desuetude

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The Word of the Day for December 16 is: 

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

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 word 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. "Desuetude" 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 Barclay, who wrote, "The weighty Truths of God were 
neglected, and, as it were, went into Desuetude."





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