Lagniappe

For other uses, see Lagniappe (disambiguation).
"We picked up one excellent word – a word worth travelling to New Orleans to get; a nice limber, expressive, handy word – 'Lagniappe.' They pronounce it lanny-yap ... When a child or a servant buys something in a shop – or even the mayor or governor, for aught I know – he finishes the operation by saying, – 'Give me something for lagniappe.' The shopman always responds; gives the child a bit of liquorice-root; (nb...)": Mark Twain, Life on the Mississippi (1883)[1]

A lagniappe (/ˈlænjæp/ LAN-yap, /lænˈjæp/ lan-YAP) is "a small gift given to a customer by a merchant at the time of a purchase" (such as a 13th doughnut on purchase of a dozen), or more broadly, "something given or obtained gratuitously or by way of good measure."[2] It can be used more generally as meaning any extra or unexpected benefit.[3]

The word entered English from the Louisiana French adapting a Quechua word brought in to New Orleans by the Spanish Creoles.

  1. ^ Mark Twain (1883). "City Sights". Life on the Mississippi. Boston, Mass.: James R. Osgood and Company. p. 450. OCLC 557676530.; the illustration is from page 453.
  2. ^ "Definition of lagniappe". Merriam-Webster. Retrieved 2007-10-29.
  3. ^ "lagniappe". dictionary.com. Retrieved 2 February 2021.