Pronounced: sheen-WAHZ-ree, noun
Notes: You may recognize part of the word
Yesterday’s word
The word mizzle means, as a noun, “fine rain or drizzle’. As a verb, it means
- to rain in fine drops
- to leave suddenly
- to confuse
Background / Comments
The rain meaning comes from Middle English misellen (to drizzle). Its root word is the Indo-European word ‘meigh-‘, from which we also get mist, thrush, and mistletoe. The origin of the ‘leave suddenly’ and ‘confuse’ meanings are unknown.
First usage
The ‘rain’ meaning goes back to the mid-1400s. The ‘leave suddenly’ meaning began to be used in the mid-1700s. The ‘confusion’ meaning dates back to the late 1500s.
Richard's Vocabulary Word-of-the-Day 