• demeanor •
Pronunciation: dee-mee-nêr • Hear it!
Part of Speech: Noun
Meaning: 1. Misconduct, misbehavior, misdeed, mischief. 2. A minor crime, less than a felony.
Notes: Today we have another word hidden inside a different word (see Word History). The trick is to remember that it ends on -or and not -er, which is sometimes spelled -our (misdemeanor) in British English. It also isn't a personal noun, but an action noun for the verb (to) misdemean "misbehave", now rarely used. The personal noun from misdemean is misdemeanant in either sense.
In Play: Our demeanor is our outward bearing that may reveal what we are thinking inside no matter what we say: "'No, I'm not married', he said, but his demeanor told her that he had something to hide." Misdemeanor is far more often used in its legal sense: "Robin Banks was charged with five felonies and two misdemeanors, but he pleaded guilty to the misdemeanors and the felony charges were dropped."
Word History: Today's noun was based on the verb demean in its original sense, "manage, handle, conduct". English borrowed this word from Old French demener "to guide, conduct", comprising de "of, from" + mener "to lead, direct". In Late Latin mener meant "to drive (a herd, etc.) from Classic Latin minari "to threaten". This word also produced minax, minacis "threat" that went on to become French menace, which retained its meaning after English snitched it. Minari came from PIE men-/mon- "to project, tower", also underlying Latin mons, montis "mountain" and mentum "chin", Welsh mynydd "mountain" and mwnwgl "neck", Breton menez "mountain", and Cornish menydh "mountain". (Whatever Norman Holler's demeanor, we must thank him now for his generosity in sharing this very Good Word with us today.)
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