abecedarian

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The Word of the Day for April 17 is:

abecedarian   \ay-bee-see-DAIR-ee-un\   adjective 
     1 *a : of or relating to the alphabet  b : alphabetically arranged 
     2 : rudimentary 

Example sentence:
     The children recited an abecedarian chant, beginning with "A is for apple" 
and ending with "Z is for zebra."

Did you know? 
     The history of "abecedarian" is as simple as ABC -- literally. The term's 
Late Latin ancestor, "abecedarius" (which meant "of the alphabet"), was created 
as a combination of the letters A, B, C, and D, plus the adjective suffix 
"-arius"; you can hear the echo of that origin in the pronunciation of the 
English term (think "ABC-darian"). In its oldest documented English uses in the 
early 1600s, "abecedarian" was a noun meaning "one learning the rudiments of 
something"; it specifically referred to someone who was learning the alphabet. 
The adjective began appearing in English texts around 1665.

*Indicates the sense illustrated in the example sentence.