echelon

<font size="-1" face="arial, helvetica"> <p> <strong> <font color="#000066">Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for February 17, 2022 is:</font> </strong> </p> <p> <strong>echelon</strong> &#149; \ESH-uh-lahn\&nbsp; &#149; <em>noun</em><br /> <p>An <em>echelon</em> refers to a level in an organization or to a group of individuals at a particular level in an organization.</p> <p>// The school's teams are now playing in a more competitive <em>echelon</em>.</p> <p>// New hires who are motivated and ambitious will find themselves among the upper <em>echelon</em> of the company in a short time.</p> <p><a href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/echelon">See the entry ></a></p> </p> <p> <strong>Examples:</strong><br /> <p>"[Amy Schneider] is already the highest-earning female contestant in 'Jeopardy!' history and is the first transgender contestant to qualify for the 'Tournament of Champions' round. But she still has a ways to go before further cementing herself in the upper <em>echelons</em> of 'Jeopardy!' history." — Brian Boyle, <em>SFGate</em> (San Francisco, California), 15 Jan. 2022</p> </p> <p> <strong>Did you know?</strong><br /> <p><em>Echelon</em> comes from <em>scala</em>, a Latin word meaning "ladder" that is also the source of French <em>eschelon</em>, meaning "rung of a ladder." Over time, the French word came to mean "step," "grade," or "level." English borrowed the word and upped its meaning to "a level or category within an organization or group of people."</p> <br /><br /> </p> </font>