Word of the Week (WOW) is a weekly meme created by @Heena Rathore P. (http://heenarathorep.com/). It’s a fun way to improve vocubulary by learning new words every week.
To pariticipate, simply do a post with your word and leave a link to it as a comment o Heena’s WOW post.
persiflage • \PER-suh-flahzh\ • noun
: frivolous bantering talk : light raillery
Origin: French, from persifler to banter, from per- thoroughly + siffler to whistle, hiss, boo, ultimately from Latin sibilare.
First use: 1757
Synonyms: backchat, badinage, chaff, give-and-take, jesting, joshing, banter, raillery, repartee
Examples:
Since the final round ended sooner than expected, the quiz show host engaged in persiflage with the contestants until it was time to sign off.
Did you know?
Unwanted persiflage on television might provoke an impatient audience to hiss or boo, but from an etymological standpoint, no other reaction could be more appropriate. English speakers picked up persiflage from French in the 18th century. Its ancestor is the French verb persifler, which means “to banter” and was formed from the prefix per-, meaning “thoroughly,” plus siffler, meaning “to whistle, hiss, or boo.” Siffler in turn derived from the Latin verb sibilare, meaning “to whistle or hiss.” By the way, sibilare is also the source of sibilant, a word linguists use to describe sounds like those made by “s” and “sh” in sash. That Latin root also underlies the verb sibilate, meaning “to hiss” or “to pronounce with or utter an initial sibilant.”
If you would like to check out more interesting words then visit Heena’s page:
http://heenarathorep.com/word-treasure/
Now, this is an interesting word and not one I’ve come across often. By the way, If you check out Heena’s WOW posts, you’ll see that we add a sentence or two to show how the word can be used. It helps readers to understand the word a little better. I always do a few sentences, and so does Loiuise (afairymind) who also does this challenge.
I hope to have my post fopr this week up by tomorrow, but Heena hasn’t put hers up yet, and i usually wait for that. 🙂
I’m really liking the layout of your blog now, Priya. 🙂
I put sentences next time
I have added a sentence in this post. I hope that’s an apt one
Your sentence is excellent and really helps to illustrate the meaning of the word. 🙂
Thanks a lot
Great word, Priya! I didn’t know this one at all. 🙂
Even I came across the word by chance
Sometimes they’re the best ones!
Yeah, that’s true
An interesting word Priya! I really like it 🙂
Thanks!
Thanks