rankle

<font size="-1" face="arial, helvetica"> <p> <strong> <font color="#000066">Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for December 9, 2021 is:</font> </strong> </p> <p> <strong>rankle</strong> &#149; \RANK-ul\&nbsp; &#149; <em>verb</em><br /> <p><em>Rankle</em> means "to cause anger, irritation, or bitterness."</p> <p>// Rae Ann's snooty attitude and rude behavior <em>rankled</em> the host, but he smiled to hide his irritation.</p> <p><a href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/rankle">See the entry ></a></p> </p> <p> <strong>Examples:</strong><br /> <p>"Just one <a href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/caveat">caveat</a>: big swaths of this book are fiction, which may <em>rankle</em> readers who are eager to sink their teeth into a good nonfiction book." — Terri Schlichenmeyer, <em>The Wyoming Tribune-Eagle</em>, 24 Sept. 2021</p> </p> <p> <strong>Did you know?</strong><br /> <p>When <em>rankle</em> was first used in English, it meant "to <a href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/fester">fester</a>," and that meaning is related to French words referring to a sore and tracing to Latin <em>dracunculus</em>. The Latin is from <em>draco</em>, the word for a serpent and the source of English's <em><a href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/dragon#etymology">dragon</a></em>. The transition from serpents to sores is apparently from people associating the appearance of certain ulcers or tumors to small serpents.</p> <br /><br /> </p> </font>