misprision

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for September 7, 2008 is: misprision • \mis-PRIZH-un\ • noun 1 a : neglect or wrong performance of official duty b : concealment of treason or felony by one who is not a participant in the treason or felony 2 : misunderstanding, misinterpretation Examples: In her memoir Sleeping with Cats, poet Marge Piercy reflects that her life "has been full of blunders, misprisions, accidents, losses." Did you know? All but one of the following words traces back to Latin "prehendere," meaning "to seize." Which word doesn't belong? apprehend comprehend misprision misprize prison surprise It's easy to see the "prehendere" connection in "apprehend" and "comprehend," whereas you may be surprised that "surprise" is from "prehendere" (via Anglo-French "susprendre," meaning "to capture" or "to take by surprise"). "Misprision" comes to us by way of Anglo-French "mesprisun" ("error, wrongdoing"), from "mesprendre" ("to take by mistake"), itself from "prehendere." "Prison," too, is from Anglo-French, where it had the same meaning as our English word. It was adapted from Latin "prehension-, prehensio" ("act of seizing") -- again, from "prehendere." The only word that's out of place is "misprize," meaning "to undervalue." It's ultimately from Latin "pretium," meaning "value." See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.