Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for April 6, 2026 is:





cotton • \KAH-tun\ • verb

The verb cotton is used with on or on to to mean “to begin to understand something; to catch on.” Cotton used with to alone means “to begin to like someone or something.”

// It took a while, but they are finally starting to cotton on.

// She quickly cottoned on to why her friend was nudging her, and stopped talking just before their teacher entered the room.

// We cottoned to our new neighbors right away.

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Examples:

“An insatiable reader, he enjoyed a wide range of literary acquaintances, some of whom—Rudyard Kipling, Owen Wister, and Joel Chandler Harris—became personal friends, and others, including Mark Twain (“a man wholly without cultivation”) ... he never quite cottoned to.” — David S. Brown, In the Arena: Theodore Roosevelt in War, Peace, and Revolution, 2025





Did you know?

The noun cotton, from the Arabic word quṭun or quṭn, first appeared in English in the 14th century. The substance and the word that named it were soon both culturally prominent, so English did a very English thing to do—it created a verb from the noun. By the late 15th century, cotton could mean “to form a fuzzy or downy surface on (cloth).” This verb sense (as well as other cotton-related verb meanings) is a lexical dust bunny at this point, but our modern-day uses spun from it. By the mid 16th century cotton could mean “to go on prosperously, to develop well, to succeed.” The metaphor is not difficult to see, as cotton cloth with a nice nap has indeed developed well. By the early 17th century, the verb had shifted again, and cottoning was, as it still often is, about taking a liking to someone or something. It wasn’t until the early 20th century that someone who cottoned to or on to something had come to understand it.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for April 5, 2026 is:





verdant • \VER-dunt\ • adjective

Verdant describes something that is green in tint or color, or green because it is covered with growing plants. Verdant can also describe a person who is inexperienced or has not yet developed good judgment.

// The golf course is noted for its tricky hazards and lush, verdant borders along its fairways.

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Examples:

“On the other side, the lusher Santa Cruz Mountains, a place of dank redwood forests, organic farming communes, and uppity vineyards, form a verdant curtain between the Valley and the ocean.” — Brian Barth, Front Street: Resistance and Rebirth in the Tent Cities of Techlandia, 2025





Did you know?

English speakers have been using verdant as a ripe synonym of green since at least the 16th century, and as a descriptive term for inexperienced or naive people since the 19th century. (By contrast, the more experienced green has colored our language since well before the 12th century, and was first applied to inexperienced people in the 16th century.) Verdant traces back to the Old French word for “green,” vert, which itself is from the Latin word viridis. Some lesser-known words for shades of green in English include prasine (“having the green color of a leek”), smaragdine (“yellowish green in color like an emerald”), and another viridis descendent, viridescent (“slightly green”).

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for April 4, 2026 is:





wiseacre • \WYZE-ay-ker\ • noun

A wiseacre is someone who says or does things that are funny but annoying. Wiseacre is an informal and old-fashioned word, as well as a synonym of smart aleck.

// Some wiseacre in the audience kept heckling the comedian throughout the performance.

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Examples:

"In 1982's hit action comedy 48 Hours, a young Eddie Murphy plays a wiseacre criminal on parole in order to help a veteran cop, played by Nick Nolte, solve a case." — Pete Hammond, Deadline, 4 Aug. 2025





Did you know?

Given the spelling and definition of wiseacre, you might guess that the word was formed directly from the familiar adjective wise. And you might be wise to think so—a wiseacre, after all, is someone who thinks or pretends they're wiser (more crafty or knowing) than they are. But you would, alas, also be wrong. Unlike wisecrack and wisenheimer, wiseacre came to English not from wise but from the Middle Dutch word wijssegger, meaning "soothsayer." Wiseacre first appeared in English way back in the 16th century, while all those other wise words appeared centuries later. The etymologies of wiseacre and wise are not completely distinct, however; the ancestors of wiseacre are loosely tied to the same Old English root that gave us wise.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for April 3, 2026 is:





adroit • \uh-DROYT\ • adjective

Adroit describes someone or something that has or shows skill, cleverness, or resourcefulness in handling situations.

// We marveled at how adroit the puppeteers were, the marionettes responding to each precise shift of their hands, each flick of their wrists.

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Examples:

“She offers here the most invigorating of performances, technically adroit but also informed by equal measures of artistry and youth, and there’s a humility to her singing, along with a sense of her character’s smallness in the face of life’s travails and machinations …” — Chris Jones, The Chicago Tribune, 2 Feb. 2026





Did you know?

The meaning and history of adroit is straightforward, so we’ll get right to the point. English speakers borrowed the word with its meaning from French in the mid 1600s, but the word’s ultimate source is the Latin adjective directus, meaning “straight, direct.” Adroit entered English as a means for describing physically skillful sorts, but it came to be applied to those known for their expertise, cleverness, and resourcefulness too. Today, adroit most often describes things people do especially well.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for April 2, 2026 is:





fawn • \FAWN\ • verb

To fawn over or on someone (usually someone important or powerful) is to try to get their approval through praise, special attention, or flattery. Fawn is also sometimes used—especially but not exclusively of dogs—to mean “to show affection.”

// Still new to celebrity, the musician blushed at the restaurant staff fawning over her during her recent hometown visit.

// I’d only been gone five minutes but the puppy fawned on me like I’d been away for hours.

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Examples:

“Around my Paddington patch, my ragdoll cat, Runty the Magnificent, is a street celebrity—a magnet for residents and passersby to fawn over and photograph.” — Olivia Stewart, The Sydney (Australia) Morning Herald, 10 Feb. 2026





Did you know?

Language lovers, rejoice! If you’re the sort of person who fawns over etymology (one of the best sorts of people, in our opinion), then you’ll be glad to know the story of fawn: it comes ultimately from the Old English adjective fægen or fagan, meaning “glad,” by way of the Old English verb fagnian, meaning “to rejoice.” Hooray! But we’re not finished yet, my dear. Note that this fawn is not, despite appearances, related to the noun fawn that refers to a young deer. For that we can thank the Latin noun fetus, meaning “offspring.”