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Today's Word "Oeuvre"

A creative work or body of creative on

Published in Vocabulary

oeuvre \OO-vreh\ (noun) - A creative work or body of creative work.

"The complete oeuvre of Picasso spans many periods and schools of art."

 

Today's word was borrowed so recently from French, we have not yet resolved its pronunciation in English. It devolved from Latin opera "works," the plural of "opus." Sanskrit apas "work" and German uben "practice, exercise" derive from the same ultimate root. A related word, "maneuver" (British "manoeuvre") was borrowed from French manoeuvre, a compound derived from Latin manu operare "to work by hand." The same word was borrowed earlier in Middle English as manuren "to cultivate land," a verb to which we owe modern "manure." "Office" comes from Latin officium "service," a reduction of opificium (opi-fic-ium) from opus "work" and facere "do, make."


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