milquetoast
/ˈmɪlk.toʊ̯st/
Word Rarity
Very rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 1.91 in modern English
22
Scrabble Score
11
Letters
2
Syllables
10
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
A person of meek or timid disposition; a person who lacks character or effectiveness.
Derogatory; Informal
adj
Alternative letter-case form of milquetoast.
noun
Alternative letter-case form of milquetoast.
Example Sentences
- "The truth is that we are cursed with a "milquetoast" Government operating under "milquetoast" policies. Fear has become a national policy."
- "If Bach had any guts, he wouldn't take that. He's too much of a Milquetoast guy."
- "I should have listened to my mother when she told me to stay out of journalism because of idiot milquetoast jerk reporters like you!"
- "[Al] Lettieri turns [Sally] Struthers on and she strokes his big gun and waves it (and her big tits) in his face and flaunts her partiality for the tough thug Lettieri over her milquetoast husband."
- "Like that well-meaning mom, parents employ Milquetoast speech whenever they whine, complain, plead, entreat, entice, bribe, and explain themselves persuasively."
- "Ricky [Nelson] was the perfect commodity: an artist who did not upset milktoast America. He was Elvis [Presley] without grease, without swinging hips."
Etymology
Etymology tree Frenchder. Proto-Indo-European *h₂melǵ-der. Proto-Germanic *meluks Proto-West Germanic *meluk Old English meolc Middle English milk English milk English milque Proto-Indo-European *ters- Proto-Indo-European *-tós Proto-Indo-European *tr̥stós Proto-Italic *torstos Latin tostus Proto-Indo-European *-h₂ Proto-Indo-European *-éh₂ Proto-Indo-European *-yéti Proto-Indo-European *-eh₂yéti Proto-Indo-European *-h₂tiinflu. Proto-Italic *-ājō Proto-Italic *-āō Latin -ō Late Latin tostō Old French tosterbor. Middle English tostendeverb. Middle English tost English toast English milquetoast Named after Caspar Milquetoast, a character from the comic strip The Timid Soul, created by American cartoonist Harold Tucker Webster (1885–1952) and first published in 1924; the character was named after the American dish milk toast (“a food consisting of toasted bread in warm milk”), from milque (pseudo-Gallicism derived from English milk) + toast.
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ˈmɪlk.toʊ̯st/
- British English: /ˈmɪlk.təʊ̯st/
Usage
Inflected Forms
more milquetoast (comparative)
most milquetoast (superlative)
milktoast (alternative)
milquetoasts (plural)