- Today's Word
Sacrosanct
SAK-roh-sankt
Definition
(adjective) Regarded as too important or valuable to be interfered with.
Example
For many, the right to vote is sacrosanct.
Fun Fact
The concept of the “sacrosanct” has deep roots in ancient Roman religion and law, where certain temples, objects, and even people—like tribunes—were considered inviolable by decree. Harming them wasn’t just illegal; it was a religious offense. Today, the idea of sacrosanct still shows up in modern life: national constitutions, personal rituals (like morning coffee), and even time off from work are often treated as “off-limits” zones. It’s a word that’s moved from the sacred to the symbolic, and now shows up in debates over everything from privacy to free speech.
(noun/verb) A gentle, continuous murmuring sound made by water or a person speaking rapidly and excitedly.
The hikers followed the burble of the stream through the dense forest long before they could see it, the sound guiding them toward water and rest.
Burble is an example of onomatopoeia — a word whose sound imitates the thing it describes. It emerged in Middle English as an imitative word for the sound of bubbling or gurgling water, related to the Old French borboiller, meaning “to bubble.” Lewis Carroll famously used it in Jabberwocky — “the Jabberwock, with eyes of flame, came whiffling through the tulgey wood, and burbled as it came” — cementing its place in the English literary imagination as a word that sounds exactly like what it means.