pundit

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for September 24, 2026 is: pundit • PUN-dit  • noun A pundit is someone, especially an expert, who presents their opinions and ideas on a particular subject via the media. // Grandpa likes watching political pundits spar about the issues of the day on the Sunday morning talk shows. See the entry > Examples: “… fashion pundits slammed the costumes, with some likening them to fast-fashion copies of the beloved icon’s high-fashion looks.” — Booth Moore, The Wrap, 13 Feb. 2026 Did you know? It’s no hot take to say that the original pundits were highly learned scholars and teachers in India; it’s just a statement of fact. Our English word pundit comes from the Hindi word paṇḍit, a term of respect (and sometimes an honorary title) for a wise person, especially one with knowledge of philosophy, religion, and law; its ultimate source is the Sanskrit word paṇḍita, meaning “learned.” (Pandit today also increasingly refers specifically to a Hindu priest.) English speakers have used pundit to refer to sages of India since the 1600s, but as is typically done with English, they eventually pushed the word into new semantic territory. By the late 1800s, pundit could also refer to a member of what is sometimes called the commentariat or punditocracy—that is, the collective group of political commentators, financial analysts, and newspaper columnists paid to share their views on various subjects.