Wordplay: For the Love of Language | Merriam-Webster

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Flower Etymologies For Your Spring Garden

A bouquet of floral origin stories

8 Words for Lesser-Known Musical Instruments

Our maraca shake brings all the hautbois to the yard

10 Words from Taylor Swift Songs (Merriam's Version)

Look what you made us do

'Blue Moon,' 'Wolf Moon,' and Other Moons to Look for Throughout the Year

More moons than you can shake a stick at

10 Scrabble Words Without Any Vowels

We'd like to not buy a vowel

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

Words beloved even by cranky fans and pettichaps

9 Superb Owl Words

Who cooks for you? Who cooks for you all? We do!

15 Words That Used to Mean Something Different

Including the secret history of 'secretary'

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

The Words of the Week - Apr. 25

Lookups from social media, deep space, and the Vatican

A Great Big List of Bread Words

Quit loafing around and get that bread (word)

A List of The U.S. Military Ranks in Order

From Private to General of the Army

9 Other Words for Beautiful

Here are some additional words for calling something lovely

What Does 'Eighty-Six' Mean?

We won't refuse you service

Foreign

17 English Words That Come From Japanese

Some borrowed words don't get returned

All About Latin Plurals

Check your dictionary

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.'

Skunk, Bayou, and Other Words with Native American Origins

You've used more than you might think

Games & Hobbies

12 Words From Basketball

Plus a few terms that never quite made it

What It Means to ‘Touch Base’

Just checking in with it

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

Remember this and win.

Why 'Love' Means "Nothing"

In tennis. This is about tennis.

The Scoop on 'The Proof Is in the Pudding'

A delicious question

Science & Nature

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

What is a 'coulrophobe' so afraid of?

Unusual Phobias, Vol. 2

'Opossum,' O Lovely 'Possum'

On a marsupial with various names

12 Bird Names that Sound Like Compliments

From the godwits at your favorite dictionary

Word History

Quick: Read This!

'Quick' once had a very different meaning

13 New Words for Old Things

When did 'mail' become 'snail mail'?

12 Words Whose History Will Surprise You

They all use this one weird trick (etymology)

7 Run-Down Words That Have Seen Better Days

They've taken a hit but are still standing.

Compound Words That Used to Make a Lot More Sense

How 'jack' met 'pot.' How 'wed' met 'lock.'