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Pronounced: UHN-puhr-suhn, noun

Notes: I thought that this word was a verb; nonetheless, I was close to the meaning (however, I did not know the background)

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Yesterday’s word

The word manqué means “short of or frustrated in the fulfillment of one’s aspirations or talents”

Background / Comments

This word is usually used post-positively (that is, after the noun it is modifying): thus, a poet manqué, or (to hit closer to home), a software lead manqué. The word came directly from French, but ultimately from the Latin manco (having either hand crippled). Somewhere along the way, it picked up a bias against left-handed people: the Italian word mancino means “left-handed; dishonest”. There is a sprinkling of English words that show a bias against left-handed people: besides our word, sinister with its origin of “on the left hand” and awkward with its origin of “left-handed; turned the wrong way” are some other examples.

First usage

This word showed up in the early 1800s