Ese Bot
May 1, 2010, 01:35 PM
Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for May 01, 2010 is:
pianistic • \pee-uh-NISS-tik\ • adjective
*1 : of, relating to, or characteristic of the piano 2 : skilled in or well adapted to piano playing
Example sentence:
“[Pianist Yuja] Wang performed as if she were claiming ownership of some of Prokofiev's pianistic ideas.” (Edward Ortiz, Sacramento Bee [California], May 23, 2009)
Did you know?
The origin of "pianistic" won’t surprise anyone -- it’s ultimately from "piano," of course. But the "-istic” suffix is less than ubiquitous and bears some attention. It is used from time to time to create adjectives that correspond to nouns ending primarily in "-ism" or "-ist." (In this case, both "pianism" and "pianist" outdate "pianistic," although only by a few years.) The pedigree of "-istic" isn’t too surprising; etymologists report that it comes from Middle French ("-istique"), Latin ("-isticus"), and ultimately Greek ("-istikos"). As with words formed from the suffix "-ic," words ending in "-istic" can sometimes find life as nouns -- for example, "autistic" and "characteristic."
*Indicates the sense illustrated in the example sentence.
Source (http://www.merriam-webster.com/cgi-bin/mwwodarch.pl?May.01.2010)
pianistic • \pee-uh-NISS-tik\ • adjective
*1 : of, relating to, or characteristic of the piano 2 : skilled in or well adapted to piano playing
Example sentence:
“[Pianist Yuja] Wang performed as if she were claiming ownership of some of Prokofiev's pianistic ideas.” (Edward Ortiz, Sacramento Bee [California], May 23, 2009)
Did you know?
The origin of "pianistic" won’t surprise anyone -- it’s ultimately from "piano," of course. But the "-istic” suffix is less than ubiquitous and bears some attention. It is used from time to time to create adjectives that correspond to nouns ending primarily in "-ism" or "-ist." (In this case, both "pianism" and "pianist" outdate "pianistic," although only by a few years.) The pedigree of "-istic" isn’t too surprising; etymologists report that it comes from Middle French ("-istique"), Latin ("-isticus"), and ultimately Greek ("-istikos"). As with words formed from the suffix "-ic," words ending in "-istic" can sometimes find life as nouns -- for example, "autistic" and "characteristic."
*Indicates the sense illustrated in the example sentence.
Source (http://www.merriam-webster.com/cgi-bin/mwwodarch.pl?May.01.2010)