insouciance

<font size="-1" face="arial, helvetica"> <p> <strong> <font color="#000066">Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for January 24, 2021 is:</font> </strong> </p> <p> <strong>insouciance</strong> &#149; \in-SOO-see-unss\&nbsp; &#149; <em>noun</em><br /> <p><strong>:</strong> lighthearted unconcern <strong>:</strong> <a href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/nonchalance">nonchalance</a></p> </p> <p> <strong>Examples:</strong><br /> <p>"Perhaps coming home hadn't been such a great idea after all. Instead of her mother's <em>insouciance</em> rubbing off on Liv, she'd just sunk further into the mires of misery as she realised that the weight of the world was resting squarely on her shoulders." — <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=C-MGvEchu94C&amp;pg=PA20#v=onepage&amp;q&amp;f=false">Clare Naylor, <em>Dog Handling</em>, 2002</a></p> <p>"… the idea of French style as we understand it today hasn't been built on craftsmanship. Rather, it's been built on a philosophy: one that proclaims the character, <em>insouciance</em> and authenticity of its wearer. A prime example of it in action? On the big screen, in Jean-Luc Godard's <a href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/new%20wave">New Wave</a> films." — <a href="https://www.insidehook.com/article/style/jean-luc-godard-french-new-wave-style">Faye Fearon, <em>InsideHook</em>, 4 Dec. 2020</a></p> </p> <p> <strong>Did you know?</strong><br /> <p>Don't worry; be insouciant. Perhaps your mind will rest easier if we explain that English speakers learned <em>insouciance</em> (as well as the adjective <em><a href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/insouciant">insouciant</a></em>) from the French around the early 1800s. The French word comes from a combination of the negative prefix <em>in-</em> and <em>soucier</em>, meaning "to trouble or disturb." <em>Soucier</em>, in turn, traces to <em>sollicitus</em>, the Latin word for "anxious." If it seems to you that <em>sollicitus</em> looks a lot li