Word of the Day:

“What’s in a middle name? Pretty much the whole megillah, for the media scion known as Kendall Logan Roy. That middle name is more than just his father’s branding—it’s the gravitational core around which Kendall’s selfhood swings. For four seasons of ‘Succession,’ we’ve watched the mercurial magnate’s second son and occasional heir apparent strain against his birthright, sometimes plotting to overthrow his father, other times weeping submissively into his chest.” — Michael Schulman, The New Yorker, 25 May 2023

More example sentences

Megillah comes from the Yiddish word megile, which itself comes from the Hebrew noun mĕgillāh, meaning “scroll” or “volume.” (Mĕgillāh is especially likely to be used in reference to the Book of Esther, which is read aloud at Purim celebrations.) It makes sense, then, that when megillah first appeared in English in the early 20th century, it referred to a story that was so long (and often tedious or complicated) that it was reminiscent of the length of the mĕgillāh scrolls. The Hebrew word is serious, but the Yiddish megile can be somewhat playful, and English’s megillah has also inherited that lightheartedness.