confidant

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Is there a "scare" in the word "scarify?" Scare up the answer 
to this and other disputes in our Concise Usage Dictionary.
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The Word of the Day for October 27 is: 

confidant   \KAHN-fuh-dahnt\   noun
     : one to whom secrets are entrusted; especially : intimate

Example sentence:
     Only Julian?s closest confidants knew that he was hunting for a new job.

Did you know?
     If you're confident in the trustworthiness of your confidants, you've 
inadvertently guessed the origins of the word "confidant." It comes from the 
French word "confident," which in turn derives from the Italian adjective 
"confidente," meaning "confident, trustworthy." The Italian word, in turn, can 
be traced back to the Latin verb "confidere," "to confide" (the root of which 
is "fidere," meaning "to trust"). Other descendants of "confidere" in English 
include "confide," "confidence," and "confident," as well as "confidential" 
(which was formed from "confidence").