A.Word.A.Day

mammothrept

PRONUNCIATION:

MEANING:

noun:

1. A spoilt child.

2. A person of immature judgment.

ETYMOLOGY:

From Latin mammothreptus, from Hellenistic Ancient Greek mammothreptos (brought up by one’s grandmother), from mamme (grandmother) + trephein (to bring up or nourish). Earliest documented use: 1601.

USAGE:

“And having seen the parents I am impatient to see this youth, the fruit of their strangely unattractive loins: will he be a wretched mammothrept? A little corporal?”

Patrick O’Brian; Master and Commander; Lippincott; 1969.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY: