Words at Play : People's Top 10 Favorite Words

#2: Flibbertigibbet

Definition:

a silly flighty person

Example:

"I was very good at being a girl and I'm not quite so good at being a woman. I was good at being quite flighty and dippy and a flibbertigibbet. But I don't feel so convincing as a responsible human being." – Actress Emily Mortimer interviewed in The Telegraph, September 19, 2005

About the word:

Flibbertigibbet may have been coined to imitate the sound of idle chatter. The word first appeared in Middle English as flepergebet, and it has enjoyed a number of senses: gossip; chatterer; demon; imp. Shakespeare gave flibbertigibbet its current spelling, but the modern meaning only dates to the end of the 19th century.

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