Skip to content

The word for today is…

mayhem (noun) -

1: needless or willful damage or violence
2a: willful and permanent deprivation of a body part resulting in the impairment of a person's fighting ability
b: willful and permanent disabling, mutilation, or disfigurement of any part of the body

Source : Merriam-Webster

Etymology : Legally speaking, mayhem refers to the gruesome crime of deliberately causing an injury that permanently disfigures another. The word comes via Middle English from the Anglo-French verb maheimer ("to maim") and is probably of Germanic origin; the English verb maim comes from the same ancestor. The "disfigurement" sense of mayhem first appeared in English in the 15th century. Centuries later, the word came to refer to any kind of violent behavior. Nowadays, mayhem is frequently used to suggest any kind of chaos or disorder, even in far less fraught circumstances, as in "there was mayhem on the field after the winning goal was scored."

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

Latest

An Attack on the Open Society

An Attack on the Open Society

When a prime minister treats the defence of female private space as planetary eccentricity, the open society is already yielding ground. The cost is paid by the very girls and women the liberal order was supposed to protect.

Members Public
Will We Be Pākehā Freeloaders?

Will We Be Pākehā Freeloaders?

‘Why should you pay for these old, Pākehā dudes, living large on the pension your taxes are funding? You’re from Mumbai, Shanghai or South Auckland and they never did anything for you.’

Members Public