Devoir

I've been getting Word of the Day emails since 1995; there are a lot of words I still don't know, such as....devoir (duh-VWAR) noun

1. Duty; responsibility.

2. An act of respect or courtesy.

[From Middle English devoir (duty), from Old French, from Latin debere
(to owe). Ultimately from Indo-European root ghebh- (to give or receive)
that is also the forefather of such words as give, have, endeavor, handle,
able, and duty.]

As nightfall does not come at once, neither does oppression. In both
instances there is a twilight when everything remains seemingly unchanged.
And it is in such twilight that we all must be most aware of change in the
air - however slight - lest we become unwitting victims of the darkness.
-William O. Douglas, judge (1898-1980)

Pronunciation:
http://wordsmith.org/words/devoir.wav
http://wordsmith.org/words/devoir.ram