splenetic: M-W's Word of the Day

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The Word of the Day for January 18 is:

splenetic \splih-NET-ik\ adjective
: marked by bad temper, malevolence, or spite

Example sentence:
Phil's review of the book was written with a harsh, splenetic tone that did little to conceal his preexisting grudge against the author.

Did you know?
In early Western physiology, a person's physical qualities and mental disposition were believed to be determined by the proportion of four bodily humors: blood, phlegm, yellow bile, and black bile. The last of these, associated with feelings of intense sadness, was believed to be secreted by the spleen. This now-discredited association explains how, in the mid-16th century, use of "splenetic" (deriving from the Late Latin "spleneticus" and the Latin "splen," meaning "spleen") came to mean "given to melancholy" as well as "of or relating to the spleen." In later years, the meaning of "splenetic" shifted to refer more to feelings of ill humor or malevolence, and eventually the "melancholy" sense fell out of use.

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