Words

6 Words English Got From Hindi

During the British Raj, or dominion over India (1757-1947), English gained a number of words from Hindi and other Indian languages. Linguists refer to this as “borrowing,” but we’re not likely to return any of this linguistic wealth.... READ ON

Words

7 Words that Came About from People Getting Them Wrong

People didn't always say "pea" or "newt." These seven words initially started as other words entirely.... READ ON

Words

11 Words & Phrases From Downton Abbey's Third Season

As we've been following the trials and tribulations of the Granthams, Angela Tung of Wordnik has been collecting interesting terms from the show.... READ ON

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11 Words That Don't Mean What They Sound Like

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18 Complicated Scientific Ideas Explained Simply

Geologists Anne Jefferson and Chris Rowan created the Tumblr "Ten Hundred Words of Science" to collect examples of scientific text rendered into up-goer five speak.... READ ON

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20 Words We Owe to Shakespeare

No high school English curriculum is complete without a mandatory dose of William Shakespeare. As contemporary speakers of the English language, however, they might be interested to learn how much the Bard of Avon had in common with the generations that popularized the acronyms LOL and OMG and reinvented the 1940s slang term “hipster.” Endlessly imaginative and not overly concerned with grammatical convention, Shakespeare’s scripts contain over 2200 never-before-seen words. Here are 20 examples. ... READ ON

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15 Entries From Mrs. Byrne's Dictionary of Unusual Words

If you’re looking to spice up your vocabulary, Mrs. Byrne's Dictionary of Unusual, Obscure, and Preposterous Words has you covered.... READ ON

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7 Common Words With Little-Known Relatives

When some words hit the big time, they left clunky related words behind.... READ ON

Big Question

How Many Words Do Eskimos Really Have for Snow?

There are three answers to this question: a heck of a lot, not that many, and a whole heck of a lot. Or, if you want specifics: 5, 2, and 99. Confused?... READ ON