Word of the Day

: September 20, 2007

quidnunc

noun KWID-nunk

What It Means

: a person who seeks to know all the latest news or gossip : busybody

quidnunc in Context

Those who criticize Joanne for being a quidnunc are usually the first to go to her when they want to know the latest gossip.

Did You Know?

"What's new?" That's a question every busybody wants answered. Latin-speaking Nosey Parkers might have used some version of the expression "quid nunc," literally "what now," to ask the same question. Appropriately, the earliest documented English use of "quidnunc" to refer to a gossiper appeared in 1709 in Sir Richard Steele's famous periodical, The Tatler. Steele is far from the only writer to ply "quidnunc" in his prose, however. You also can find the word among the pages of works by such writers as Washington Irving and Nathaniel Hawthorne. But don't think the term is old news -- it sees some use in current publications, too.