Word of the Day : April 29, 2021

amicable \AM-ih-kuh-bul\ adjective

Definition

: characterized by friendly goodwill : peaceable

Did You Know?

Amicable showed up in the English language in the 15th century, ushered in by writers who had such a love of Latin that they were using a literary form of the language, now called Late Latin, when all the other Latin speakers were using Vulgar Latin, that is the nonliterary Latin that eventually developed into the Romance languages. The Late Latin root of amicable is amīcābilis, meaning "friendly," and when amicable was introduced to English it was moving into semantic territory that friendly had occupied for some 400 years. But English has always been magnanimous about accepting newcomers. As is so often the case with Latin-derived synonyms, the new word became the more formal term—it's most often used to describe agreements and relationships—while the old tried-and-true word retained its broad use.

Aired April 29, 2021

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