Word of the Day

: September 23, 2009

popinjay

noun PAH-pin-jay

What It Means

: a strutting supercilious person

popinjay in Context

Shopping was going fine until, in one of the boutiques, a popinjay of a sales clerk clearly snubbed us.

Did You Know?

Popinjays and parrots are birds of a feather. "Popinjay," from the Middle French word "papegai," is the original name for a parrot in English. (The French word in turn came from the Arabic word for the bird, "babghā." "Parrot," which English speakers adopted later, probably comes from Middle French "perroquet.") In the days of Middle English, parrots were rare and exotic, and it was quite a compliment to be called a "popinjay" after such a beautiful bird. But by the 1500s, parrots had become more commonplace, and their gaudy plumage and vulgar mimicry helped "popinjay" develop the pejorative sense we use today.