copious

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for August 17, 2024 is: copious \KOH-pee-us\ adjective Copious is a synonym of [abundant](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/abundant) and [plentiful](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/plentiful). It is always used before a noun to describe something very large in amount or number. // The pie was served with a copious amount of ice cream. // Jacqueline took copious notes during the long lecture and shared them with the rest of her study group. [See the entry >](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/copious) Examples: “My colleagues were more than gracious enough to take some time out of their day to taste-test copious amounts of chocolate.” — Tori Latham, The Robb Report, 10 May 2023 Did you know? Despite meaning “abundance,” the Latin word copia has not led to an abundance of words in English; in other words, its descendants are far from copious—at least on the surface. There’s copious, of course, which comes from copia by way of Middle English and has been used since the 14th century, when it first described things—such as farmlands or ore deposits—that produce abundant yields. Then there’s [cornucopia](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/cornucopia), which combines this same root with cornu, meaning “horn,” and refers to an inexhaustible store or abundance of something (as well as to a decorative horn or horn-shaped basket overflowing with produce and used as a symbol of abundance). Finally, there’s the commonplace word [copy](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/copy), used as both noun and verb. That’s all she wrote… unless you consider the [mucho](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/mucho) copious amount—nay, cornucopia—of words that start or end with copy, from [copycat](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/copycat) to [photocopy](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/photocopy) to [copypasta](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/copypasta).