Word of the Day

: May 17, 2018

winsome

adjective WIN-sum

What It Means

1 : generally pleasing and engaging often because of a childlike charm and innocence

2 : cheerful, lighthearted

winsome in Context

"… the song's giddy piano licks and bass groove are so winsome and familiar, the whole thing's tough to place in any particular setting. Simply put, it's a pop song, in a very classic sense." — Chris Payne, Billboard, 17 May 2017

"The winsome Canadian comedy 'Don't Talk to Irene' combines a high school misfit movie with a backstage musical and adds a few fantastical flourishes for an uplifting tale about an outsider finding her place in the world. It's so sweet it just might give you a cavity." — Katie Walsh, The Los Angeles Times, 1 Mar. 2018

Did You Know?

Winsome began as wynsum many centuries ago. It was formed from wynn, the Old English word for "joy" or "pleasure," and the suffix -sum, an older form of the -some we see today in many adjectives, such as awesome, irksome, and lonesome. Wynn later became win, meaning "pleasure," but that noun is now obsolete. We do, however, use another word that has a "pleasing" connection and is related, albeit distantly, to winsome. Winning ("tending to please or delight," as in "a winning smile" or "winning ways"), the present participle of the familiar verb win, is from Old English winnan, meaning "to struggle." Both winnan and wynn are thought to be related to Latin venus, which means, among other things, "charm."