Wednesday Words ~ lagniappe

lagniappe / LAN-yap / lan-YAP / something given as a bonus or extra gift; a little something special; something obtained gratuitously.

Mark Twain wrote in Life on the Mississippi, a memoir, that lagniappe was "a word worth traveling to New Orleans to get."  The photo above and the Mark Twain quote came from a 2013 article:  Lagniappe: A Little Something Special.  Read that article for the New Orleans connection.

Example of the word's use:  "I have three loving children left to me and also get a lagniappe family to support me in my old age."