It's the Word of the Day for May 31st.
Today's word is opportune, spelled O-P-P-O-R-T-U-N-E.
Opportune is an adjective.
It describes something that is suitable or convenient for a particular situation or that is done or happening at an appropriate time.
Here's the word used in a sentence from the New York Times by Annabelle Keenan.
The Mystic Seaport Museum in Connecticut was constructed on the site of an 1830s shipyard built by three mariner brothers,
George Clark and Thomas Greenman.
They, like other entrepreneurs in the booming seafaring community of Mystic,
took over low-lying and marshy lands whose gently sloping banks and proximity to the Atlantic Ocean were opportune for shipbuilding.
If you've never had the opportunity to learn the history behind the word opportune,
now's your chance.
Both opportune and opportunity came from the Latin word opportunus,
which can mean favoring one's needs, serviceable, or convenient.
Opportunus itself constructed from the prefix ob-, meaning to-,
portu-, the stem of the noun portus, meaning port or harbor,
and the adjective suffix nous, N-U-S,
suggests the value of any port available when a storm is brewing or raging.
Portus has dropped anchor in other English words as well,
including portal, passport, and of course, port.
Its footprint is also scattered across our maps in coastal place names from Newport to Puerto Rico to Porto Alegre.