A.Word.A.Day		About Us | What's New | Search | Site Map | Contact Us

Home Today's Word Yesterday's Word Archives FAQ

A.Word.A.Day--meed meed (meed) noun Reward; recompense; wage. [From Middle English mede, from Old English med.] "He saw that at once; he took that also as the meed due his oil wells and his Yale nimbus, since three years at New Haven, leading no classes and winning no football games, had done nothing to dispossess him of the belief that he was the natural prey of all mothers of daughters." William Faulkner; Collected Stories of William Faulkner; Vintage Books; 1995. "Nor to have worked with patient brain In senate or in mart, To have gained the meed which those attain Who have played their part, -- Effort is fair, success is sweet, But leave life incomplete. Lewis Morris; At the End; The Works of Sir Lewis Morris; 1902. You won't find words like "facilitate" in many poems. While such Latin words give a touch of formality to diction, words from Old English (also known as Anglo-Saxon) convey a feeling of directness. On one side we have polysyllabic Latinate terms and on the other short, plain words that quickly get the idea across. Compare the verbosity of "interrogate" with the brevity of "ask". Or perspiration vs. sweat. This week's AWAD features words from Old English. -Anu X-Bonus The course of true love never did run smooth. -William Shakespeare, playwright and poet (1564-1616)

The Book: A Word A Day is now a book. Find it in your local bookstore or at Amazon.com. "A delightful, quirky collection." -The New York Times Join Us: Subscribe to A.Word.A.Day to receive it in your mailbox every day. Interact: Bulletin board AWADtalk Moderated Chat AWADchat Readers' Voice AWADmail