Merriam-Webster Dictionary
Word of the Day
29/05/2026
We are born into cohorts
long before we know the word,
gathered by accident of year,
of place,
of the slow turning of history’s wheel.
A cohort of winters,
a cohort of streets walked home in rain,
a cohort of songs that shaped us
before we learned to shape ourselves.
But there is another kind,
the chosen band,
the ones who walk beside you
not because the census says so,
but because something in your stride
matched theirs.
These are the cohorts that matter:
the friend who kept pace
when the road grew steep,
the colleague who lifted the load
without being asked,
the companion whose silence
fit your silence
like two hands folded together.
And still another kind,
the cohort of those who stand with you
in the bright press of a moment:
a march,
a vigil,
a gathering where hearts beat
in something like agreement.
Cohort means we,
but not the easy kind.
It means the ones who stayed,
the ones who returned,
the ones who held the line
when the line trembled.
It means the people
whose footsteps echo in yours
long after the path has changed.
It means the band you carry
in memory,
in gratitude,
in the quiet census
of the soul.