feckless

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for September 29, 2024 is: feckless \FECK-lus\ adjective Feckless describes people or things that are weak or ineffective. // The agency’s response to the dramatic increase in air pollution was well-intentioned but ultimately feckless. [See the entry >](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/feckless) Examples: "The players streamed down Columbus Avenue, serenading passersby with the Tilted Axes theme song; a pedestrian stopped and stared. When the Axes crossed Sixty-sixth Street, traffic momentarily isolated one bass player from the rest of the band, like a feckless baby elephant stranded on the [veldt](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/veldt)." — Henry Alford, The New Yorker, 22 July 2024 Did you know? A feckless person is lacking in feck. And what, you may ask, is feck? In Scots—our source of feckless—[feck](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/feck) means "majority" or "effect." The term is ultimately an alteration of the Middle English [effect](https://bit.ly/3AiAp03). So something without feck is without effect, i.e., ineffective. In the past, [feckful](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/feckful) (meaning "efficient, effective," "sturdy," or "powerful") made an occasional appearance, but in this case, the weak has outlived the strong: feckless is a commonly used English word, but feckful has proven, well, feckless.