desuetude

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The Word of the Day for December 16 is:=20

desuetude   \DESS-wih-tood\   noun
          : discontinuance from use or exercise : disuse=20
=20

Example sentence:
           The old bridge, which fell into desuetude after the railroad =
was shut down, has recently been opened as a pedestrian walkway.

Did you know?
          "Desuetude" must be closely related to "disuse," right? Wrong.=
 Despite the similarities between them, "desuetude" and "disuse" derive =
from two different Latin verbs. "Desuetude" comes from "suescere," a wor=
d that means "to accustom" (it also gave us the word "custom"). "Disuse"=
 descends from "uti," which means "to use" (that Latin word also gave us=
 "use" and "utility"). Of the two, "disuse" is now the more common. "Des=
uetude" hasn't fallen into desuetude yet, and it was put to good use in =
the past, as in the 17th-century writings of Scottish Quaker Robert Barc=
lay, who wrote, "The weighty Truths of God were neglected, and, as it we=
re, went into Desuetude."





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