This week’s theme
Illustrated words

This week’s words
mimetic
gobbledygook
berserk
kindler
fairy-tale

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A.Word.A.Day

PRONUNCIATION:

(ber-SURK/ZURK)

MEANING:

adjective: Frenzied or deranged, especially in a violent manner.
noun: One who has become frenzied or deranged.

ETYMOLOGY:

From Old Norse berserkr (bear-shirt), from ber (bear), feminine of björn (bear) + serkr (shirt). Earliest documented use: 1814.

NOTES:

In Norse legend, a berserker was a warrior who wore bearskin and fought with frenzied rage. What caused them to go berserk? Nobody knows. Speculations include mushrooms and alcohol.

USAGE:

“The International Cat Federation headquartered in France, the land that never fails to hawk liberty, equality, and fraternity to the world, has just banned Russian cats from its competition. ... If hating Russian cats is fashionable now, despising dachshunds, the hound dogs, was in vogue then, especially in America [during WW I & II] ... To rain sanctions on cats and dogs is the bizarre act of a mind gone berserk.”
Sanctions Gone Wild; New Straits Times (Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia); Mar 14, 2022.

See more usage examples of berserk in Vocabulary.com’s dictionary.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY: