Wordplay: For the Love of Language | Merriam-Webster

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What to Call the Inept, Incompetent, and Inferior

What to call the inept, incompetent, and inferior

Strange Words for Body Functions

Did you know that you 'micturate' and 'sternutate'?

Where does 'curiosity killed the cat' come from?

No cats were harmed in the making of this idiom

Cattywampus, Taradiddle, and More Funny-Sounding Words

Feeling 'bumfuzzled' or have the 'collywobbles'?

The Words of the Week - Jun 12

Lookups from New York, Texas, and Utah

Is “GIF” Pronounced “Jiff” or “Giff”?

12 Lovely and Unusual Words for the Natural World

We’ve seen fire, we’ve seen rain, and we have many words for them

Why do we 'bury the lede?'

And why isn't it 'bury the lead'?

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

Why Jaywalking is Called Jaywalking

The shape of the letter J has nothing to do with it

What's so extra about 'extra-virgin'?

The technical vocabulary hiding in your kitchen cabinet

Ten Kinds of Happiness

Joyful words from around the world

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

You'll love to hate these other words!

The Opposite of Déjà Vu

When the familiar becomes unrecognizable

Foreign

'In Vino Veritas' and Other Latin Phrases to Live By

Top 10 Latin Phrases

10 of Our Favourite British Words

Please don't whinge about being knackered, you prat.

Digging Up the Latin Roots of 14 Abbreviations

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

All About Latin Plurals

Check your dictionary

Skunk, Bayou, and Other Words with Native American Origins

You've used more than you might think

Games & Hobbies

10 Words for Lesser-Known Games and Sports

Are you ready for some stoolball?

Winning Scrabble Words for Everyday People

You don't have to be a pro to play these words.

12 Words From Basketball

Plus a few terms that never quite made it

Popular Gaming Terms Explained

Nerfs, MMORPGs, and who the final boss really is

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

Remember this and win.

Science & Nature

12 Pairs of Commonly Confused Animal Words

The animal words went in two by two, hurrah, hurrah!

A Journey to the Moon in 12 Words

Read this before attempting a moon shot

7 Common Idioms That Come from Chickens

Don't ask us which came first

12 Bird Names that Sound Like Compliments

From the godwits at your favorite dictionary

Amber, Auburn, Crimson and Other Colorful Words for Autumn Foliage

Peep these leaves.

Word History

Why do we call it a 'pipe dream'?

Hint: 19th century drug use

How a Word For "Blood" Came to Mean "Optimistic"

The Odd History of "Sanguine"

Much Ado about ‘Folie à deux’

From French psychiatry to the silver screen

10 Words You Don’t Seem to Hear as Much These Days

As chosen by you, the social media scroller!

Words That Turned 100 in 2025

Happy Birthday to our Centenarians