Word of the Day for Tuesday August 23, 2005

tyro \TY-roh\, noun:
A beginner in learning; a novice.

It's difficult to imagine a tyro publishing a book on
medical procedures or economic theory.
--Philip Zaleski, "God Help the Spiritual Writer," [1]New
York Times, January 10, 1999

He was a sensitive, fine soul alert to the pleasures of
being green, a tyro, an amateur, unwilling to close his
mind before it had been tempted.
--Paul West, Sporting With Amaryllis

And, though we were mere tyros, beginners, utterly
insignificant, he was invariably as kind and considerate
and thoughtful, and as lavish in the gift of his time, as
though he had nothing else to do.
--Leonard Warren, Joseph Leidy: The Last Man Who Knew
Everything
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Tyro is from Latin tiro, "a young soldier, a recruit," hence
"a beginner, a learner."