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Foreign. It's Merriam Webster's Word of the Day for July 18th. Today's word is quid pro quo. Spelled as three words, as it would be in Latin Q U I D P R O Q U O Quid pro quo is a noun. It refers to something that is given to you or done for you in return for something you have given to or done for someone else. Here's the word used in a sentence from Polygon by Devin McClure for each proposal, it's almost guaranteed you'll have to negotiate with at least one faction, which usually involves some kind of quid pro quo. Maybe you agree to pass a policy they want next, or to advance research on a new technology of their choice. In the 1500s, a quid pro quo was something obtained from an apothecary. That's because when quid pro quo, which is new Latin for something, for something was first used as a phrase in English, it appeared especially in situations where one medicine was substituted for another, whether intentionally and sometimes fraudulently or accidentally. The meaning of the phrase was quickly extended, however, and within several decades it was being used for more general equivalent exchanges and as a noun for the act of substituting or the substituted thing itself. By the mid-1600s, the noun could be used for a bargain made between two parties involving the giving of one thing in return for another. For example, I'll scratch your back if you scratch mine. Although such bargains are not inherently illegal, this sense of quid pro quo often appears today in legal contexts where the giving and taking is less than completely lawful. With your word of the day, I'm Peter Sokolowski.
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