It's Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for August 13th.
Today's word is sentient, also pronounced sentient and spelled S-E-N-T-I-E-N-T.
Sentient is an adjective.
It's a formal term that typically describes being conscious of or responsive to the sensations of seeing,
hearing, feeling, tasting, or smelling.
Here's the word used in a sentence from Vulture.
In other scenes in which Vesta isn't messy and cruel, it looks uncanny.
as so much of it feels constructed by sentient life, even though the planet is untouched by humans.
As the show moves from parched flatlands to savannas and tropical forests,
there are intrusions on familiar scenery,
like crystalline rivers or smooth stone structures,
some of which pulse and breathe like a living thing.
You may have guessed that the word sentient has something to do with the senses.
The initial spelling, S-E-N-T or S-E-N-S, is often a giveaway for such a meaning.
A sentient being is one who perceives or responds to sensations of whatever kind,
sight, hearing, touch, taste, or smell.
Sentient ultimately comes from the Latin verb sentire, which means to feel or to perceive.
The Latin noun sensus means sense.
A few related words in English that descend from the same Latin root are sentiment and sentimental,
which have to do with emotions, sensual, which relates to more physical sensations,