Word of the Day

: April 27, 2013

emblem

noun EM-blum

What It Means

1 : a picture with a motto or set of verses intended as a moral lesson

2 : an object or the figure of an object symbolizing and suggesting another object or an idea

3 a : a symbolic object used as a heraldic device

b : a device, symbol, or figure adopted and used as an identifying mark

emblem in Context

"The picture, changed or unchanged, would be to him the visible emblem of conscience." - From Oscar Wilde's 1891 novel The Picture of Dorian Gray

"For their wins at the region level, both Ocana and Martinez got medals with each region school's emblem on the design…." - From an article by Lindsey Derrick in The Daily Citizen (Dalton, Georgia), April 1, 2013

Did You Know?

Both "emblem" and its synonym "symbol" trace back to the Greek verb "ballein," meaning "to throw." "Emblem" arose from "emballein," meaning "to insert," while "symbol" comes from "symballein," Greek for "to throw together." "Ballein" is also an ancestor of the words "parable" (from "paraballein," "to compare"), "metabolism" (from "metaballein," "to change"), and "problem" (from "proballein," "to throw forward"). Another (somewhat surprising) "ballein" descendant is "devil," which comes from Greek "diabolos," literally meaning "slanderer." "Diabolos" in turn comes from "diaballein," meaning "to throw across" or "to slander."