WORD: Passe-partout
(noun) Something that passes everywhere or provides a universal means of ORIGIN Passe-partout , “something that provides a universal means of passage; a master key, skeleton key,” comes from the French compound passe-partout , whose literal meaning is “(it) passes everywhere.” In French the phrase originally meant “a person who can go anywhere,” and slightly later “a master key.” The French verb passer “to pass” comes from Vulgar Latin passāre “to walk, step, pass,” from the Latin noun passus “pace, step.” Partout is a compound of par “through” and tout “all.” Par comes from the Latin preposition per “through”; tout comes from Latin tōtus “all, the whole of, complete.” Passe-partout entered English in the 17th century. USE Journalists have an invisible passe-partout that allows them to roam the world and ask consequential people impertinent questions. NICHOLA...