This blog is for everyone who uses words.

The ordinary-sized words are for everyone, but the big ones are especially for children.



Friday 14 February 2020

Word To Use Today: spoil.

Yesterday, my husband received an email headlined:

How To Spoil Your Valentine

Luckily, the rest of the text referred to a list of gifts, not activities designed to ruin our day.

File:Red rose bouquet.JPG
photo by Dawid Skalec

Word To Use Today: spoil. This confusing word can be a heap of earth excavated from a hole - so waste, more or less (the same sort of meaning turns up in spoiled food) - but on the other hand the spoils of crime are the valuable bits you want to keep.

The word comes from the Old French espoillier, from the Latin spoliāre, to strip, from spolium, booty.


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