Word of the Day for Sunday, December 18, 2011

gangrel \GANG-gruhl\, noun:

1. A lanky, loose-jointed person.
2. A wandering beggar; vagabond; vagrant.

Patrick had a likeness to his father, but was still just a gangrel of a boy with long arms and a slouching posture.
-- David Farland, Worlds of the Golden Queen

I longed to tell you so when you threw me over at the meeting for that pretentious pedant, that long-backed Leslie, whom I remember as a gangrel gawky with his sleeves half-way up his arms.
-- Elizabeth Lynn Linton, The Rebel of the Family

Gangrel dates back to Middle English and is related to the word gangling. The suffix -rel has a very precise use: to denote nouns that are seen as trivial or worthless, as in mongrel or wastrel.

Thanks to: http://www.dictionary.com/