Word of the Day Archive
Wednesday November 28, 2001
paean \PEE-uhn\ , noun:
1. A joyous song of praise, triumph, or thanksgiving.
2. An expression of praise or joy.
Bud Guthrie had written a paean to the grizzly, calling it the "living, snorting incarnation of the wildness and grandeur of America."
-- David Whitman, "The Return of the Grizzly", The Atlantic, September 2000
If you look at what British writers were saying about England before and after the war, you read for the most part a seamless paean to the virtues of the nation's strength and identity.
-- Hugo Young, This Blessed Plot
Paean comes from Latin paean, "a hymn of thanksgiving, often addressed to god Apollo," from Greek paian, from Paia, a title of Apollo.
Dictionary.com Entry and Pronunciation for paean
