Word of the Day : March 30, 2019

scrumptious \SKRUMP-shus\ adjective

Definition

: delightful, excellent; especially : delicious

Did You Know?

First appearing in English in the early 1800s, scrumptious is a mouth-watering word that is used to describe what is delightful and delectable. It probably originated as an alteration of sumptuous, and it carries the elegant and wonderful connotations of its parent. (Speakers of Middle English borrowed sumptuous from the Latin adjective sumptuousus,a derivation of the Latin noun sumptus,meaning "expense" or "cost"). British author Roald Dahl had some fun with scrumptious and created a delightful coinage, when he inserted the infix ‑diddly- into the word to make scrumdiddlyumptious, the word that chocolate magnate Willy Wonka uses to name his best-selling treats in his novel Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (1964).

Aired March 30, 2019

All Merriam-Webster content is available at www.merriam-webster.com