- Today's Word
Indelible
in-DEL-uh-buhl
Definition
(adjective) Not able to be erased, removed, or forgotten.
Example
Her words left an indelible impression on everyone in the room.
Fun Fact
Originally describing ink that wouldn’t wash out, indelible now applies to memories, impressions, or even emotions. From tattoos to trauma to life-changing speeches, the word shows up in memoirs, court rulings, and even marketing slogans. Anything truly indelible leaves a mark that time, regret, or scrubbing can’t undo.
(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.