1804: -ard (positive) Nov 22, 2019

Following from yesterday, '-ard', like in 'sluggard', 'drunkard', 'niggard' and 'coward', may seem to attach to words only pejoratively, but this is not exclusively so. Although English has more of these than positive ones, 'wizard', and also 'bollard' exist. The former has already been discussed, but a 'bollard' is fairly neutral as far as a post to divert traffic.
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