Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for January 23, 2026 is:





astrolabe • \A-struh-layb\ • noun

An astrolabe is a compact instrument used to observe and calculate the position of celestial bodies before the invention of the sextant.

// The new astronomy exhibit featured various gadgets and instruments, including an extensive collection of astrolabes.

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Examples:

“‘Renaissance Treasures’ includes two contemporary navigational devices, a planispheric astrolabe from Persia and a pocket compass (think of them as beta-version GPS), as well as two Mercator globes. One dates from 1541 and shows the surface of the Earth. The other dates from 1551 and shows the heavens ...” — Mark Feeney, The Boston Globe, 9 May 2025





Did you know?

“Thyn Astrolabie hath a ring to putten on the thombe of thi right hond in taking the height of thinges.” Thus begins a description of an astrolabe in A Treatise on the Astrolabe, a medieval user’s guide penned by an amateur astronomer by the name of Geoffrey Chaucer. Chaucer is best known for his Middle English poetic masterpiece The Canterbury Tales, but when his nose wasn’t buried in his writing, Chaucer was stargazing, and some of his passion for the heavens rubbed off on his son Lewis, who had displayed a special “abilite to lerne sciences touching nombres and proporciouns.” Chaucer dedicated his treatise to the 10-year-old boy, setting his instructions not in the usual Latin, but in “naked wordes in Englissh” so that little Lewis could understand. When he got older, Lewis may have learned that the word astrolabe traces to the Late Greek name for the instrument, astrolábion.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for January 22, 2026 is:





disheveled • \dih-SHEV-uld\ • adjective

A disheveled person or thing is not neat or tidy.

// His wrinkled suit gave him a disheveled appearance.

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Examples:

“My mother is waking up. ... She dresses quickly. Her oblong, Scots-Irish face may be too idiosyncratic for the screen anyway, the hollow cheekbones and sharp eyes, the straw-blond hair worn in a low-slung and slightly disheveled beehive.” — Matthew Specktor, The Golden Hour: A Story of Family and Power in Hollywood, 2025





Did you know?

These days, the adjective disheveled is used to describe almost anything or anyone marked by disorder or disarray. Rumpled clothes, for example, often contribute to a disheveled appearance, as in Colson Whitehead’s novel Crook Manifesto, when the comedian Roscoe Pope walks onstage “disheveled, in wrinkled green corduroy pants.” Apartments, desks, bedsheets, you name it—all can be disheveled when not at their neatest and tidiest. Hair, however, is the most common noun to which disheveled is applied (along with hairdo terms like bun and beard), a fact that makes etymological sense. Disheveled comes from the Middle English adjective discheveled, meaning “bareheaded” or “with disordered hair.” That word is a partial translation of the Anglo-French word deschevelé, a combination of the prefix des- (“dis-“) and chevoil, meaning “hair.”

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for January 21, 2026 is:





schmooze • \SHMOOZ\ • verb

To schmooze is to warmly chat with someone often in order to gain favor, business, or connections.

// The event provides an opportunity for local business owners to network and schmooze.

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Examples:

"After wrapping up her speech filled with anecdotes and policy promises, the candidate schmoozed with the crowd, seemingly determined to shake every hand before her staff ushered her back to the bus." — Mike Kropf, The News Virginian (Waynesboro, Virginia), 4 Sept. 2025





Did you know?

Schmooze (also spelled shmooze) schlepped into English from the Yiddish schmues, meaning "talk," which itself is from the Hebrew shěmu’ōth, meaning "news" or "rumor." Although originally used to indicate simply talking in an informal and warm manner, the word now commonly suggests conversation for the purpose of gaining favor, business, or connections. Schmooze is one of a number of English schm- words originating from Yiddish; other classics include schmaltz (referring to rendered animal fat or excessively sentimental music or art), schmuck (a slang word for "jerk"), schmutz ("a filthy or soiling substance"), and schmear ("a layer of cream cheese").

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for January 20, 2026 is:





quiddity • \KWID-uh-tee\ • noun

Quiddity refers to the essence of a thing—that is, whatever makes something the type of thing that it is. Quiddity can also refer to a small and usually trivial complaint or criticism, or to a quirk or eccentricity in someone's behavior.

// The novelist’s genius was her unparalleled ability to capture the quiddity of the Maine seacoast in simple prose.

// He portrayed the character's quirks and quiddities with tender playfulness.

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Examples:

“When I was gathering my odes into a book—or rather, piling up my effusions in prose and verse and trying to work out which ones were odes and which weren’t—my friend Carlo gave me a magical concept. He called it ‘the odeness.’ It’s the essential quality, quiddity, … uniqueness of whatever you’re trying to write about. It’s what your ode is attempting to first identify and then celebrate. It’s the odeness of your ode.” — James Parker, The Atlantic, 30 Sept. 2025





Did you know?

When it comes to synonyms of quiddity, the Q’s have it. Consider quintessence, a synonym of the “essence of a thing” meaning of quiddity, and quibble, a synonym of the “trifling point” use. And let’s not forget about quirk: like quiddity, quirk can refer to a person’s eccentricities. Of course, quiddity also comes from a “Q” word, the Latin pronoun quis, which is one of two Latin words for “who” (the other is qui). Quid, the neuter form of quis, led to the Medieval Latin quidditas, which means “essence,” a term that was essential to the development of the English word quiddity.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for January 19, 2026 is:





ephemeral • \ih-FEM-uh-rul\ • adjective

Something described as ephemeral lasts only for a very short time.

// The performance was not recorded, a fact that made its ephemeral nature all the more poignant.

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Examples:

"Like most garden moments, fresh holiday wreaths are ephemeral. Having accomplished their purpose of seeing us through the darkest days of winter, removing this traditional symbol of the wheeling seasons is a way to recognize the birth of a new year and celebrate the returning light." — Lorene Edwards Forkner, The Seattle Times, 16 Nov. 2025





Did you know?

In its aquatic immature stages, the mayfly (order Ephemeroptera) has all the time in the world—or not quite: among the approximately 2,500 species of mayflies, some have as much as two years, but a year is more common. But in its adult phase, the typical mayfly hatches, takes wing for the first time, mates, and dies within the span of a few short hours. This briefest of heydays makes the insect a potent symbol of life's ephemeral nature. When ephemeral (from the Greek word ephēmeros, meaning "lasting a day") first appeared in print in English in the late 16th century, it was a scientific term applied to short-term fevers, and later, to organisms (such as insects and flowers) with very short life spans. Soon after that, it acquired an extended sense describing anything fleeting and short-lived, as in "ephemeral pleasures."