bombinate

Pronounced: BOM-buh-nate, verb

Notes: Well, I thought this was related to bombs, but no

---

Yesterday’s word

The word mammothrept means

• a spoiled child
• a person of immature judgment

First usage

This word came into English in the early 1600s

Background / Comments

The background of our word doesn’t seem to be complete. It comes from the Latin word mammothreptus, which came from ancient Greek mammothreptos (brought up by one’s grandmother). This word is a combination of mamme (grandmother) and trephein (to bring up or nourish). So far so good, but I’m not sure how we got from that origin to the current meaning. I know that there is a common belief that grandparents spoil grandchildren, and I suppose that this idea is behind the meaning. Personally, I don’t think that all grandparents spoil their grandchildren, especially grandparents that have to raise their grandchild or grandchildren (as opposed to grandparents that just have their grandchildren for visits from time to time).