Pronounced: white-LIVE-uhrd, adj
Notes: You may know this word; I found the origin interesting
Yesterday’s word
The word pusillanimous means “lacking courage and resolution; marked by contemptible timidity”
First usage
Our word came into English in the late 1500s
Background / Comments
I must have been thinking of ‘pugilism’ when I though of boxing. Our word came from the Latin word pusillus (very small) and animus (spirit). The combination thus means “a very small spirit”, which is a very accurate description of someone who is cowardly. In the 1970s, Spiro Agnew, when he was the Vice President of the United States used our word in the phrase “pusillanimous pussyfooting”.
Richard's Vocabulary Word-of-the-Day 