- Today's Word
Harbinger
HAR-bin-jer
Definition
(noun) A person or thing that signals or foreshadows what is to come; a forerunner or omen of something approaching.
Example
The first robin of the season has always been considered a harbinger of spring.
Word Origin
From Old French herbergier (“one who provides lodging”), derived from herberge (“shelter, lodging”). In medieval England, a harbinger was a royal official who rode ahead of a traveling court to arrange accommodation. Over time, the meaning shifted from “one who goes ahead” to “one who announces what’s coming” — the literal advance man became a metaphorical one.
Fun Fact
In astronomy, the planet Venus was long called the “harbinger of dawn” because it rises in the sky just before the sun, reliably announcing the coming of morning. Ancient cultures across the world independently noticed this and assigned the planet a messenger role in their mythologies. The Romans named it after their goddess of love, but its function in the sky was always the same — arriving first, signaling what follows. Today Venus is still sometimes called the “morning star” for exactly this reason.