rapport

<font size="-1" face="arial, helvetica"> <p> <strong> <font color="#000066">Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for January 13, 2021 is:</font> </strong> </p> <p> <strong>rapport</strong> &#149; \ra-POR\&nbsp; &#149; <em>noun</em><br /> <p><strong>:</strong> a friendly, harmonious relationship; <em>especially</em> <strong>:</strong> a relationship characterized by agreement, mutual understanding, or <a href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/empathy">empathy</a> that makes communication possible or easy</p> </p> <p> <strong>Examples:</strong><br /> <p>Once our daughter had developed a <em>rapport</em> with her piano teacher, she began to show some real enthusiasm for learning and practicing the piano.</p> <p>"Johnson attests that the highlights in his career are centered on the <em>rapport</em> established with those he works with and works for." — <a href="https://www.dvidshub.net/news/383317/am-navy-medicine-hospital-corpsman-3rd-class-sw-aw-anthony-johnson">Douglas Stutz, <em>Dvidshub.net</em> (The Defense Visual Information Distribution Service), 18 Nov. 2020</a></p> </p> <p> <strong>Did you know?</strong><br /> <p>The word <em>rapport</em> bears a resemblance to a more common English word, <em><a href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/report">report</a></em>, which is no coincidence: both words come ultimately from the Latin verb <em>portare</em>, meaning "to carry," and both traveled through French words meaning "to bring back" on their way to English. <em>Report</em> has been in use since the 14th century, when it entered Middle English by way of Anglo-French, the French language as it was spoken in medieval England. <em>Rapport</em> was first used in the mid-15th century as a synonym of <em>report</em> in its "an account or statement" meaning, but that meaning had become obsolete by the mid-19th century.</p> <br /><br /> </p> </font>