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Word History

Words of the Year: 1066

Why is pig meat called 'pork' and cow meat called 'beef?' Because English took on a big serving of French words following the Norman Conquest.

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Words of the Year: 1066

 

English was never the same after the Norman Conquest

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Is It 'Attorney Generals' Or 'Attorneys General'?

 

'Poets laureate'? 'Court-martials'? The curious history of postpositive adjectives in English.

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Affect vs. Effect

 

Here's the lowdown on what may be the most confusing pair of words in the English language.

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A Look at Uncommon Onomatopoeia

 

Some imitative words are more surprising than others

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Video: Why is there a 'c' in 'indict'?

 

And who put it there, anyway?

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How a Word Gets into the Dictionary

 

What our editors are looking for when they enter words in Merriam-Webster.

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'One in the same' or 'One and the same'?

 

Is it all the same anyway?

Games & Quizzes

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Play Quordle: Guess all four words in a limited number of tries. Each of your guesses must be a real 5-letter word.
Quordle Can you solve 4 words at once?
Play Blossom: Solve today's spelling word game by finding as many words as you can using just 7 letters. Longer words score more points.
Blossom Pick the best words!
Play Missing Letter: a crossword with a twist. Each of the 25 puzzle words start with a different letter of the alphabet. Which letter is missing?
The Missing Letter A daily crossword with a twist
book-magic-glow
Famous Novels, First Lines Quiz Can you identify these novels by their famous fir...
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