permeate

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day

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🗓️ 21 March 2025

⏱️ 1 minutes

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Summary

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for March 21, 2025 is:

permeate • \PER-mee-ayt\ • verb

To permeate is to pass or spread through something.

// The scent of lilacs permeated the room.

// A feeling of anxiety permeated the office as everyone rushed to meet the deadline.

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Examples:

"The smell of sawdust permeates the air, and the din of buzzing chainsaws echoes from crews working to clear debris." — Chris Boyette, CNN, 3 Oct. 2024

Did you know?

Permeate was borrowed into English in the 17th century from Latin permeatus, which comes from the prefix per- ("through") and the verb meare, meaning "to go" or "to pass." Meare hasn't exactly permeated English. Aside from permeate itself, its other English descendants include the relatively common permeable as well as the medical meatus ("a natural body passage") and the downright rare irremeable ("offering no possibility of return").

Transcript

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0:00.0	It's the Word of the Day podcast for March 21st.
0:11.0	Today's word is permeate, spelled P-E-R-M-E-A-T-E. Permeate is a verb. To permeate is to pass or spread through something. Here's the word used in
0:23.6	a sentence from CNN by Chris Boyette. The smell of sawdust permeates the air and the din of
0:30.4	buzzing chainsaws echoes from crews working to clear debris. Permiate was borrowed into English in the 17th century from the Latin word
0:39.8	permeatus, which comes from the prefix pair, meaning through, and the verb miare, meaning to go or to
0:47.7	pass. Miare hasn't exactly permeated English. Aside from permeate itself, its other English descendants include the
0:55.8	relatively common permeable as well as the medical meatus, meaning a natural body passage,
1:02.1	and the downright rare irremeable, meaning offering no possibility of return. With your word of the day,
1:08.9	I'm Peter Sokolowski.
1:13.7	Visit Miriamwebster.com today for definitions, wordplay, and trending word lookups.

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