feckless

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for March 14, 2009 is: feckless • \FECK-lus\ • adjective 1 : weak, ineffective 2 : worthless, irresponsible Examples: Although Trevor was admired by his colleagues at the newspaper, he turned out to be a feckless reporter, and so he was reassigned to the copy desk. Did you know? Someone feckless is lacking in feck. And what, you may ask, is feck? "Feck" is a Scots term that means "effect" or "majority" and comes from an alteration of the Middle English "effect." So something without feck is without effect, or "ineffective." In the past, "feckful" (meaning "efficient," "sturdy," or "powerful") made an occasional appearance. But in this case, the weak has outlived the strong: "feckless" is a commonly used English word, but "feckful" has fallen out of use. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.