WORDS

Empathy’s definition originally described the relationship between humans and objects. Now, it’s much less straightforward.

The viral 'if I had four eggs' riddle may seem like a straightforward problem, but you'll need more than math skills to solve it.

Sometimes the dreadful things we must suffer can seem a little less grim when they have the sweet ring, nay—the dulcet tones of euphonious polysyllabic Latin appellations.

Sure, you might know a few palindrome words on your own. But what about palindromic Petrarchan sonnets or recipes for ragù?

If we’re being pedantic here (and we are), ‘vaccination’ and ‘immunization’ shouldn't be used interchangeably.

American football is home to a lot of nonsensical terminology, but 'hut' has a fairly clear origin.

The definition of ‘eponymous’ has changed over time, and ‘titular’ has more than one. Here’s how to use each word correctly.

While listening to Mental Floss's new podcast, 'The Quest for the North Pole,' learn the definitions for these common polar terms.

The slang term has been around for decades, but its origins might have less to do with appearance and more to do with mules.

When you ask someone for the scuttlebutt, you're using a very old nautical term to solicit potentially specious gossip.

In the 17th and 18th centuries, there were as many words for lunch as there were varieties of it. Below is a lexicon of some of these splendid words.

Lame duck presidents date back to the beginning of U.S. history, but we didn’t start calling them that until the 20th century.