Pronounced: pak-TOE-lee-uhn, adj
Notes: I hope I remember this word; it’s useful — but it was new to me
Yesterday’s word
The word calumny is
- a misrepresentation intended to harm another’s reputation
- the act of uttering false charges maliciously
First usage
Our word came into English in the first half of the 1400s
Background / Comments
Somewhere, I have read the phrase “lies and calumnies”, and so I had the idea that it was lies told about a person. Thus, I was on the right track, but I didn’t quite have the correct definition. Our word came from the Middle French word calomnie, which came from the Latin word calumnia (false accusation; false claim; trickery), which came from the Latin verb calvi (to deceive).
Richard's Vocabulary Word-of-the-Day 