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Useless Etymology

offbeat word origins for curious minds

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Month: January 2020

The Etymology of “Periwinkle”

January 29, 2020June 10, 2022 Jess ZafarrisLeave a comment

Since the 1500s, the word "periwinkle" has been used as the name of two distinctive items: an edible sea snail and a broadleaf evergreen plant—or, in its adjective form, the color of said evergreen plant. Both have different but converging etymologies.

Posted in Etymologies

The Etymology of “Squid”

January 27, 2020 Jess Zafarris1 Comment

"Squid" is thought to be a sailors' variant of "squirt," referring to the ink ejected by the cephalopods. Commonly used as the name of the fried culinary dish, "calamari" is also the name of a specific genus of squid and comes from the Latin calamarius, literally "pertaining to a pen."

Posted in Etymologies

The Loneliest Words: What Are Unpaired Words?

January 20, 2020May 13, 2024 Jess ZafarrisLeave a comment

An unpaired word is a word that doesn't exist in common use without a prefix or a suffix, or has no natural opposite, like "debunk," "reckless" and "unscathed."

Posted in Etymologies

Once Upon a Word: A New Word-Origin Kids Book from the Creator of Useless Etymology

January 13, 2020January 28, 2020 Jess Zafarris2 Comments

I wrote a book about etymology! It's called ONCE UPON A WORD: A WORD-ORIGIN DICTIONARY  FOR KIDS.

Posted in Etymologies, News & Maintenance
  • Etymological excavation: What is a fossil word?
  • Useless Etymology (the Book!) Hits Shelves Oct. 7
  • The Piebald Etymology of Magpie: A Multicolored Bird of Many Words
  • Insulting Etymology + Savage Insults from History
  • The Shocking Origin of the Word “Electric”

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