Pronounced: ARE-tihr-ee-uhs, adj
Notes: You may know this word
Yesterday’s word
The word pippin means
- a crisp tart apple used especially for cooking
- a highly admired or very admirable person or thing
First usage
Our word came into English in the mid- to late 1200s
Background / Comments
I don’t know about you, but I’m more familiar with the second definition above, probably due to my reading of English authors. I know I have run across it in Dorothy Sayers mystery stories featuring Lord Peter Wimsey. I seem to recall it from a Perry Mason novel as well (but I’m less sure about that). I have not seen it used in the first definition above. Our word came from the Middle English word pipin, which came from the Old French word pepin (seed; pip of a fruit). It began to be used in the north of England to describe a small fruit seed, and then the crisp, tart apple, and finally spread to describing people who are admired.
Richard's Vocabulary Word-of-the-Day 