Word of the Day ArchiveThursday September 7, 2006 pervicacious

pervicacious \puhr-vih-KAY-shuhs\, adjective:Refusing to change one's ideas, behavior, etc.; stubborn; obstinate.

• In fact, I'm a word nerd. I get a kick out of tossing a few odd ones intomy column, just to see if the pervicacious editors will weed them out.-- Michael Hawley, "Things That Matter: Waiting for Linguistic Viagra", Technology Review, June, 2001
• One of the most pervicacious young creatures that ever was heard of.-- Samuel Richardson, Clarissa
• The language of the bureaucrats and administrators must needs be recognized as an outgrowth of legal parlance. There is no other way to explain itspervading, pervicacious and pernicious meanderings.-- New York Law Journal, May 27, 1909

Pervicacious is from Latin pervicax, pervicac-, "stubborn, headstrong," from root pervic- of pervincere, "to carry ones point, maintain ones opinion," from per-, "through, thoroughly" + vincere, "to conquer, prevail against" + the suffix -ious, "characterized by, full of."