Agathokakological
Pro: Sophisticated. Con: Long.
agathokakological
a-guh-tho-kak-uh-loj-ih-cul (writing pronunciations in this way is really tedious for words like this!)
adjective
Composed of both good and bad
Alas, I had originally planned for the first Word of the Week of 2024 to be a little more interesting than this, but during the break I was having far too much fun not being at work, and couldn’t give the blog the attention it deserved. So we have reverted to another ‘placeholder’ word.
‘Agathokakological’ is not a common word, but one that I feel should have greater purchase in our daily lives. English (and indeed other languages) are full of phrases and euphemisms for things that are both good and bad: ‘a mixed blessing’, ‘a double-edged sword’ and a personal favourite of mine ‘a curate’s egg’. These are all multiword expressions and, if I may say, a little tired by now. Enter the elegant and exotic ‘agathokakological’.
Savvy readers and lapsed classicists will have spotted that this word is wholly Greek in origins, being composed of the roots ‘agathos’ meaning ‘good’ and ‘kakos’ meaning ‘bad’. I tried looking for other modern English words that might be derived from these roots but only came up with ‘kakistocracy’ (‘rule by the worst’, etymologically the opposite of ‘aristocracy’, ‘rule by the best’) and ‘kalokagathia’, a word almost certainly unfamiliar to all but the most committed of classical scholars, referring to an ideal of ‘gentlemanly conduct’ popularised in Plato’s time.
Happy new year!