Word of the year 2023

In an age where AI and Donald Trump have left many doubting the truth, US dictionary Merriam-Webster has revealed 2023’s most looked-up word. Photo: Pexels

Word of the day: Kludge

Expand your vocabulary with The South African’s word of the day. Each day The South African offers you an opportunity to learn new words.

Word of the year 2023

In an age where AI and Donald Trump have left many doubting the truth, US dictionary Merriam-Webster has revealed 2023’s most looked-up word. Photo: Pexels

Learn some of the most interesting English words from The South African’s WORD OF THE DAY!

If you are a wordsmith or want to learn a new word to impress that special someone, this content is for you!

Today’s word of the day is:

Kludge

A kludge is a haphazard or makeshift solution to a problem and especially to a computer or programming problem.

Pronunciation: [KLOOJ]

As long as the origins of kludge (also spelled kluge) are uncertain, any attempt to pin them down will itself be a bit of a kludge—that is, a makeshift solution. The writer Jackson W. Granholm once thought to have coined the word, offered his own when he wrote in his 1962 article “How to design a kludge” that it came from the German word klug, meaning “smart” or “witty.” This connection is unlikely on both phonetic and semantic grounds, however, and in any event the word already existed.

Example: Andy knocked out a hasty kludge to circumvent the glitch until a more robust solution could be developed.

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