Word of the Day

: January 30, 2024

bailiwick

noun BAY-lih-wik

What It Means

Bailiwick refers to the domain or sphere in which someone has superior knowledge or authority.

// Fundraising events are his bailiwick.

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bailiwick in Context

"Originally directed at lower-paid independents such as Uber drivers and delivery people, first the State of California and then the U.S. Department of Labor proposed legislation aimed to give these workers protection from the companies that were underpaying or otherwise mistreating them. Recently New York State followed suit, proposing a bill classifying workers as employees unless 'the worker is free from the control of the hiring entity, the work performed is outside the hiring entity's bailiwick, and the worker is 'customarily engaged' in the type of work he is hired to do.'" — Nigel Wilson, Forbes, 3 Mar. 2023

Did You Know?

The first half of the word bailiwick comes from the Middle English word for "bailiff"—in this case, a term referring to a sheriff or chief officer of a town in medieval England, not the officer who assists today in U.S. courtrooms. Bailiff comes, via Anglo-French, from the Medieval Latin verb bajulare, meaning "to care for" or "to support." The second half of bailiwick comes from wik, a Middle English word for "dwelling place" or "village," which ultimately hails from the Latin word vicus, meaning "village." (This root is also thought to have given English -wich and -wick, suffixes used in place names like Norwich and Warwick.) Although bailiwick dates from the 15th century, the "special domain of knowledge" sense we use most often today did not appear in English until the middle of the 19th century.