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Word of the day May 5
The Word of the Day for May 5 is:
manqué • \mahn-KAY\ • (adjective) short of or frustrated in the fulfillment of one's aspirations or talents -- used postpositively
A little more information about today’s word:
The etymology of "manqué" is likely to vex left-handers. English speakers picked up "manqué" directly from French more than two centuries ago, and it ultimately comes from Latin "manco," meaning "having either hand crippled." But in between the Latin and French portions of this word's history came the Italian word "manco," which means both "lacking" and "left-handed." Lefties may be further displeased to learn that "manqué" isn't the only English word with a history that links left-handedness with something undesirable. For example, the word "awkward" comes from "awke," a Middle English word meaning both "turned the wrong way" and "left-handed." And the noun "gawk" ("a clumsy stupid person") probably comes from an English dialect "gawk" meaning "left-handed."
My sentence:
"It was Benjamin Franklin, a natural scientist manqué if ever there was one, who observed that 'in this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes.'"
-- Will Self, New Statesman, November 27, 1998
Based on Merriam-Webster's Collegiate® Dictionary, 10th Edition.
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