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May 28, 2018

Word of the Day: Sacrosanct

1 CQ

Word of the Day : May 28, 2018

sacrosanct \SAK-roh-sankt\ adjective

Definition

1 : most sacred or holy : inviolable

2 : treated as if holy : immune from criticism or violation

Did You Know?

That which is sacrosanct is doubly sacred. Sacrosanct is derived from the Latin sacrosanctus, which is probably from the phrase sacro sanctus ("hallowed by a sacred rite"). The first element of this phrase, sacro, is the ablative case of sacrum ("a sacred rite") and means "by a sacred rite" (sacrum lives on in English anatomy as the name for our pelvic vertebrae—a shortening of os sacrum, which literally means "holy bone"). The second element, sanctus, is the past participle of the Latin sancire, which means "to make sacred." Sanctus has also given English the words saint, sanctimony, sanctify, and sanctuary.

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Aired May 28, 2018

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