Wordplay: For the Love of Language | Merriam-Webster

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Ten Kinds of Happiness

Joyful words from around the world

17 Words for Dog Breeds

If you love dogs and words, you’re barking up the right tree

Birds Say the Darndest Things

10 Words (or Phrases) Birds Seem to Be Saying

Even More Bird Names that Sound Like Insults (and Sometimes Are)

We just can’t bananaquit them

Better Ways to Say 'This Sucks'

Your day is the worst. Your vocabulary is the best.

How 'Namaste' Entered The English Language

Stay Woke

Tracing the history of 'woke'

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

Some may be more useful than others.

Word Choices

Gabrielle Zevin

Emily Flake

New Yorker Cartoonist

Celeste Ng

Eli Cymet

Video Game Writer/Producer, Cuphead

Emma Straub

Novelist and Children’s Book Author

Arts & Culture

15 Cheffy Words for Chefs (and Everyone Else)

Including 'cheffy'

What exactly is a 'liberal'?

No one wants a 'servile arts' degree

If You Like to Complain About 'Decimate'...

You'll love to hate these other words!

How to use [Sic]

The politics of editorial comment.

10 Words Conjuring Hell and the Devil

Going beyond the fire and brimstone

Foreign

17 English Words That Come From Japanese

Some borrowed words don't get returned

All About Latin Plurals

Check your dictionary

'Disinformation,' 'Parka,' and Other Common Words from Russian

8 Words We Stole from French

Spoiler: We stole way more than 8

Digging Up the Latin Roots of 14 Abbreviations

Beyond 'i.e.' and 'e.g.'

Games & Hobbies

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

Remember this and win.

12 Words From Basketball

Plus a few terms that never quite made it

Why 'Love' Means "Nothing"

In tennis. This is about tennis.

The Scoop on 'The Proof Is in the Pudding'

A delicious question

Are You Ready for Some Football (Words)?

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

Science & Nature

7 Luscious, Fruit-Based Idioms

For a touch of sweetness or acidity

Fruit vs. Vegetable

Are you sure you know which is what?

7 Especially Fitting Common Names for Plants

So you don't mix up your Swiss Cheese plants with your Dutchman's Breeches

12 Words for Signs of Spring

Spring is springing

14 Phobias You Probably Haven't Heard Of

Words for uncommon fears

Word History

Quick: Read This!

'Quick' once had a very different meaning

8 Words with Fascinating Histories

Heads up: one is 'vulgar'

'Handsome,' 'Geek,' and 8 More Words That Changed Their Meanings

Language evolves

Where does 'hello' come from?

Don't answer the phone with 'ahoy'

13 New Words for Old Things

When did 'mail' become 'snail mail'?