WORDS

There are a few schools of thought. Some have more legs than others—such as those of the restaurant industry—but to this day, there is still no official etymology. Here are a few possibilities.

Stop the presses—there is a rhyme for orange, and for purple. You just have to get creative (and maybe a little scientific).

From allerednic to yob, these ananyms and semi-ananyms have backed their way into the dictionary.

Sometimes there are words that you've seen, read, and maybe even used in conversation whose meaning you can never keep straight.

The dictionary definition of ‘equity’ seems similar to that of ‘equality,’ but there’s an important distinction between the two.

From Austen to Dickens and beyond, famous authors have had no problem with using the word 'literally' in a figurative sense.

Perfectly innocent Latin or Greekisms that just happen to sound like something else.

Silent letters are the scourge of spellers and a stumbling block when learning how to write in English—but they're often hidden remnants of how the words passed through different languages on their way to English.

The next time you interrupt an important meeting with a ructus or a borborygmus, you’ll at least have the perfect word for it.

The Irish language is full of evocative names for aspects of the natural environment, and wildlife is no exception.

Wordiest, not weirdest. But probably that, too.

If you know the meaning of ‘consort,’ you can probably guess what a queen consort is.