This week’s theme
Words coined after fairy tales and folktales

This week’s words
breadcrumb
Tom Thumb
Domdaniel
Chicken Licken
open sesame



Previous week’s theme
Eponyms

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A.Word.A.Day

PRONUNCIATION:

(BRED-cruhm)

MEANING:

noun:
1. A small fragment of bread.
2. One in a series of markers placed as a navigational aid.
3. One of several hints or clues leading to a person, place, etc.

ETYMOLOGY:

From bread, from Old English bread + crumb, from Old English cruma. Earliest documented use: 1519.

NOTES:

In the fairy tale of Hansel and Gretel, their parents drop the two siblings off in the forest because they are not able to feed them (if only there had been a strong social safety net). The smart kids drop breadcrumbs along the way so they can trace their steps back and find their way home.
In computing, website design, etc., breadcrumbs help users as a navigation aid and tell them where they are in a program, website, etc.

USAGE:

“He leads you around with a trail of almost imperceptible breadcrumbs into worlds you never knew existed.”
Kit de Waal; John le Carré Remembered by Writers and Friends; The Guardian (London, UK); Dec 15, 2020.

See more usage examples of breadcrumb in Vocabulary.com’s dictionary.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY: