jeopardize; jeopard; enjeopard.
H.W. Horwill wrote that in American English “‘jeopard’ is preferred to ‘jeopardize,’ the common term in England.” Modern American Usage 178 (2d ed. 1944). This wasn’t true in 1944, and it isn’t true today — e.g.:
o “Mr. Connelly said no federal funds were jeopardized by the ordinance.” Joyce Price, “Allentown Feels HUD’s Wrath over ‘English-Only’ Law,” Wash. Times, 5 Apr. 1995, at A1.
o “Overfishing had jeopardized the survival of some species.” “News Summary,” N.Y. Times, 3 Apr. 1997, at A2.
“Jeopard” and “enjeopard” are needless variants that, though extremely rare, still sometimes appear — e.g.: “He quit, jeoparding [read ‘jeopardizing’] more than 20 years of integrity in one day.” Kelley Steve, “James Abandons His Sinking Ship,” Des Moines Register, 24 Aug. 1993, Sports §, at 1.
For information about the Language-Change Index click here.
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Quotation of the Day: “A subject forced into the wrong form will make a fuzzy impact on the reader; of alternative forms for which a subject may be suitable, one will usually enhance the subject better than the other.” Gorham Munson, The Written Word 63 (rev. ed. 1949).
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