Bowsome

Part of speech: adjective

Definitions

1. Capable of being bent or curved easily, having a pliant and yielding quality
2. Pliant and readily flexed, able to give way under pressure without breaking
3. Describing something that bends without effort and is easily shaped into a curve

Etymology: In English, "bowsome" is an old, rare word for something that bends easily, or for a person who is pliant and obliging. It is a straightforward compound: "bow" in the sense of bending, plus the suffix "-some." The verb comes from Old English "bugan," "to bend," which also gave us the word for the wooden curve used to shoot arrows. The suffix comes from Old English "-sum," which turned nouns and verbs into adjectives meaning "having the quality of." The same suffix survives in "handsome," "lithesome," and "wholesome," where it means having the quality of hands, lithe movement, or wholeness. Attached to "bow," it describes something that has the quality of bending. Because "-some" was productive for centuries, English speakers could form new adjectives this way, and "bowsome" follows that pattern.