Hello,
Today’s word is xenial which I came across in “The Slippery Slope” (Series of Unfortunate Events Book 10) by Lemony Snicket. The author delights in unusual words and I’m reading the entire series at the moment so I can “talk books” (and words) with my daughter who loves them. They’re quick reads for an adult so it’s helping my Goodreads 2019 book reading challenge too.
Xenial is one of the words where the X is said like a Z, by the way. You can get a pronunciation audio file here or just go with zee-knee-ull.
Snicket’s character implies that xenial is another way to say somebody is friendly or helpful and he’s on the right track. Xenial describes friendly relations and hospitality especially by the host for their guest and in particular when those two people are from different city-states or countries. It has its origins in ancient Greece, xenos was the Greek word for guest. For example, Walder Frey was far from xenial when he hosted the Red Wedding in “Game of Thrones”.
xenial gift wrapping
Xenial entered English in the 1800s as an adjective for hospitality but clearly the ancient Greeks were a friendly bunch way before that date. Although we should also probably recall the ancient advice to beware of Greeks bearing gifts, even if they appear xenial at first glance.
Until next time happy reading, writing, and xenial wordfooling,
Grace (@Wordfoolery)
Wordfoolery 
Fascinating! I hadn’t run across the “guest” meaning. The root is familiar — from “xenophobia” (or “xenophilia”) — but there the meaning at work is “stranger.”
Afterthought — Any relation to the English “genial,” which seems similar in meaning?
Doesn’t seem to have a link to genial – my first thought too. Yes, definitely related to xenophobia – the guest thing was specifically guests from another country or place i.e. strangers.