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Est. 1828
Wordplay
For the love of language
12 Words for Signs of Spring
Spring is springing
12 More Bird Names that Sound Like Insults (and Sometimes Are)
Words beloved even by cranky fans and pettichaps
13 Unusually Long English Words
Pulchritudinous and many more
Arts & Culture
Obscure & Fun
Foreign
Games & Hobbies
Insults
Science & Nature
Word History
Popular
The Words of the Week - May 10
Lookups from technology, the courts, and the brain
A Great Big List of Bread Words
Quit loafing around and get that bread (word)
10 Scrabble Words Without Any Vowels
We'd like to not buy a vowel
8 Uncommon Words Related to Love
You won't find these on candy conversation hearts, but maybe you should
9 Superb Owl Words
Who cooks for you? Who cooks for you all? We do!
15 Words That Used to Mean Something Different
Including the secret history of 'secretary'
9 Whiskery Words for Facial Hair
A tonsorial tutorial
Rare and Amusing Insults, Volume 3
Useful words for everyday interactions
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 All
The Real Origin of 'Supercalifragilistic'
Here's how all this nonsense started
What Does 'Eighty-Six' Mean?
We won't refuse you service
10 Better Ways to Say Underwear
Get your knickers in a twist
The Changing Meaning of 'Elope'
Read this before you elope. Or 'elope.'
12 Star Wars Words
Enjoy this listicle, you will
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Obscure & Fun
Obscure & Fun
'Apricity' and Other Rare Wintry Words
Hiemal, brumation, & rare wintry words
Read
Words About Words
As your friendly dictionary, we know some things about words. We also know lots of words about those words. This is a list of some of them.
Read
Dice, Dice, Baby: 8 Dungeons & Dragons Words
Chaotic and good, like English itself
Read
Great Big List of Beautiful and Useless Words, Vol. 5
So beautiful. So useless.
Read
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12 Words from the Wrong Side of the Law
Crime doesn't pay, but vocabulary might
Foreign
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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
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Games & Hobbies
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A Player's Guide to 'Q' without 'U' Words
Remember this and win.
'Slew-foot', 'Deke', and 10 More Words from Hockey
Because it's the Cup.
Why 'Love' Means "Nothing"
In tennis. This is about tennis.
The Scoop on 'The Proof Is in the Pudding'
A delicious question
Are You Ready for Some Football (Words)?
So you can do more than smile and nod when talking about the big game
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Insults
Insults
You Talk Too Much: 8 Words for the Wordy
You can't shut them up, but you can label them
Read
7 Shakespearean Insults to Make Life More Interesting
One for each day of the week
Read
The Origin of 'Hypocrite'
This one's surprisingly dramatic
Read
10 Bird Names that Sound Like Insults (and Sometimes Are)
Polly wanna ask what you meant by that, exactly?
Read
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8 Significant Words for 'Insignificant'
A list that is anything but trivial
Science & Nature
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7 Especially Fitting Common Names for Plants
So you don't mix up your Swiss Cheese plants with your Dutchman's Breeches
What Is a 'Coulrophobe' So Afraid Of?
Unusual Phobias, Vol. 2
'Blue Moon,' 'Wolf Moon,' and Other Moons to Look for Throughout the Year
More moons than you can shake a stick at
'Opossum,' O Lovely 'Possum'
On a marsupial with various names
12 Bird Names that Sound Like Compliments
From the godwits at your favorite dictionary
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Word History
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Compound Words That Used to Make a Lot More Sense
How 'jack' met 'pot.' How 'wed' met 'lock.'
Why Did Yankee Doodle Call a Feather 'Macaroni'?
What's with his feathered cap?
10 Words You Don’t Seem to Hear as Much These Days
As chosen by you, the social media scroller!
10 Common Words with Military Origins
'Skedaddle', 'ginormous', and more
7 Good Stories That Just Aren't True
No, that's not where that word comes from
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