This week's theme
Adverbs

This week's words
mayhap
a fortiori
verily
perchance
lief

This week's comments
AWADmail 638

Next week's theme
Words made with combining forms

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A.Word.A.Day

PRONUNCIATION:

(leef)

MEANING:

adverb: Willingly; gladly; readily.
adjective: 1. Dear, beloved. 2. Willing.

ETYMOLOGY:

From Old English leof (dear). Ultimately from the Indo-European root leubh- (to love or to care), which also gave us love, belief, and leave (permission). Earliest documented use: 897.

USAGE:

"'Do you fancy squirrel, Reverend?' my Victorian-era grandmother Susie is reported to have asked the family's luncheon guest ... 'Madam,' the Methodist minister replied, 'I'd as lief eat a rat.'"
Prudence Mackintosh; I Pore Over My Old Cookbooks; Texas Monthly; Dec 2013.

See more usage examples of lief in Vocabulary.com's dictionary.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY: