curate [ME] The word curate, ‘an assistant to a parish priest’, comes from medieval Latin curatus, from Latin cura ‘care’ (because the parishioners are in his care), the source of a number of words including cure [ME], curator [LME], accurate [L16th] ‘done with care’, and secure [ME] ‘free from care’. You can describe something that is partly good and partly bad as a curate’s egg. This is one of those rare expressions whose origin can be precisely identified. A cartoon in an 1895 edition of the magazine Punch features a meek curate at the breakfast table with his bishop. The caption reads: ‘BISHOP: “I’m afraid you’ve got a bad egg, Mr Jones.” CURATE: “Oh no, my Lord, I assure you! Parts of it are excellent!” ’ Only ten years later the phrase had become sufficiently familiar to appear in a publication called Minister’s Gazette of Fashion: ‘The past spring and summer season has seen much fluctuation. Like the curate’s egg, it has been excellent in parts.’