apparatchik

Pronounced: ah-puh-RAH(T)-chik, noun

Notes: If you think this looks Russian, then… come back tomorrow and read about it

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Yesterday’s word

The word mossback is “a very old-fashioned person or one holding extremely conservative views”

First usage

Our word came into English in the mid-1800s

Background / Comments

You have heard the saying “a rolling stone gathers no moss”? Our word came from the idea that someone was so old and/or slow to change that moss could grow on his back. Note that some animals do, in fact, have a moss-like growth on them (some turtles). To clarify the definition: many Americans these days think of “extremely conservative” as meaning someone who hold extreme right-wing values, but that isn’t correct, and not what the phrase means in the above definition. Strictly speaking, a conservative is one who wants to preserve conditions or institutions the way they are.