Quiz: Can You Guess the Word Coined by Shakespeare?
Shakespeare is often given credit with coining more than a thousand words. How many of them do you know?
Shakespeare is often given credit with coining more than a thousand words. How many of them do you know?
If you’ve ever needed a word for a piece of bread eaten just after a bath, or a term for an unpleasant choice between three options, you’re in luck.
Despite his many contributions to English literature, surprisingly little is known about William Shakespeare's life. Here’s what we do know about the celebrated actor, poet, and playwright.
The four-letter words that still have the power to offend took a circuitous route out of our mouths and into our language.
A handful of centuries-old sailing words remain known only to the saltiest of seamen, but some have become part of our everyday language.
Test your knowledge of Victorian slang with this quiz that’s bang up to the elephant.
One in five people give up before solving the puzzle.
When we promise to honor a commitment, it's a "rain check." And yes, it originally had something to do with the weather.
To be certified as organic, farmers can’t use prohibited synthetic fertilizers, pesticides, or hormones for three full years before applying. Further, any animals they have must be raised on organic foods.
Shakespeare is the first known citation for over a thousand words and even more meanings—but new research occasionally shows that Shakespeare actually didn't originate some phrases, a trend that will likely continue over time.
Medieval dog names ran the gamut from 'Argument' to 'Feete.'
Here's how 'Roger' came to mean "received" (and how 'wilco' fits in).
Idioms like Mandarin’s ‘take your pants off to fart’ make no sense to English speakers—at least, not English speaker who haven’t read this list.
From ‘kibosh’ to ‘niche,’ these words can trip up even the most meticulous English speakers.
‘Take it with a grain of salt’ all (probably) started with Pliny the Elder, but he was talking about literal poison.
Discover how the different generation names for Baby Boomers, Gen X, and Millennials came to be.
Here are 20 of the world's trickiest names, from ‘Sean’ to ‘Saoirse.’ (No, they’re not all Irish.)
Our 2025 word-a-day calendar covers old-timey slang terms, fascinating phrase origins, and more.
Here are 20 fun bits of Olympics slang, from diving’s ‘bingo’ to gymnastics’ ‘twisties.’
The abbreviations are widely understood as “morning” and “afternoon,” but what do the Latin translations actually mean?
In the 2000s, the internet took over, as did social media, streaming, and cell phones that were also cameras and tiny computers. The slang of this era didn’t disappoint, either: From amazeballs to mukbang and beyond, here are some terms you might not have
The origins are often more complicated (and fun) than you’d expect.
From 'giggle smoke' to 'Nixon,' these marijuana nicknames deserve a resurgence.
Whether they’re said over a PA or in a one-on-one conversation, these seemingly innocuous terms are actually codes to alert those in the know that something is up while keeping others in the dark.