Word of the Day

: February 22, 2011

congenial

adjective kun-JEEN-yul

What It Means

1 : having the same nature, disposition, or tastes : kindred

2 a : existing together harmoniously

b : suited to one's nature, tastes, or outlook

c : sociable, genial

congenial in Context

Olga found the college's interdisciplinary curriculum congenial to the breadth of her academic interests.

"Visiting a neighbor's home and engaging in congenial conversation is fast becoming a lost art. Polite verbal exchanges once familiar and customary in centuries past have gone the way of electronic surrogates: texting, e-mail and smart phones." -- From an article by Ty Pelfrey in The Union (Grass Valley, California), January 2, 2011

Did You Know?

According to ancient Roman and Greek mythology, each person at birth was assigned a guardian spirit. The Latin name for this attendant spirit was "genius." Two people who get along well together can be thought of as sharing a similar spirit; they might even be described by a word combining the Latin prefix "com-" (meaning "with, together") and "genius." And, indeed, it was this "com-genius" combination that gave rise in the 17th century to the English word "congenial." (The Greek word for the guardian spirit, "daimōn," gave us "eudaemonia," meaning "well-being" or "happiness," but that word is extremely rare.)