Word of the Day

: August 28, 2009

chauffeur

noun SHOH-fer

What It Means

: a person employed to drive a motor vehicle

chauffeur in Context

The teenagers hired a limousine with a chauffeur to take them to the prom in style.

Did You Know?

Here's a hot tip about the origins of today's word: the first chauffeurs were people employed to stoke a steam engine and keep it running. The literal meaning of the French noun "chauffeur" (from the verb "chauffer," meaning "to heat") is "one that heats." In the early days of automobiles, French speakers extended the word to those who drove the "horseless carriage," and it eventually developed an extended sense specifically for someone hired to drive other people. It was this latter sense that was borrowed into English in the late 19th century. Incidentally, the French word "chauffeur" derives from the same Anglo-French word that gave English speakers the verb "chafe," and ultimately can be traced back to the Latin verb "calēre" ("to be warm").