- Today's Word
Gizmo
[GIZ-moh]
Definition
- (noun) A gadget or device, especially one whose name the speaker doesn’t know or can’t recall. It’s often used to refer to a small, clever, or unusual mechanical or electronic device.
Example
My grandfather always has some new gizmo in his workshop; this time it’s a contraption that automatically sorts screws by size.
Fun Fact
The origin of “gizmo” is uncertain, but it first appeared in American English around 1943. It’s believed to have possibly originated in the military or aviation sectors during World War II, where it was used as a catch-all term for unspecified parts or devices. The word gained wider popularity in the 1960s and 1970s with the rise of consumer electronics. Interestingly, “gizmo” has cousins in other languages, such as the French “machin” or the German “Dingsbums,” which serve similar linguistic functions as placeholder names for unnamed objects.
(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.