Wordplay: For the Love of Language | Merriam-Webster

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Flower Etymologies For Your Spring Garden

A bouquet of floral origin stories

'Za' and 9 Other Words to Help You Win at SCRABBLE

The secret top 10 words experts use to win at SCRABBLE

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

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

8 Uncommon Words Related to Love

You won't find these on candy conversation hearts, but maybe you should

10 Words for Lesser-Known Games and Sports

Are you ready for some stoolball?

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 - May 9

Lookups from the Met Gala, the Kentucky Derby, and the Sistine Chapel

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

Are You Ready for Some Football (Words)?

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

12 Words From Basketball

Plus a few terms that never quite made it

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

Remember this and win.

19 Palindromes You Might Not Know

Learn some fun vocabulary with these palindromes!

Why 'Love' Means "Nothing"

In tennis. This is about tennis.

Science & Nature

9 Superb Owl Words

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

7 Especially Fitting Common Names for Plants

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

7 Common Idioms That Come from Chickens

Don't ask us which came first

12 Pairs of Commonly Confused Animal Words

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

A Cast of 12 Astrological Words

It's written in the stars

Word History

15 Words That Used to Mean Something Different

Including the secret history of 'secretary'

Etymologies for Every Day of the Week

The sun, the moon, four gods, and a goddess.

Eavesdrop, Fiasco, and 8 More Words with Surprising Origins

Including some trivia on ‘trivia’

9 Christmas Words with Surprising Histories

There's no bread in 'gingerbread'

Funner, Stupider, and Other Words That Are in Fact Real

Don't argue with the dictionary