Word of the Day: ZEITGEIST

Spirit of the age

zeitgeist (noun) - the spirit or mood of a particular moment, year, or age; the distinctive intellectual, moral, and cultural climate of a period of history [zahyt-gahyst]

BREAKDOWN: The word zeitgeist is relatively new and comes to English directly from the German word for spirit of the age. Its roots are zeit meaning time and geist meaning spirit.

“Georg Hegel viewed the "great men" as instruments of something far greater. Hegel believes that an individual can indeed embody the zeitgeist for a moment, but also that the individual isn't always clear they are doing so.” —Emmanuel Macron

[Our Wednesday Wildcards are fascinating and important words that are not necessarily derived from classical roots.]