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Words of the Year: 1066

Or, Why Pig Meat is Called 'Pork' and Cow Meat is Called 'Beef'

9 Slang Words With Academic Origins

Class is in session.

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Challenging Vocabulary Quiz Returns!

No tricks, just difficult words.

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'Bodega' Startup Draws Criticism, Mockery

"Don’t mess with the beloved bodega."

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'So Long': A Common But Mysterious Goodbye

Its origins are surprisingly murky.

2016 Word of the Year: Behind the Scenes

How we chose 'surreal'

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How did we choose surreal as our Word of the Year for 2016? Peter Sokolowski explains the data behind our decisions, and what that tells us about what people were thinking this year.

Don't miss our in-depth look at surreal and our gallery of top trending words from 2016.

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Words at Play

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'So Long': A Common But Mysterious Goodbye

Its origins are surprisingly murky.

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"Immune to" or "Immune from"?

Nobody is immune to this question.

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What's Going On With 'Nonplussed'?

Its recent usage is hard to shrug off.

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Welcome to the New Words

From 'hive mind' to 'sriracha'

Word Games

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Challenging Vocabulary Quiz Returns!

No tricks, just difficult words.

Take the quiz

Name that Color!

NEW! Additional colors! More obscure than before!

Take the quiz

Spell It

Can you spell these 10 commonly misspelled words?

Take the quiz

Word Winder's CrossWinder

Word Winder's CrossWinder

A game of winding words.

Play the game