prestigious
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\n \n Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for February 19, 2024 is:\n \n
\n \n\n prestigious • \\preh-STIH-juss\\ • adjective
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Something described as prestigious has the respect and admiration that someone or something gets for being successful or important.
\n\n// Chelsea\u2019s mom often bragged about her daughter\u2019s job at the prestigious company.
\n\n\n \n \n\n Examples:
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\u201cEmma Stone has amassed a trove of prestigious Hollywood awards\u2014an Oscar, two Golden Globes and three SAG Awards among them\u2014but the accolade that eludes her is the one she covets most: \u2018Jeopardy!\u2019 contestant.\u201d \u2014 Malia Mendez, The Los Angeles Times, 12 Jan. 2024
\n \n \n\n Did you know?
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You might expect, based on how adjectives are often formed in English, that today\u2019s word is an extension of the noun prestige. However, although both words share the same Latin root, they entered English by different routes and at different times. Moreover, both adjective and noun once had more to do with trickery than respect when they were first used. Prestigious came directly from the Latin adjective praestigiosis, meaning \u201cfull of tricks\u201d or \u201cdeceitful,\u201d and had a similar meaning upon entering English in the mid-16th century. Praestigiosis in turn came from the plural noun praestigiae, meaning \u201cconjurer\u2019s tricks.\u201d This noun also gave English the word prestige, though it first passed through French and arrived a century after prestigious. Though it wasn\u2019t first on the block, prestige influenced prestigious in a different way, by eventually developing an extended sense of \u201cstanding or esteem.\u201d That change spurred a similar development in prestigious, which now means simply \u201cillustrious or esteemed.\u201d
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