Wordy Thursday Word of the Day

Once again, today's Wordy Thursday word of the day doesn't come from the regular list. This time it comes from the Ancient/Classical History Forum where the request for a translation of "glorious irresponsibility" generated much discussion.

Today's word is "irresponsibility." If you look this up you may find a definition that uses the root word responsible, which isn't a lot of help if you really don't know what the word means. Etymology Online provides a legally-based meaning for irresponsible of "not legally answerable for conduct or actions," which, while too specialized to fit the needs of irresponsible in daily use, quite neatly gets at the etymology of the word:

From the Latin respondeo 'to speak in answer [to a question]', from re- 'back' + spondere 'to pledge', with a prefix negating the word. Although ibilis as a suffix denoting 'ability' is common in Latin, it does not seem to have been attached to responsus by the classical Romans. If you have an example to the contrary, please post it in the glorious irresponsibility forum thread.

For the regularly scheduled word, see word of the day.

Also see

• Flower Name Meanings
• Etymology of Geometry Terms
• English Words With Latin Prefixes
• More Words From Latin in English
• Words and Ideas
• Roots of English Words: Confusing Greek and Latin Pairs