LINGUISTICS

A knight throwing down his glove in Medieval Europe meant serious business.

Any early warning sign can be a canary in a coal mine. But the original meaning was more specific.

Here are some word endings that have become productive to varying degrees.

Latin isn’t widely spoken in Latin America, so why is it called that?

Without a Rosetta Stone for these centuries-old writing systems, the meaning of the texts may never be known.

The prefix ‘pre-’ often seems redundant—but it’s actually working hard to serve its purpose.

Thinking about learning a new language? Here‘s a look at the most popular choices in the U.S. right now.

If you’ve ever been jinxed into owing someone a soda, you should know why.

We give you an obscure word with four definitions—one correct, three made up. Can you identify the correct one?

The first jack-o'-lanterns were made with turnips, not pumpkins.

From ‘skeletons in the closet’ to ‘graveyard shift,’ here’s how five eerie idioms came to be.

‘Bookworm,’ which now implies someone is well-read, once meant that you were a total loser.