play backward index mystery
Words Matter

The True Story of the Backward Index

These people needed a computer


There it sits, hidden in plain view on a set of shelves in the basement of the Merriam-Webster offices: the Backward Index. But why would anyone type out 315,000 words spelled in reverse?

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play backward index mystery
The True Story of the Backward Index

 

These people needed a computer

play serenity carr next to an illustration of a refrigerator with the letter d in it
Why is there a 'd' in 'fridge' but not in 'refrigerator'?

 

Thawing one of the mysteries of English

play image1815466723
How Do You Pronounce 'Vase'?

 

And is one way more correct than the others?

play video how a word gets into the dicionary
How a Word Gets into the Dictionary

 

What our editors are looking for when they enter words in Merriam-Webster.

play mrs malaprop
What is a malaprop?

 

We'll tell you all the perpendiculars

play video soup vs soop
An Abbreviated History of American English Spelling

 

Soop, wimmen, and headake did not make the cut