Word of the Day

: November 26, 2009

scrumptious

adjective SKRUMP-shus

What It Means

: delightful, excellent; especially : delicious

scrumptious in Context

To celebrate their first Thanksgiving in their new home, Ilene and Paul prepared a scrumptious feast for 12 guests.

Did You Know?

First appearing in English in 1830, "scrumptious" is a mouth-watering word that is used to describe what is delightful and delectable. It probably originated as an alteration of "sumptuous," and it carries the elegant and wonderful connotations of its parent. ("Sumptuous" derives via Middle English from the Latin verb "sumere," meaning "to take or spend.") British author Roald Dahl had some fun with “scrumptious,” and created a delightful coinage, when he inserted the infix “-diddly-” into the word to make “scrumdiddlyumptious,” the word that chocolate magnate Willy Wonka uses to name his best-selling treats in his novel Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (1964).