It's the Word of the Day podcast for December 2nd.

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Today's word is complacent, also pronounced complacent or complaisant.

Complaisant is spelled C-O-M-P-L-A-I-S-A-N-T.

Someone described as complacent is willing or eager to please other people or is easily

convinced to do what other people want.

Here's the word used in a sentence from the Wall Street Journal.

Last month, Ferrari lofted its banners over a resort near the southern port of Kaliari,

and invited journalists to test drive the new Ferrari Roma spider,

taking advantage of the excellent tarmac, ideal weather, and complacent authorities.

The words complacent and complacent, that's C-O-M-P-L-A-C-E-N-T, are often confused and for good reason.

Not only do the words look and sound alike, but they also both come from the Latin verb

complacere, meaning to please greatly.

The placere in complacere is an ancestor of the English word, please.

Complacent with a C is used disapprovingly to describe someone who is self-satisfied or unconcerned

with whatever is going on, but it also shares with complacent with an S the sense of inclined to please or oblige.

This sense of complacent is an old one,

but that hasn't kept language critics from labeling its use as an error.

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