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Word of the Day : August 28, 2019
irascible \ir-RASS-uh-bul\ adjective
Definition
: marked by hot temper and easily provoked anger
Did You Know?
If you try to take apart irascible in the same manner as irrational, irresistible, or irresponsible, you might find yourself wondering what ascible means—but that's not how irascible came to be. The key to the meaning of irascible isn't the negative prefix ir- (which is a variant of the prefix in- that is used before words beginning with "r"), but the Latin noun ira, meaning "anger." From ira, which is also the root of irate and ire, came the Latin verb irasci ("to become angry") and the related adjective irascibilis, the latter of which led to the French irascible. English speakers borrowed the word from French in the 16th century.
Aired August 28, 2019
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Comments
Alice D
Is there an archive of “Word of Day”? Sometimes I can almost remember an interesting new word, but not quite, and would like to revisit the Curious list. Thanks!
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Ariadna S
Yes, there is! If you click on the blue words ‘Merriam-Webster’ next to their picture on the page with a word-of-the-day’s video transcript, it will bring you to the word archive. Hope this helped!
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