Can you name the word that entered English with the meaning "kind, obliging, eager to serve, help, or perform a duty"; and over time came to imply something very different indeed?

Here's a hint: the correct word has its origin in the Latin word for "service or office," and it first appeared in English in the 16th century.

It didn't take long before this eagerness to do right took on a negative slant, and by the 17th century, officious�and yes, officious is the word we were looking for�was being used to describe someone who offered unwanted or unwelcome help. This pejorative sense soon drove out the kinder, gentler sense, and nowadays the predominant sense of officious is "meddlesome, or volunteering one's services where they are neither asked nor needed."