Dictionary Week continues with Word Curiosity Day, an exploration of all the questions and wonder that words awaken in us. We’re here to answer all your burning questions about words, the dictionary, and the ever-evolving linguistic landscape. Feed and fuel your Word Curiosity with our expert panel, quizzes, and more! 🙋 Ask Us Anything! Now’s your chance to pose your most burning word questions directly …
A babywearing dad. A former White House photographer. A long-running TV show. What do they all have in common? Spots on the Dictionary.com Trending Words of the Week list for October 12–19, 2018! Emasculate British TV presenter Piers Morgan took aim at actor Daniel Craig this week, poking fun at the James Bond star for babywearing his little girl. Morgan hashtagged the potshot #EmasculatedBond, sending …
There are a lot of reasons to love trees. They provide us with shade, fruit, beautiful flowers, and clean air. In addition to all of these perks, many of them also have fascinating names. Trees take their names from famous people in history, stories in mythology, and even the special extracts and resins they produce. Some of them are hundreds of feet tall. Others have …
What’s the difference between the interstate highway and the intrastate highway? Inter- is a prefix that means between two groups, and intra- is a prefix which means within or inside one group. Inter- and intra- are both prefixes, which are groups of letters that are placed at the beginning of a word in order to change its meaning. Inter- Inter- is a common prefix that …
While there are auto races held throughout the year, there are few better times to watch an event than summer. Case in point: races like the Indy 500, which is at the end of May. Race fans are well familiar with the major events, of course, but even those who haven’t watched a full race in their life have almost certainly used some auto racing …
October is here, and in the Northern Hemisphere, that often means the days are flush with falling leaves, chilling weather, and growing anticipation for the holiday season. The tenth month by our Gregorian calendar, October shares a root with octopus and octagon—the Latin octo and Greek okto, meaning “eight.” According to the original Roman republican calendar, October was the eighth month of the year rather than the …
“Climate is what we expect, weather is what we get.” This pithy quote by famed science fiction author Robert A. Heinlein (among earlier variations) nicely frames the basic difference between climate and weather: climate refers to average, long-term conditions, while weather refers to specific, short-term conditions. Of course, it’s more complicated than that. We talk a lot about climate these days, especially in the context …
On August 11, 1973, DJ Kool Herc hosted a back-to-school party in the Bronx. At that time, different like-minded communities came together to party, and in doing so, they created a new cultural movement that would dramatically shape popular culture forever. That movement would be called hip-hop. The name hip-hop wasn’t used yet in 1973, and no one at the time interpreted the gathering, or …
The difference between undergraduate and graduate is a difference of degrees (*throws graduation cap in the air to celebrate the pun*). The level of education that each word involves varies depending on how the word is being used, and there are situations in which both words can be used in the same situation. For example, you can become a graduate student after graduating with an …
In politics, having a catchy nickname will go a long way to help you stand out from the crowd and be remembered throughout history. After all, we still recall how much people liked Ike and how they loved listening to the Great Communicator. But a nickname doesn’t have to be that fancy to stick in people’s minds. Sometimes, all you need are a couple of …
They are Leos, hear them roar. People born under this most majestic zodiac sign arrive into this world between July 23–August 22, and once they do, they’re ready to take it head on. The Leo sign comes after Cancer in the calendar and before Virgo. Represented by a lion, the term Leo stems from the Latin word for “lion,” which is spelled the same: leo. Leo …
Wobble. Bumpkin. Goulash. Some words are just funny. There’s something about certain combinations of sounds and syllables that just makes us giggle. But why—and which ones? We want to know: what are the secret ingredients that make some words funnier than others? Luckily, linguists have been asking the same question, digging into the data and producing the kinds of studies that have subtitles like “On …