happen” or “to take place.” Sense 1 of transpire is the frequent whipping boy of those who suppose sense 2 to be the only meaning of the word. Sense 1 appears to have developed in the late 18th century; it was well enough known to have been used by Abigail Adams in a letter to her husband in 1775\. “There is nothing new transpired since I wrote you last” — Abigail Adams. Noah Webster recognized the new sense in his dictionary of 1828\. Transpire was evidently a popular word with 19th century journalists; sense 1 turns up in such pretentiously worded statements as “The police drill will transpire under shelter to-day in consequence of the moist atmosphere prevailing.” Around 1870 the sense began to be attacked as a misuse on the grounds of etymology, and modern critics echo the damnation of 1870\. Sense 1 has been in existence for about two centuries; it is firmly established as standard; it occurs now primarily in serious prose, not the ostentatiously flamboyant prose typical of 19th century journalism.

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