play backward index mystery
Up Next
Title
CANCEL
backward index mystery
Words Matter

The True Story of the Backward Index

These people needed a computer

There it sits, hidden in plain view on a set of shelves in the basement of the Merriam-Webster offices: the Backward Index. But why would anyone type out 315,000 words spelled in reverse?

Up next

play backward index mystery
The True Story of the Backward Index

 

These people needed a computer

play calendar that says day today
Is It 'day today' or 'day-to-day'?

 

What about Day Tomorrow?

play cartoon-of-british-nobility
Why did Yankee Doodle call a feather 'macaroni'?

 

What's with his feathered cap?

play video drive safe ly
Drive Safe: In Praise of Flat Adverbs

 

You don't have to end all your adverbs in -ly to talk right.

play video title words of the year 1066
Words of the Year: 1066

 

English was never the same after the Norman Conquest

play video who vs whom
Who vs. Whom

 

Good news for those who feel stuffy saying 'whom.'

play video cynic
The History of 'Cynic'

 

How an ancient philosophical movement devoted to the pursuit of virtue came to describe eye-rolling criticism.

Games & Quizzes

See All
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
alt-628f89ac49496
What’s on the Menu? Sink your teeth into these questions about food.
See All