Word of the Day

: March 24, 2024

megillah

noun muh-GHIL-uh

What It Means

Megillah is slang for a long, involved story or account. Megillah can also refer to a complicated sequence of events, or it can be used as a synonym of ball of wax meaning “everything involved in what is under consideration.” All three senses of megillah are often preceded by the adjective whole.

// Don’t worry about reciting the whole megillah from last night’s game; just give me the highlights.

// Our grandfather always made a whole megillah out of Sundays, waking up before dawn to visit yard sales, then cooking a big meal in the afternoons for our extended family.

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megillah in Context

“What’s in a middle name? Pretty much the whole megillah, for the media scion known as Kendall Logan Roy. That middle name is more than just his father’s branding—it’s the gravitational core around which Kendall’s selfhood swings. For four seasons of ‘Succession,’ we’ve watched the mercurial magnate’s second son and occasional heir apparent strain against his birthright, sometimes plotting to overthrow his father, other times weeping submissively into his chest.” — Michael Schulman, The New Yorker, 25 May 2023

Did You Know?

Megillah comes from the Yiddish word megile, which itself comes from the Hebrew noun mĕgillāh, meaning “scroll” or “volume.” (Mĕgillāh is especially likely to be used in reference to the Book of Esther, which is read aloud at Purim celebrations.) It makes sense, then, that when megillah first appeared in English in the early 20th century, it referred to a story that was so long (and often tedious or complicated) that it was reminiscent of the length of the mĕgillāh scrolls. The Hebrew word is serious, but the Yiddish megile can be somewhat playful, and English’s megillah has also inherited that lightheartedness.