Word of the Day

: April 19, 2009

piebald

adjective PYE-bawld

What It Means

1 : of different colors; especially : spotted or blotched with black and white

2 : composed of incongruous parts

piebald in Context

"From the waist down they affect a piebald, garage-sale look: old sweatpants, one-piece Cooperalls, hockey shorts and stockings of assorted colors and vintages." (Charles McGrath, New England Monthly, February 1989)

Did You Know?

To many people, the noisy black and white birds that go by the scientific name Pica pica -- better known as magpies -- are nothing but pests. But the Latin root that was adopted for their name isn't a linguistic nuisance; it played an important role in the development of "piebald." The "pie" of "piebald" ("pie" is another name for a magpie) derives from "pica," which is Latin for "magpie." The other part of "piebald" comes from the word "bald," which can mean "marked with white"; it can also be found in "skewbald," an adjective used to describe animals marked with patches of white and any other color but black.