besotted

<font size="-1" face="arial, helvetica"> <p> <strong> <font color="#000066">Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for February 11, 2023 is:</font> </strong> </p> <p> <strong>besotted</strong> &#149; \bih-SAH-tud\&nbsp; &#149; <em>adjective</em><br /> <p><em>Besotted</em> means “loving someone or something so much that you cannot think clearly.”</p> <p>// He was so <em>besotted</em> with his classmate that he began to make errors in his work. </p> <p><a href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/besotted">See the entry ></a></p> </p> <p> <strong>Examples:</strong><br /> <p>“Behind every great diva is a great wig. And perhaps there's no better diva with better wigs than Whitney Houston. The legendary singer gets the musical biopic treatment ... with <em>Whitney Houston: I Wanna Dance With Somebody</em>. Stepping into Whitney's iconic shoes—and even more iconic wigs—is British actress Naomi Ackie, who was so <em>besotted</em> with said wigs she took one or two (or five) home.” — Lester Fabian Brathwaite, <em>Entertainment Weekly</em>, 22 Dec. 2022</p> </p> <p> <strong>Did you know?</strong><br /> <p>You may be familiar with the noun <a href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/sot"><em>sot</em></a> as a synonym of <em>drunkard</em>, and indeed the Old English word <em>sott</em>, referring to a foolish or stupid person, eventually picked up that boozy meaning centuries later (after dropping a <em>t</em>). The now-archaic verb <em>sot</em> followed a similar trajectory, its original meaning of “to cause to appear foolish or stupid” was eventually joined by “to drink excessively.” The earliest recorded usage of the related adjective <em>besotted</em> (in the late 16th century, from the <a href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/past%20participle">past participle</a> of the verb <a href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/besot"><em>besot</em></a>), however, described a state of intoxication due to <a href="https://www.merriam-webst