Word-Origin Wednesday
Word-Origin WednesdayEpisodes
Episodes of Word-Origin Wednesday
Mark All
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"Ghost" is a pretty old word. "Ghoul," as an English word, not so much.
The names of "October" and a few other months make a lot more sense if we look at Latin and the Roman calendar.
The everyday meaning of "sympathy" has shifted over the years, but it's always had some connection to its Latin and Greek roots.
Before it entered everyday English, "hysterical" was medical Latin.
Do you say "autumn" or "fall" to describe the season between summer and winter? Get the lowdown on the history of both words.
"Dead" and "duck" go way back, but the term "dead duck" is only a couple of centuries old.
The often miswritten and mispronounced "landlubber" goes back a few centuries.
"Nice" has had at least a dozen definitions over the last few centuries.
The Modern English "peruse" came from the Middle English "peruse" . . . or maybe it came from French.
With Labor Day approaching, let's look at "factory" and "manufacturing." They were both borrowed from Latin.
"Escalate" is fairly new word, and the current definition has been around since just the 1950s.
"Put up your dukes," which has been around since at least the 1800s, is one example of Cockney rhyming slang.
The transition from "ekename" to "nickname" is a fine demonstration of the transition from Middle English to Modern English.
"Posh," as it is used today, first appeared in print a little more than a century ago. But where did it come from?
It took several languages to bring "karaoke" to English in the 1970s.
"Honey" and "moon" are very old. "Honeymoon" is relatively new, meaning it's a mere 500 years old.
"Aioli" comes from French, as do the words for many prepared foods.
"Mascara" is linked to many words from many languages, many of which go back centuries before commercially available mascara hit store shelves.
The word "liar" goes way back. As it turns out, people have been lying for a long time.
"Salary" is related to something in your kitchen, and it's not celery.
Like a lot of food-related words, "omelet" comes from French. Its origin has nothing to do with eggs.
"Humble" came from French, which took it from Latin. It's always meant "lowly," although that's not how people use it today.
A lavaliere is a fancy pendant. It's also a type of microphone. To find the origin, we go back to 17th-century France.
"Memorial" comes from Latin and is related to a slew of other English words, including "remember" and "memorandum."
"Waxing," "waning," "crescent" and "gibbous" go back a long, long time.
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