Gargantuan

Gargantuan is an adjective meaning huge or enormous.

It came up in my S1 class last week.   (Several pupils knew the meaning!)

The word comes from the name of a character in a book by the old French writer Rabelais: Gargantua was a giant king known for his huge appetite.  The Collins dictionary notes that some people maintain that  gargantuan should be used only in connection with food.

Interestingly, Rabelais is mentioned by one of my favourite poets, George Barker, in his great poem To My Mother, which starts:

Most near, most dear, most loved and most far,

Under the window where I often found her

Sitting as huge as Asia, seismic with laughter,

Gin and chicken helpless in her Irish hand,

Irresistible as Rabelais...