Today’s Words That Work: Panjandrum

A Panjandrum (pan-JAN-drum) is a very important or influential (and often overbearing) person. The pseudo-Latin word was coined by Samuel Foote, an 18th-century English dramatist and actor.

Example (as used by Max Byrd in a New York Times review of The Transformation of Bartholomew Fortuno by Ellen Bryson): “[P.T.] Barnum, in reality a great 19th-century panjandrum of hype, bangs his fists but makes little impression.”