This week’s theme
Words with odd pronunciations

This week’s words
ceilidh
sophrosyne
segue
hors d'oeuvre
halfpenny

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A.Word.A.Day

PRONUNCIATION:

(ohr DERV)

MEANING:

noun: An extra little dish outside of and smaller than the main course, usually served first.

ETYMOLOGY:

From French hors (outside of), oeuvre (job or work). Earliest documented use: 1715.

USAGE:

“An aunt sued her nephew for jumping into her arms, causing her to fall and break her wrist. She said her busy life in Manhattan had been ruined and she found it hard to hold a plate of hors d’oeuvres. The jury didn’t embrace her arguments and took just 15 minutes to decide that the boy was not negligent.”
Politics This Week; The Economist (London, UK); Oct 15, 2015.

See more usage examples of hors d’oeuvre in Vocabulary.com’s dictionary.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY: