quip

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day

语言学习

2025-02-24

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Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for February 24, 2025 is: quip KWIP noun What It Means Quip can refer to a clever, usually taunting remark, or to a witty or funny observation or response usually made on the spur of the moment. // They traded quips over a beer and laughed themselves silly. cynosure in Context "He's always got a story, is always ready with a quip and isn't afraid to let the four-letter words roll off the tongue in the most creative ways." — Nathan Brown, The Indianapolis Star, 26 Apr. 2023 Did You Know? To tweak a well-known line from Hamlet, brevity is the soul of quip. While jokes are often brief stories with setups followed by surprising and funny endings (chickens crossing roads, elephant footprints in the butter, etc.) quips are even briefer, and not so planned or scripted. They are more likely to arise naturally in conversation when someone is especially quick-witted, firing off zingers, retorts, or—if you want to get extra fancy about it—bon mots. Brevity also plays a role in quip's etymology: quip is a shortening of quippy, a now-obsolete noun of the same meaning. Quippy's origins are uncertain, but they may lie in the Latin word quippe, meaning "indeed" or "to be sure," which was often used ironically. Quip entered English as a noun in the 1500s, but was verbified within decades; the verb quip means "to make quips" or "to jest or jibe at."
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  • It's the Word of the Day for February 24th.

  • Today's word is quip, spelled Q-U-I-P.

  • Quip is a noun.

  • Quip can refer to a clever, usually taunting remark or to a witty or funny observation or response,

  • usually made on the spur of the moment.

  • Here's the word used in a sentence from the Indianapolis star by Nathan Brown.

  • He's always got a story, is always ready with a quip,

  • and isn't afraid to let the four-letter words roll off the tongue in the most creative ways.

  • To tweak a well-known line from Hamlet, brevity is the soul of quip.

  • While jokes are often brief stories with setups followed by surprising and funny endings,

  • quips are even briefer and not so planned or scripted.

  • They are more likely to arise naturally in conversation when someone is especially quick-witted,

  • firing off zingers, retorts, or, if you want to get extra fancy about it, bon mo.

  • Brevity also plays a role in Quip's etymology.

  • Quip is a shortening of the word quippy, a now obsolete noun.

  • of the same meaning.

  • Quipi's origins are uncertain, but they may lie in the Latin word quipa,

  • meaning indeed or to be sure, which was often used ironically.

  • Quip entered English as a noun in the 1500s, but was verbified within decades.

  • The verb quip means to make quips or to jest or jibe at.