• jade •
Pronunciation: jayd • Hear it!Part of Speech: Verb
Meaning: To make completely weary and dulled through repetition.
Notes: This, the 2997th Good Word, is a verbalization of a now obsolete noun: jade "a broken-down nag". It is coincidentally pronounced identical to another, still active noun: jade "green gemstone". We most often hear the past participle of the verb, jaded, as 'jaded by French movies'.
In Play: Weariness caused by repetition is the specific sense of the verb jade. "Jaded by all the glitter of Tinseltown, Jason Ranebose returned home a beaten run-down actor." Again: "He had first tried the New York stage, where he had failed to impress jaded New Yorker theater-goers. Now he, himself, was jaded."
Word History: Today's Good Word apparently originally simply referred to a cart horse. The Century Dictionary suggests it is a variant of northern English and Scottish dialects of yaud "mare" from a Scandinavian dialect, jälda "mare", ultimately from some Finno-Ugric dialect, like Mordvin al'd'a "mare". However, these are all fairly wild speculations. The fact remains, the origin of today's word is really unknown. (We are will never be jaded by Eileen Opiolka's recommendations of Good Words like today's.)
