gigantic

The weird thing about gigantic is that it began as a fairly literal label, not a boast. In the 1610s, writers could use it to mean simply “giant-like,” and Michael Drayton is often credited with coining the form in 1612 for his Poly-Olbion. That flashy Latin-looking ending, -ic, is the same kind of polished suffix you hear in words like poetic and heroic, so the whole word feels dressed for a learned page. Underneath, though, it’s just Greek gígas wearing a Roman costume — the same giant that gave English giant, gigantical, and even the monstrous scale of words like gigantism. Say gigantic now and you’re not imagining a mythological creature at all; you’re just hearing an old giant stomp through modern English with very large boots.