watchword

English

WOTD – 25 November 2006

Etymology

From Middle English wacche word, wacchworde, morphologically as watch (“guard, sentinel, sentry”) +‎ word.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈwɒt͡ʃwɜː(ɹ)d/

• Audio (US)

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• Audio (AU)

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Noun

watchword (plural watchwords)

1. A word used as a motto, as expressive of a principle, belief, or rule of action; a rallying cry.

   Synonyms: catchword, byword, maxim, mantra, motto

   • 1834, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter XXVII, in Francesca Carrara. […], volume I, London: Richard Bentley, […], (successor to Henry Colburn), →OCLC, page 321:

     "How this perpetual gaiety," exclaimed Louis, "jars upon the ear! Good Heaven! is farewell to be said so gladly? I sometimes start when I think upon the hollowness of all that surrounds me. I often wish my eye had the power of searching the inmost depths of the bosoms whose watchword is my name."

   • 1871, “Forward! Be Our Watchword”, Henry Alford (lyrics), Henry Thomas Smart (music)‎^[1]:

     For-ward! be our watchword, Steps and voices joined; / Seek the things before us, Not a look behind.

   • 1919, Boris Sidis, The Source and Aim of Human Progress‎^[2]:

     Atrocities of the most vicious kind were justified by the watchwords: "This is war!" "Might is Right." "Necessity knows no law."

   • 1945 May, Harry S. Truman, Announcement of Germany's Surrender‎^[3]:

     We can repay the debt which we owe to our God, to our dead, and to our children only by work — by ceaseless devotion to the responsibilities which lie ahead of us. If I could give you a single watchword for the coming months, that word is: work, work, and more work.

   • 1994, Tori Amos (lyrics and music), “Cornflake Girl”, in Under the Pink:

     It's a peel out the watchword / Just peel out the watchword

   • 2019 October, James Abbott, “Esk Valley revival”, in Modern Railways, page 76:

     The Esk Valley route to Whitby was a classic example: a basic four trains a day service has persisted for decades, with economy the watchword.

2. (military, security) A prearranged reply to the challenge of a sentry or a guard; a password or signal by which friends can be known from enemies.

   Synonyms: passphrase, password, underword

   • 1625, George Sandys, Sacrae heptades:

     a Watchword sufficient for him that is wiſe

Translations

word used as expressive of a principle

• Bulgarian: лозунг (bg) m (lozung)
• Finnish: motto (fi), tunnus (fi), iskulause (fi)
• French: mot d’ordre (fr) m
• German: Motto (de) n, Schlagwort (de) n, Parole (de) f
• Hebrew: אִמְרַת כָּנָף (he) f (imrát kanáf)
• Polish: hasło (pl) n, zawołanie n (history, heraldry)
• Spanish: lema (es) m, consigna (es) f
• Swedish: ledord (sv) n, lösen (sv) c, motto (sv) n, slagord (sv) n, valspråk (sv) n, slogan (sv) c, stridsrop (sv) n

a prearranged reply to the challenge of a sentry or a guard

• Armenian: նշանաբան (hy) (nšanaban), նշանաբառ (hy) (nšanabaṙ)
• Bulgarian: паро́ла (bg) f (paróla)
• Catalan: sant i senya (ca) m
• Finnish: tunnussana (fi)
• French: mot d’ordre (fr) m
• German: Losung (de) f, Parole (de) f, Kennwort (de) n
• Greek:

  Ancient: σύνθημα n (súnthēma)

• Middle English: wacche word
• Polish: odzew (pl) m
• Spanish: contraseña (es) f, santo y seña (es)
• Swedish: lösenord (sv) n, lösen (sv) c

Further reading

• “watchword”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
• “watchword”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.