expeditious

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The Word of the Day for January 6 is: 

expeditious   \ek-spuh-DISH-us\   adjective 
     : characterized by or acting promptly and efficiently

Example sentence:
     Poisonous snakebites require expeditious treatment. 

Did you know?
     Like "expeditious," all of the following words contain "ped." Can you 
guess which ones get those three letters from the same Latin root as 
"expeditious"? 
 
encyclopedia     expedition     stampede     torpedo    orthopedic     impede 

The Latin source of "expeditious" is the verb "expedire," which means "to 
extricate," "to prepare," or "to be useful." The "ped" is from "pes," meaning 
"foot." (The "ex-" means "out of," and the literal sense of "expedire" is "to 
free the feet.") The "ped" in "impede" also comes from "pes." But the "ped" in 
"encyclopedia" and "orthopedic" is from the Greek "pais," meaning "child"; 
"stampede" is from the Spanish "estampar," meaning "to stamp"; and "torpedo" is 
from the Latin "torpere," meaning "to be sluggish." What about "expedition"? 
Meaning both "a journey" and "promptness," it too is from "expedire."






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