It's the word of the day for January 19th.
Today's word is virtuoso, spelled V-I-R-T-U-O-S-O.
Virtuoso is a noun.
It's used broadly to refer to a person who does something very skillfully and is often used specifically to refer to a very skillful musician.
Here's the word used in a sentence from Jazz on the Hill,
Nightlife and Narratives of a Pittsburgh neighborhood by Coulter Harper.
The newly assembled band finished its engagement and, shortly after,
proceeded to New York to record Rich vs. Roach from 1959,
a concept album pitting Max Roach in a drum battle with famed band leader and drum virtuoso Buddy Rich.
English speakers borrowed the Italian noun virtuoso in the 1600s,
but the Italian word had a former life as an adjective, meaning both virtuous and skilled.
The first virtuosos,
the English word can be pluralized as either virtuosos or in the image of its Italian forebear as virtuosi,
were individuals of substantial knowledge and learning,
great wits to quote one 17th century clergyman.
The word was then transferred to those skilled in the arts, and specifically to skilled musicians.
In time, English speakers broadened virtuoso to apply to a person adept in any pursuit.
With your Word of the Day, I'm Peter Sokolowski.