Words like "thingamajig," "whatsit" and "doohickey" are called “placeholder names” or kadigans. The origin of “kadigan” isn’t clear. Some suggest it could somehow be related to the generic word “gin,” as in a “cotton gin,” (not related to the drink) which is a shortening of the word “engine” and took the place of engine in… Continue reading What Is a “Whatsit”? On Kadigans, or Placeholder Names
The difference between a turtle and a tortoise can be confusing: Technically, all turtles, tortoises and terrapins belong ARE turtles and belong to the turtle order Testudines, which comes from the Latin word testa, meaning "shell" But for the most part, people use the word “tortoise” to refer to completely land-dwelling turtle species, while the generic word “turtle”… Continue reading The (Etymological) Difference Between Tortoises and Turtles
One of my favorite things about the English language is how many perfectly innocent-sounding words are a little bit less wholesome than you might expect. Take the word "gym," for instance—that’s gym as in gymnasium, the place where you go to work out, train or play sports. Gymnasium is a Latin word, and originally comes… Continue reading The Naked Truth About “Gymnasium”
The lessons I share here are often classifiable as trivia: little bits of information that are of little consequence outside of being curiosities. You might call them “trivialities"—even though I, and most of you, agree that words and their origins are not trivial and do matter a great deal. Trivia is a Latin word, the… Continue reading The Etymology of Trivia: A Place Where Three Roads Meet
Space-related words have some of the most enchanting etymologies in the cosmos.We call our galaxy the Milky Way because the stars and other matter that compose it look like milk splashed across the night sky. But did you know that’s also where the word “galaxy” itself comes from? It originally comes from the Greek phrase… Continue reading Out of This Word: The Origins of 5 Intergalactic Terms
The planet Earth gets its name from the Old English eorþe, meaning “dirt, soil, or country.” In Old English, it was also occasionally used as a verb meaning to bury or inter someone. In Old English “earth" was also a word for the material human world, but it was more commonly known as Middangeard, as recorded… Continue reading The Origin of “Earth”
English is one of the only European or Asian languages that doesn't use a variation of the word "ananas" to mean pineapple. In 14th-century English, the word “pineapple” was a word for a pine cone, which makes a lot of sense if you think about the way pinecones grow on conifers, much like apples on apple trees. During… Continue reading The Tale of the Defiant Pineapple and Its Confused Friend the Pinecone
Yesterday was William Shakespeare’s birthday (and also mine!) It’s commonly said that Shakespeare invented over 1700 words. While it’s true that his plays are the first documented appearance of many words, in most cases he did not just pluck them out of thin air. The majority are alterations or remixes of preexisting words by adding… Continue reading Unexpectedly Shakespearean Words
Let's look at words derived from or related to the Greek naus meaning “ship” and nautes, meaning “sailor.” You can probably guess that the word “nautical,” and “navy” come from this Greek source. Another related word is “navigate,” which literally and etymologically means “to set a ship in motion." Photo by Austin Neill on Unsplash The word “nausea,”… Continue reading Root Exploration: Words Derived from the Greek Naus, or “Ship”
