Wordplay

 For the love of language

Top 12 Sophisticated Compliments

'Urbane,' 'incisive,' and other good things to be

Better Ways to Say 'This Sucks'

Your day is the worst. Your vocabulary is the best.

8 Words with Fascinating Histories

Heads up: one is 'vulgar'

Popular

Flower Etymologies For Your Spring Garden

A bouquet of floral origin stories

Great Big List of Beautiful and Useless Words, Vol. 1

Some may be more useful than others.

Rare and Amusing Insults, Volume 3

Useful words for everyday interactions

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

The secret top 10 words experts use to win at SCRABBLE

More Words with Remarkable Origins

Words With Remarkable Origins, Vol. 2

Terroir, Oenophile, & Magnum: Ten Words About Wine

Raise a glass to some full-bodied vocabulary.

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

Word Choices

Gabrielle Zevin

Novelist

Emily Flake

New Yorker Cartoonist

Celeste Ng

Novelist

Eli Cymet

Video Game Writer/Producer, Cuphead

Emma Straub

Novelist and Children’s Book Author

Arts & Culture

See More

The Words of the Week - May 9

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

What exactly is a 'liberal'?

No one wants a 'servile arts' degree

15 Cheffy Words for Chefs (and Everyone Else)

Including 'cheffy'

12 Words and Phrases for Romantic Relationships

This list warms the cockles of our hearts

Where Does the Expression 'Throw Someone Under the Bus' Come From?

Let's blame the British
See More

Obscure & Fun

Obscure & Fun

12 Words from the Wrong Side of the Law

Crime doesn't pay, but vocabulary might

Foreign

See More

10 English Words from Dutch

Learn how to tell your caboodle from your caboose

10 of Our Favourite British Words

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

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

Top 10 Latin Phrases

10 Words from Nahuatl, the Language of the Aztecs

Avocado, chocolate, and more

A Guide to the Names of French Sauces

17 saucy terms (and how to say them)
See More

Games & Hobbies

See More

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.

These Are Fighting Words

Common terms that come from boxing and wrestling

Know Your Baseball Idioms

Our national pastime. No, the other one.

Are You Ready for Some Football (Words)?

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

Insults

Insults

Not Nice and Too Nice: A Collection of Dysphemisms and Euphemisms

Words to soothe and annoy

Science & Nature

See More

9 Superb Owl Words

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

12 Bird Names that Sound Like Compliments

From the godwits at your favorite dictionary

'Opossum,' O Lovely 'Possum'

On a marsupial with various names

What is a 'coulrophobe' so afraid of?

Unusual Phobias, Vol. 2

12 Words for Signs of Spring

Spring is springing
See More

Word History

See More

Quick: Read This!

'Quick' once had a very different meaning

Eavesdrop, Fiasco, and 8 More Words with Surprising Origins

Including some trivia on ‘trivia’

What does it mean to 'endorse' a presidential candidate?

It's kind of like "endorsing" a check

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

Don't argue with the dictionary

Etymologies for Every Day of the Week

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