This week's theme
Words coined after baddies

This week's words
Ponzi scheme
quisling
burke
Potemkin village
Typhoid Mary

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A.Word.A.Day

PRONUNCIATION:

(KWIZ-ling)

MEANING:

noun: A traitor, especially one who aids an invading enemy.

ETYMOLOGY:

After Major Vidkun Quisling (1887-1945), a Norwegian army officer who collaborated (1940-1945) with the German occupying forces during World War II and ruled Norway as head of the puppet government. He was shot for treason after the German defeat. Besides a noun, his name has become a verb (quisle) as well. Earliest documented use: 1940.

USAGE:

"Zoran Djindjic will be remembered as a quisling who enriched himself by selling his country to those who had waged war against it."
Neil Clark; The Quisling of Belgrade; The Guardian (London, UK); Mar 13, 2003.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY: