Nonpareil, Without Equal

In Shakespeare's Twelfth Night, Cesario, who is really the main character Viola disguised as a boy, tells the lovely Olivia that she is the nonpareil of beauty. And that she is.


Within the comic madness of the play, Shakespeare arranges for three suitors--Duke Orsino, Andrew Aguecheek, and Malvolio, to attempt to win the hand of this beautiful, clever, wealthy young woman.  Toward the end of the play, however, Viola's long-lost brother Sebastian can't believe his good fortune--he must be dreaming, he says, for he is the chosen one.


And so we have a new word:  nonpareil. 


Definition
nonpareil:  without equal, peerless


Origin
1400-1450, late Middle English from Middle French
non (not) + pareil (equal)


Examples
1.  As best friends go, Betty was the nonpareil of all the people he had ever known, and he married her.  (noun)


2.  Nonpareil to most financial institutions, the old bank, which had been in operation since 1903, survived the Great Depression and never closed its doors.  (adjective)




Oddly enough, another definition exists that seems completely different from the one above but actually has a legitimate connection.


Definition #2
nonpareil:  a small pellet of colored sugar used for decorating sweets (Most often we call them "sprinkles"); a flat, round bite-size piece of chocolate covered with these sprinkles. See below.

Frankly, I'm not at all opposed to relating this lovely little word, nonpareil, to chocolate or even multicolored sprinkles, the kind you absolutely must have when baking Christmas cookies.  After all, these little confections just might be without equal in their decorative enhancement of yummy sweets.
See you in the next word, friends.