Word of the Day

: August 5, 2019

passim

adverb PASS-im

What It Means

: in one place and another : here and there

passim in Context

The old cookbooks that once belonged to Michael's grandmother had some of her own recipes and other annotations penciled on the pages passim.

"Finally, may I say that I respect the views of those who have read and researched the same information as I, but reached the opposing conclusion, as displayed in your letter pages passim." — Stephen Brown, The North Devon Journal, 12 Dec. 2013

Did You Know?

Passim is from the Latin word passus ("scattered"), itself from pandere, meaning "to spread." Pandere is the root of the common word expand and the not-so-common word repand, meaning "having a slightly undulating margin" (as in "a repand leaf" or "a repand colony of bacteria"). It is also the progenitor of pace, as in "keep up a steady pace." Passim itself appears in English both on its own and as part of the adverb sic passim, which means "so throughout." Sic passim is typically used to indicate that a word or idea is to be found at various places throughout a book or a writer's work.