Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for May 17, 2026 is:





affable • \AF-uh-bul\ • adjective

Affable describes someone who is friendly and easy to talk to. It can also describe something, such as someone’s personality, that is characterized by ease and friendliness.

// The restaurant’s affable owner can be seen most nights welcoming his guests and making light conversation.

// In the hallways, the principal has an affable demeanor; however, when called to her office, students know she is all about business.

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Examples:

“Ray Naranjo is a Native American chef from Santa Clara Pueblo in northern New Mexico. He’s a big, affable man with a wide, warm smile, built more for a football field than his food truck, Manko.” — Michael Shaikh, The Last Sweet Bite: Stories and Recipes of Culinary Heritage Lost and Found, 2025





Did you know?

There is nothing in the meaning of affable (“friendly and easy to talk to”), nor in its etymology (the word traces back to the Latin verb affārī, meaning “to speak to, address”), to suggest it is more properly applied to men than to women, but English-speaking people behave as though it is. This was not always true; in the 16th through the 19th centuries, it was not uncommon to see the word describing women, but no more. We once surveyed all the cases in which a single newspaper used affable over a 12-month period. The word occurred in 102 articles, and in 4 occurrences it described women, while in 85 occurrences it described men (in the other cases affable was used to describe a conga line, email, musical compositions by Robert Ward, cats in general, and one male dog). None of this need affect your use of the term. You should feel free to apply it in whatever way seems suitable. Think of this more as a reminder that the currents of our language are deep and occasionally mysterious, gently nudging us along paths we don’t even see.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for May 16, 2026 is:





kiki • \KEE-kee\ • noun

Kiki is a slang term used for an informal gathering among close friends, especially to share lively gossip or frank conversation. It can also refer more broadly to gossipy conversation. Kiki is especially used in and associated with LGBTQ+ and Black communities.

// The performers had a kiki backstage before the show.

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Examples:

“The year 2024 will long be remembered in pop culture as the year of #bratsummer, christened, of course, by the early-June release of an instantly-iconic pop album, Charli XCX’s Brat. It was the cultural equivalent of the hippies’ summer of love in 1967, but for the girls and gays a singular moment in time when every day offered the chance of a kiki and every night flirted with throwing a rave.” — Vanessa Quilantan, The Dallas Observer, 26 Aug. 2025





Did you know?

Let’s chitchat about the word kiki, a fun word for a fun, gossipy gathering. While its exact origins are unclear, we know that kiki has roots in the ballroom community, a primarily Black and Latino drag subculture that spread in US cities especially in the 1980s–90s. In the early 2000s, a movement emerged within ball culture that was often referred to as the kiki scene. This involved support groups and social services for LGBTQ+ youth, and provided opportunities to socialize, including in the form of so-called kiki balls, or festive, party-like drag performances. This scene was notably captured in the 2016 documentary Kiki, popularly considered a sequel to 1990’s Paris is Burning. Kiki is also used as a verb meaning “to share lively gossip or frank conversation”—in other words, “to have a kiki.”

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for May 15, 2026 is:





tortuous • \TOR-chuh-wus\ • adjective

Tortuous describes something that has many literal or figurative twists and turns.

// The tortuous mountain path rewards climbers with a stunning view of the town below.

// Getting approval for a project of this magnitude is a tortuous process.

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Examples:

“Christopher Nolan’s latest epic is an adaptation of the ancient Greek epic poem, The Odyssey. ... Homer’s poem is centered on Greek hero King Odysseus ... and his tortuous, 10-year journey home to Ithaca after the Trojan War.” — Lexy Perez, The Hollywood Reporter, 4 Jan. 2026





Did you know?

Be careful not to confuse tortuous with torturous. These two words are relatives—both ultimately come from the Latin verb torquēre, which means “to twist,” “to wind,” or “to wrench”—but tortuous means “winding” or “crooked,” whereas torturous means “painfully unpleasant.” (Its oldest meaning is “causing torture.”) Something tortuous, such as a twisting mountain road, might also be torturous (if, for example, you have to ride up that road on a bicycle), but that doesn’t make these words synonyms. The twists and turns that mark a tortuous thing can be literal (“a tortuous path” or “a tortuous river”) or figurative (“a tortuous argument” or “a tortuous explanation”), but you should veer away from using the term if no implication of winding or crookedness is present.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for May 14, 2026 is:





imbroglio • \im-BROHL-yoh\ • noun

Imbroglio is a formal word that refers to a complex dispute or argument.

// Much of the sisters’ text thread involves the latest imbroglios on their favorite reality show—who’s mad at who for what, and why.

See the entry >





Examples:

“A tangled web of interpersonal feuds, played out in letters to the local newspaper, in social media posts and via legal filings in county court, has left the town with no clear path out of a situation that’s not covered by state law. The imbroglio has even reached the state Capitol ...” — Seth Klamann and Sam Tabachnik, The Denver Post, 8 Mar. 2026





Did you know?

Ever noticed how an imbroglio embroils people in controversy? There’s a reason for that—an etymological one, anyway. Both the noun imbroglio (referring to, among other things, a scandal or bitter argument) and verb embroil (“to involve in conflicts or difficulties”) come from the Middle French word embrouiller, a combination of the prefix en- and brouiller, meaning “to jumble,” though they took slightly different paths. Embroil’s was direct, passing from Middle French through French and into English around the turn of the 16th century. Italians altered embrouiller to form imbrogliare, meaning “to entangle,” which spawned the noun imbroglio that English speakers embraced in the mid-18th century. English imbroglio first referred to a confused mass, and later expanded to cover confusing social situations such as complicated disputes, misunderstandings, and scandals.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for May 14, 2026 is:





imbroglio • \im-BROHL-yoh\ • noun

Imbroglio is a formal word that refers to a complex dispute or argument.

// Much of the sisters’ text thread involves the the latest imbroglios on their favorite reality show—who’s mad at who for what, and why.

See the entry >





Examples:

“A tangled web of interpersonal feuds, played out in letters to the local newspaper, in social media posts and via legal filings in county court, has left the town with no clear path out of a situation that’s not covered by state law. The imbroglio has even reached the state Capitol ...” — Seth Klamann and Sam Tabachnik, The Denver Post, 8 Mar. 2026





Did you know?

Ever noticed how an imbroglio embroils people in controversy? There’s a reason for that—an etymological one, anyway. Both the noun imbroglio (referring to, among other things, a scandal or bitter argument) and verb embroil (“to involve in conflicts or difficulties”) come from the Middle French word embrouiller, a combination of the prefix en- and brouiller, meaning “to jumble,” though they took slightly different paths. Embroil’s was direct, passing from Middle French through French and into English around the turn of the 16th century. Italians altered embrouiller to form imbrogliare, meaning “to entangle,” which spawned the noun imbroglio that English speakers embraced in the mid-18th century. English imbroglio first referred to a confused mass, and later expanded to cover confusing social situations such as complicated disputes, misunderstandings, and scandals.