THE FIRST WORD

munificent

PRONUNCIATION:

(myoo-NIF-uh-suhnt) 

MEANING:

adjective: Extremely generous.

ETYMOLOGY:

From Latin munus (gift) + facere (to make). Ultimately from the Indo-European root mei- (to change, go, or move [of goods]) that also brought us migrate, mutate, molt, miss, mutual, municipal, and remunerate. Earliest documented use: 1565.

USAGE:

"The Southern Pacific was a rapacious villain whose coffers overflowed only because of the government's munificent grant of land."
Don Hofsommer; The Southern Pacific; Texas A&M University Press; 2009.