Wordplay

 For the love of language

8 Words for the Wordy and Talking Too Much

You can't shut them up, but you can label them

10 Hella Good U.S. Regionalisms

We’re on a word tour, going each and every place with a mic in our hand

8 Words with Fascinating Histories

Heads up: one is 'vulgar'

Popular

Flower Etymologies For Your Spring Garden

A bouquet of floral origin stories

How 'Namaste' Entered The English Language

"I bow to you"

12 Lovely and Unusual Words for the Natural World

We’ve seen fire, we’ve seen rain, and we have many words for them

Possum vs. Opossum: Is There a Difference?

On a marsupial with various names

'Za' and 9 Other Words to Help You Win at SCRABBLE

The secret top 10 words experts use to win at SCRABBLE

More Words with Remarkable Origins

Words With Remarkable Origins, Vol. 2

Terroir, Oenophile, & Magnum: Ten Words About Wine

Raise a glass to some full-bodied vocabulary.

8 Words for Lesser-Known Musical Instruments

Our maraca shake brings all the hautbois to the yard

Word Choices

Gabrielle Zevin

Novelist

Emily Flake

New Yorker Cartoonist

Celeste Ng

Novelist

Eli Cymet

Video Game Writer/Producer, Cuphead

Emma Straub

Novelist and Children’s Book Author

Arts & Culture

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12 Words and Phrases for Romantic Relationships

This list warms the cockles of our hearts

Where Does the Expression 'Throw Someone Under the Bus' Come From?

Let's blame the British

Top Banana, Kingpin, and Other Nicknames for Important People

Big wigs, big enchiladas, and big shots

The Left Hand of (Supposed) Darkness

It depends on what side you're coming from.

Merriam-Webster's Short List of Gender and Identity Terms

In case you (or someone you know) has questions about what they mean
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Obscure & Fun

Obscure & Fun

Great Big List of Beautiful and Useless Words, Vol. 1

Some may be more useful than others.

Foreign

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10 English Words from Dutch

Learn how to tell your caboodle from your caboose

10 of Our Favourite British Words

Please don't whinge about being knackered, you prat.

'In Vino Veritas' and Other Latin Phrases to Live By

Top 10 Latin Phrases

10 Words from Nahuatl, the Language of the Aztecs

Avocado, chocolate, and more

A Guide to the Names of French Sauces

17 saucy terms (and how to say them)
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Games & Hobbies

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12 Words From Basketball

Plus a few terms that never quite made it

A Player's Guide to 'Q' without 'U' Words

Remember this and win.

These Are Fighting Words

Common terms that come from boxing and wrestling

Know Your Baseball Idioms

Our national pastime. No, the other one.

Are You Ready for Some Football (Words)?

So you can do more than smile and nod when talking about the big game
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Insults

Insults

10 Bird Names that Sound Like Insults (and Sometimes Are)

Polly wanna ask what you meant by that, exactly?

Science & Nature

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Birds Say the Darndest Things

10 Words (or Phrases) Birds Seem to Be Saying

The Many Origin Stories of 'Nerd'

Theories from there to back again

12 Pairs of Commonly Confused Animal Words

The animal words went in two by two, hurrah, hurrah!

7 Common Idioms That Come from Chickens

Don't ask us which came first

12 Bird Names that Sound Like Compliments

From the godwits at your favorite dictionary
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Word History

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Quick: Read This!

'Quick' once had a very different meaning

Eavesdrop, Fiasco, and 8 More Words with Surprising Origins

Including some trivia on ‘trivia’

What does it mean to 'endorse' a presidential candidate?

It's kind of like "endorsing" a check

Funner, Stupider, and Other Words That Are in Fact Real

Don't argue with the dictionary

Etymologies for Every Day of the Week

The sun, the moon, four gods, and a goddess.
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