atavism

Pronounced: AH-tuh-vih-zuhm, noun

Notes: I’ve run across this word in reading, but I could not properly define it

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Yesterday’s word

The word jayhawker is

• a robber
• a native or resident of Kansas

First usage

Our word came into English in the mid-1800s

Background / Comments

I should have known the second definition, and would have, if I paid closer attention to college football. I believe a Kansas college team is called the “Jayhawks”. I was unaware of the first meaning. Originally, a Jayhawker was a member of antislavery guerrillas in Kansas or Missouri during the US Civil War (why they were called this is not known). Presumably, because of the actions of the original Jayhawkers, the first disreputable meaning came to be.