filial : M-W's Word of the Day

****************************************************************
Hooked on your Collegiate Dictionary? There's a perfectly
legal way to feed your addiction online. Check it out!
http://www.merriam-webster.com/cgi-bin/collegiate_sub.pl?refr=C-wod
****************************************************************

The Word of the Day for October 25 is:

filial \FILL-ee-ul\ adjective
*1 : of, relating to, or befitting a son or daughter
2 : having or assuming the relation of a child or offspring

Example sentence:
Martha's acute sense of filial responsibility made her check on her mother whenever a few days went by without contact.

Did you know?
"Filial" is descended from the Latin "filius," meaning "son," and "filia," meaning "daughter," and in English (where it has been used since at least the 14th century) it has always applied to both sexes. At one time, the word carried the dutiful sense "owed to a parent by a child," typically found in the then-common phrases "filial respect" and "filial piety." It can now be used more generally for any emotion or behavior of a child to a parent. You might suspect that "filia" is also the source of the word "filly," meaning "a young female horse" or "a young girl," but it isn't. Rather, "filly" is from Old Norse "fylja."

*Indicates the sense illustrated in the example sentence.

You Are Subscribed As: WORDFORTHEDAY.DROP@blogger.com
To unsubscribe, change your e-mail address or to subscribe to the html
version of Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day, featuring audio
pronunciations, please visit:

http://www.startsampling.com/sm/wod/changeofaddress.iphtml

(c) 2005 by Merriam-Webster, Incorporated

Merriam-Webster, Inc.
47 Federal Street
P.O. Box 281
Springfield, MA 01102

*mf mwt 102505 WORDFORTHEDAY.DROP@blogger.com mf*