Jonathan Yardley
Did you know?
Is it jejune?
Starved for excitement? You won't get it from something jejune. The term comes to us from the Latin word jejunus, which means "empty of food," "hungry," or "meager." When English speakers first used jejune back in the 1600s, they applied it in ways that mirrored the meaning of its Latin parent, lamenting "jejune appetites" and "jejune morsels." Something that is meager rarely satisfies, and before long jejune was being used not only for meager meals or hunger, but also for things lacking in intellectual or emotional substance. It’s possible that the word gained its now-popular "juvenile" or "childish" sense when people confused it with the look-alike French word jeune, which means "young."
Cite this Entry
“Jejune.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/jejune. Accessed 3 Nov. 2025.
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