Both English and German are Germanic languages. Maybe that explains why we find the German language to be so wunderbar! English has borrowed quite a few words from the choice land of Deutschland, and there is a good reason for it. In German, a speaker can put two unrelated words next to each other and create a novel compound word, so you don’t have to …
When we think of Lewis Carroll, we think of whimsical worlds … and words. The man who penned Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, Through the Looking-Glass, “Jabberwocky,“ and countless other timeless poems and works of literature has taken our imaginations to the furthest limits for decades. His stories—published during the mid- to late-1800s—are full of life, adventure, humor, and some of the most fantastical words. You see, …
It’s that time of year again. No, we aren’t just talking about the holidays. We mean that it’s officially Hallmark holiday movie season. Each year, there’s a new lineup of cozy, festive holiday romance movies to watch while you’re sipping hot cocoa or wrapping gifts. If you’re a fan of these movies, chances are you’ve noticed that they stick to several common romance tropes, like …
It’s one of the oldest words in the English language. One that’s fundamental not just to our vocabulary but to who we are as humans. And yet it’s a word that continues to be a source of intense personal importance and societal debate. It’s a word that’s inseparable from the story of 2022. Dictionary.com’s Word of the Year is woman. woman [ woom–uhn ] noun …
While we try to be careful, many of us have suffered a bruise every now and again. Bruises can result from many sources, such as accidental contact with table legs or awkward meetings of thumbs and hammers. But, medically speaking, what exactly is a bruise, and what medical terms do the professionals use to talk about bruises? A bruise is a discoloration that results from …
Q: What do you get when you combine Dictionary.com with a Dad Joke Contest? A: 3,500 submissions and 5,200 votes, apparently! For our Dad Joke Contest, we gave you a classic setup with a twist—“Why did the dictionary cross the road?”—and asked you to submit the corniest, punniest, dad-jokiest punch line you could muster. Dads and non-dads delivered big time—submitting more than 3,500 entries! After …
by Min Straussman In 1585, a mining expert named Joachim Gans landed on Roanoke Island in the New World. He is considered the first Jewish person to visit the Americas. Almost 70 years later, in 1654, the first Jewish community was founded in what was then known as New Amsterdam, and what we today call New York City. They came, like so many other early …
When you think of something (or someone) sinister, there’s a good chance it’s not a pleasant picture. Sinister is an adjective that means “threatening or portending evil, harm, or trouble.” That shadowy, sinister figure lurking in the dark alley, for example. But the word sinister, which comes from Latin, originally meant “left” or “on the left hand or side.” Even back in Latin, though, sinister …
by John Kelly, Senior Research Editor at Dictionary.com Economics—as if understanding its facts and figures, number and statistics, and charts and graphs isn’t challenging enough. Economics also relies on some tough terms. No, we don’t just mean the more advanced argot of arbitrage or leveraged buyout. Even more familiar economic terms many of us encounter in the news (or, more frighteningly, feel in our pocketbooks), …
Lately, it seems everyone has been talking about the Delta variant of COVID-19. And just as we were getting used to this new term, a Lambda variant appeared in the news. Delta? Lambda? Do these words mean anything? Why are we using them to refer to COVID-19? Delta and lambda are actually letters of the Greek alphabet, and there is a good reason that we …