meretricious
Meaningearning (by hire)
Common meaning: showy but cheap
- meretricto earnLewis & Short, Latin Dictionary (1879), p. 1135 · scan
- iousadjective ending: full of, marked by
Journey through time
- Latinmereō, meritum‘to earn’
- Englishmeretricious‘showy but cheap’ · today
meretric also in: merit
Sources & notes
Meaning: “Meaning” is the sense that emerges from the word’s roots; “Common meaning” is today’s everyday sense. Both written by us.
Pronunciation
- UK IPA: not available. Respelling: generated.
- US IPA: not available. Respelling: generated.
Origin: Built on Latin mereō ‘to earn’.
Did you know: our wording, based on Skeat, Etymological Dictionary (1898), entry MERETRICIOUS, p. 364 · dictionary scan
Roots
- mereō, meritum Latin “to earn”
Related words
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