- Today's Word
Affinity
[uh-FIN-i-tee]
Definition
- (noun) A natural attraction, liking, or feeling of connection to something or someone. It can also mean a natural ability or talent for something, or a similarity of characteristics suggesting a relationship.
Example
Sarah has a strong affinity for classical music; she can listen to Mozart for hours and naturally understands the complex compositions.
Fun Fact
“Affinity” comes from the Latin word “affinitas,” meaning “connection by marriage” or “relationship by marriage.” In medieval times, it was primarily used to describe family relationships through marriage rather than blood. The word evolved from describing family connections to include chemical relationships (as in “chemical affinity” – the force that holds atoms together), and finally to its modern usage describing any natural attraction or liking. Interestingly, in the Middle Ages, the Catholic Church recognized different degrees of affinity as impediments to marriage, just as they did with consanguinity (blood relationships). Today, the word has largely shed its matrimonial origins but retains the core meaning of a natural connection or attraction.
(adjective) Lacking substance, interest, or mature thought; naive and simplistic in a way that reveals inexperience.
The critic dismissed the debut novel as jejune — competently written, technically adequate, and utterly devoid of anything worth remembering.
Jejune derives from the Latin jejunus, meaning “fasting” or “empty” — literally describing a stomach that has not been fed. The same root gives us jejunum, the section of the small intestine named for its tendency to be found empty after death. It entered English in the 17th century carrying its literal sense of emptiness before acquiring its figurative meaning of something intellectually or creatively hollow — content that has the form of nourishment without any of the substance.