Pronounced: AIR-ling, noun
Notes: Interesting word that I didn’t know
Yesterday’s word
The word qualm means
- a sudden attack of illness, faintness, or nausea
- a sudden feeling of doubt, fear, or uneasiness especially in not following one’s conscience or better judgment
First usage
Our word came into English in the mid-1500s
Background / Comments
Like me, you probably are familiar with the second definition; I would summarize it as “misgiving”; however, the first definition was unknown to me. That first meaning is the original one: if you’ve read Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, you’ve run across our word in its original definition. It didn’t take long for the meaning to spread to the second idea of a sudden misgiving. The origin of our word is unknown.
Richard's Vocabulary Word-of-the-Day 