billet-doux

<font size="-1" face="arial, helvetica"> <p> <strong> <font color="#000066">Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for February 14, 2022 is:</font> </strong> </p> <p> <strong>billet-doux</strong> &#149; \bill-ee-DOO\&nbsp; &#149; <em>noun</em><br /> <p>A <em>billet-doux</em> is a <a href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/love%20letter">love letter</a>.</p> <p>// While helping her grandmother pack, Abbie came across a <em>billet-doux</em> from her grandfather that was written when the two were teenagers.</p> <p><a href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/billet-doux">See the entry ></a></p> </p> <p> <strong>Examples:</strong><br /> <p>"What 'The French Dispatch' celebrates is something more specific than everyday newspapering…. Anderson has inscribed a <em>billet-doux</em> to The New Yorker in its mid-20th-century glory years that is, at the same time, an ardent, almost orgiastic <a href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/paean">paean</a> to the pleasures of print." — A.O. Scott, <em>The New York Times</em>, 20 Oct. 2021</p> </p> <p> <strong>Did you know?</strong><br /> <p>In French, <em>billet doux</em> means "sweet letter." English writers first fell in love with the word during the 17th century and have been committed to using it as a romantic alternative to "love letter" ever since.</p> <br /><br /> </p> </font>