Wordplay

 For the love of language

Great Big List of Beautiful and Useless Words, Vol. 4

More words, more beautiful, more useless

9 Other Words for Beautiful

Here are some additional words for calling something lovely

Why Jaywalking is Called Jaywalking

The shape of the letter J has nothing to do with it

Popular

The Words of the Week - May 31

Lookups from politics, the Supreme Court, and baseball

Pilfer: How to Play and Win

Welcome to our newest word game

9 Superb Owl Words

Who cooks for you? Who cooks for you all? We do!

10 Words for Lesser-Known Games and Sports

Are you ready for some stoolball?

Etymologies for Every Day of the Week

The sun, the moon, four gods, and a goddess.

9 Irregular and Unpredictable Words

Get your pencil ready

Words for Lazy People and Laziness

Indolence, Malingerer, Draffsack: the right word for when you just don't have the energy

12 Pairs of Commonly Confused Animal Words

The animal words went in two by two, hurrah, hurrah!

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

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'Gaslighting,' 'Woke,' 'Democracy,' and Other Top Lookups

We know you're going to look these up

Top Banana, Kingpin, and Other Nicknames for Important People

Big wigs, big enchiladas, and big shots

Merriam-Webster's Short List of Gender and Identity Terms

In case you (or someone you know) has questions about what they mean

Why Do We Park in the Driveway and Drive on the Parkway?

The answer to one of life's big questions

Bait and Switch: 10 Misleading Words for Foods

There's a reason 'mountain oysters' aren't on the seafood menu, friend
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Obscure & Fun

Obscure & Fun

12 Words from the Wrong Side of the Law

Crime doesn't pay, but vocabulary might

Foreign

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10 English Words from Dutch

Learn how to tell your caboodle from your caboose

10 of Our Favourite British Words

Please don't whinge about being knackered, you prat.

'In Vino Veritas' and Other Latin Phrases to Live By

Top 10 Latin Phrases

10 Words from Nahuatl, the Language of the Aztecs

Avocado, chocolate, and more

A Guide to the Names of French Sauces

17 saucy terms (and how to say them)
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Games & Hobbies

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'Slew-foot', 'Deke', and 10 More Words from Hockey

Because it's the Cup.

Are You Ready for Some Football (Words)?

So you can do more than smile and nod when talking about the big game

The Scoop on 'The Proof Is in the Pudding'

A delicious question

Why 'Love' Means "Nothing"

In tennis. This is about tennis.

12 Words From Basketball

Plus a few terms that never quite made it
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Insults

Insults

Better Ways to Say "This Sucks"

Your day is the worst. Your vocabulary is the best.

Science & Nature

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7 Common Idioms That Come from Chickens

Don't ask us which came first

12 Bird Names that Sound Like Compliments

From the godwits at your favorite dictionary

'Opossum,' O Lovely 'Possum'

On a marsupial with various names

'Blue Moon,' 'Wolf Moon,' and Other Moons to Look for Throughout the Year

More moons than you can shake a stick at

What Is a 'Coulrophobe' So Afraid Of?

Unusual Phobias, Vol. 2
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Word History

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7 Good Stories That Just Aren't True

No, that's not where that word comes from

10 Common Words with Military Origins

'Skedaddle', 'ginormous', and more

10 Words You Don’t Seem to Hear as Much These Days

As chosen by you, the social media scroller!

Why Did Yankee Doodle Call a Feather 'Macaroni'?

What's with his feathered cap?

Compound Words That Used to Make a Lot More Sense

How 'jack' met 'pot.' How 'wed' met 'lock.'
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