Definition: A dish made of poultry or meat, fresh or leftover, cut into small pieces, sauteed, then stewed in a gravy.

Usage: Remember that today's word is a rare one that contains two contiguous double letters, ss+ee. It is also commonly used as a verb, as Elmer Fudd's perennial attempts to fricassee the ever elusive Bugs Bunny.

Suggested Usage: Today's word is used almost exclusively to refer to a cooking style: "Molly had to rename the 'Roadkill Fricassee' on her menu because her patrons were never quite sure it was a joke." Of course, that never stops us from finding metaphorical applications, "Sullivan's proposal contains nothing new; it is just a fricassee of leftover ideas from the proposal he made last year."

Etymology: Today's word is the untarnished French past participle, "fricassee," from fricasser "to fricassee." The French verb probably comes from a compound of frire "to fry" + casser "to break up, break apart." French "frire" descended from Latin frigere "to roast, fry" which shares a root with its near antonym fridigus "frigid" in the same way that "cold" and "scald" share the same original root. French "cassare" comes from Latin quassare "to shake, shatter." It would seem to be unrelated to "quake" despite the similarity in sound and meaning.