“Turning from his father’s trade of corset-making, [Thomas] Paine tried his hand at business, met and impressed Benjamin Franklin in London, sailed to America, and there found his true metier [ˈmɛtjeɪ] as a pamphleteer and radical.” — Matthew Redmond, The Conversation, 9 Oct. 2025métier
noun [ˈmɛtjeɪ]
Métier, sometimes styled metier, is a formal word that refers to something that a person does very well.
Métier is sometimes translated from its original French as “job” or “career” but in that language it more accurately refers to the trade or profession in which one works.
In English we tend toward a narrower meaning for métier, referring either to a job for which one is perfectly suited or a particular field in which one is extremely skilled. English May 3, 2026, 6:12 AM cowpoke
“Congress approved an initial tranche [trɑnʃ] of funding legislation in November as the longest shutdown in history came to an end.” — Kaia Hubbard, CBS News, 16 Dec. 2025tranche [trɑnʃ]
Noun
Tranche refers to a division or portion of a whole.
A tranche of leaked documents was delivered to the newspaper anonymously, with more promised to come.
In French, tranche means “slice.” Cutting deeper into the word’s etymology, we find the Old French word trenchier, meaning “to cut,” which has its likely origin in a Latin word meaning “to cut in three,” from Latin trini meaning “three each.” Tranche emerged in the English language in the late 19th century... English Mar 15, 2026, 5:58 AM cowpoke
Pressured by voters on both sides of the issue, the congressman temporized [ˈtɛmpəˌraɪz].temporize [ˈtɛmpəˌraɪz]
verb
To temporize is to avoid making a decision or giving a definite answer in order to have more time. (With negative connotation)
Temporize comes from the Middle French word temporiser, which in turn likely traces back via Medieval Latin temporizāre, "to delay," to the Latin noun tempus, meaning "time." English Dec 22, 2025, 5:29 AM cowpoke
It’s this kind of selfishness that leads down the road to perdition [pərˈdɪʃən].perdition [pərˈdɪʃən]
noun
Perdition refers to hell, or to the state of being in hell forever as punishment after death—in other words, damnation. It is usually used figuratively.
Perdition is a word that gives a darn, and then some. It was borrowed into English in the 14th century from the Anglo-French noun perdiciun and ultimately comes from the Latin verb perdere, meaning “to destroy.” English Nov 25, 2025, 3:50 AM cowpoke
// The island is a veritable [ˈvɛrɪtəbəl] paradise.
// The sale attracted a veritable [ˈvɛrɪtəbəl] mob of people.veritable
adj [ˈvɛrɪtəbəl]
formal adjective that means “being in fact the thing named and not false, unreal, or imaginary.” It is often used to stress the aptness of a metaphorical description.
Veritable, like its close relative verity (“truth”), came to English through Anglo-French from Latin, ultimately the adjective vērus, meaning “true,” which also gave English verify, aver, and verdict. English Oct 19, 2025, 6:09 AM cowpoke
"Paul Monreal is a fourth-great-grandchild of Catherine and Patrick O'Leary, who endured the enmity [ˈɛnɪti] of Chicagoans after they were wrongfully accused of starting the Great Chicago Fire, which legend said was started by a jittery dairy cow named Daisy." — William Lee, The Chicago Tribune, 5 July 2025enmity [ˈɛnɪti]
noun
Enmity is a formal word that refers to a very deep unfriendly feeling, such as hatred or ill will, that is often felt mutually.
The resemblance between enmity and enemy is no coincidence: both words come from the Anglo-French word enemi, which literally translates to "enemy." English Sep 20, 2025, 7:11 AM cowpoke
“Music is both the subject and mechanism of Sinners, which opens with a voiceover history of how some musicians, dating back to the West African griots [ˈɡri.oʊ], have been seen as conduits between this world and the one beyond.” — Paul A. Thompson, Pitchfork, 22 Apr. 2025griot [ˈɡri.oʊ]
The term griot refers to any of a class of musician-entertainers of western Africa whose performances include tribal histories and genealogies. The term is also used broadly to refer to a storyteller.
In many West African countries, the role of cultural guardian is maintained, as it has been for centuries, by griots. Griot—a borrowing from French—refers to an oral historian, musician, storyteller, and sometimes praise singer. English Sep 10, 2025, 7:05 AM cowpoke
The company is committed to seeing that efforts to scale up production do not result in a diminution [ˌdɪməˈnuːʃən] of quality.diminution
noun [ˌdɪməˈnuːʃən]
Diminution is a formal word that refers to the act or process of becoming less.
from Anglo-French, and ultimately from the Latin word deminuere, meaning “to diminish,” which is also an ancestor of the English verb diminish. English Aug 28, 2025, 5:26 AM cowpoke
“When Moira reached her mother on the phone, it was hard to take in any information other than that she was being sent away. ‘Babysitting and secretarial work?’ Moira said without saying hello. ‘Organizing lessons?’ ‘Hello, Moira,’ Nina said. ‘Let’s drop this petulant [ˈpɛtʃ.ə.lənt] teenager routine.’ ‘I am a petulant [ˈpɛtʃ.ə.lənt] teenager.’” — Keziah Weir, The Mythmakers: A Novel, 2023petulant [ˈpɛtʃ.ə.lənt]
adj
Petulant describes a person who is angry and annoyed, or an attitude or behavior showing the emotions of such a person.
Hailing from Middle French and Latin, petulant began its English tenure in the late 16th century... Today the word is most commonly used to describe someone acting snippy and snippety, snappish and snappy, displaying an often childish ill or short temper of the kind that tends to arise from annoyance at not getting one’s way. English Jul 31, 2025, 4:38 AM cowpoke
The approach of the storm forced them to jettison [ˈdʒɛ.t̬ə.sən] their vacation plans.jettison [ˈdʒɛ.t̬ə.sən]
verb
When you jettison something, you get rid of it either because it is not needed or because it is impeding your progress or otherwise weighing you down.
Jettison comes from the Anglo-French noun geteson (literally “action of throwing”), and ultimately from the Latin verb jactare, meaning “to throw.” English Jul 22, 2025, 4:06 AM cowpoke
