Monday, April 28, 2014

THE FIRST WORD

petulant

PRONUNCIATION:
(PECH-uh-lent) 

MEANING:
adjective: Bad-tempered; cranky.

ETYMOLOGY:
[From Latin petere (to seek, assail). Ultimately from the Indo-European root pet- (to rush or fly), which also gave us feather, petition, compete, perpetual, propitiouspteridologypinnate, and lepidopterology. Earliest documented use: 1598.

USAGE:
"Idol, like the petulant child who can't understand that her antics have ceased to be entertaining, kept trying to sell it."

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