Wordplay

 For the love of language

Ten Painless Ways to Improve Your Vocabulary

Simple but Intelligent Word Choices

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

We just can’t bananaquit them

8 Words with Fascinating Histories

Heads up: one is 'vulgar'

Popular

How 'Namaste' Entered The English Language

"I bow to you"

12 Lovely and Unusual Words for the Natural World

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

10 Hella Good U.S. Regionalisms

We’re on a word tour, going each and every place with a mic in our hand

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

9 Whiskery Words for Facial Hair

A tonsorial tutorial

Top 12 Sophisticated Compliments

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

Words For Things You Didn't Know Have Names, Vol. 3

When thingummy and whatsit won't 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

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The Words of the Week - June 20

Lookups from Juneteenth, politics, and Matagorda Bay

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
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Obscure & Fun

Obscure & Fun

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

Some may be more useful than others.

Foreign

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10 of Our Favourite British Words

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

All About Latin Plurals

Check your dictionary

10 English Words from Dutch

Learn how to tell your caboodle from your caboose

10 Words from Nahuatl, the Language of the Aztecs

Avocado, chocolate, and more

Favorite Words From Foreign Languages

Karaoke, chutzpah, kerfuffle & more
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Games & Hobbies

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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.

19 Palindromes You Might Not Know

Learn some fun vocabulary with these palindromes!

Why 'Love' Means "Nothing"

In tennis. This is about tennis.
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Insults

Insults

Plant Names That Sound Like Insults

Hey, we're all adults here.

Science & Nature

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12 Words for Signs of Spring

Spring is springing

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

More moons than you can shake a stick at

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
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Word History

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Much Ado about ‘Folie à deux’

From French psychiatry to the silver screen

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’

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

Don't argue with the dictionary
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