Welcome to Origin of the words
Thoughts, stories, and ideas from this author.
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Origin of the word "Room"
Space first, walls later In current English, room does two jobs that sit beside each other without being the same job. Used without a plural, it is the extent available for a body or an action: room t
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Origin of the word "Baby"
In everyday English, a baby is a very young child, usually one still dependent on others for almost everything. The same noun stretches further: it can mean the youngest person in a family or team, a
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Origin of the word "Real"
What speakers mean by it now In ordinary English the adjective names several related judgments at once. A thing is real if it exists in the world rather than in a story or a hypothesis. A metal, a doc
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Origin of the word "Family"
A word for kin, household, and kind In present-day English, family most often names the people closest to you by blood, marriage, or adoption: parents and children, and sometimes a wider circle of rel
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Origin of the word "Morning"
The first stretch of the day English speakers use morning for the early part of the day: from midnight to noon in clock time, or from sunrise to noon in ordinary talk. It also names dawn itself, and i
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Origin of the word "Hell"
English hell is a short native noun with several jobs at once. It names a Christian place of punishment after death, a more general underworld, a stretch of misery in this life, and, in loose speech,
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Origin of the word "Best"
Superlative of a different stem In present-day English, best sits at the top of two everyday scales. As an adjective it is the superlative of good: most excellent, most suitable, or, in a looser use,
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Origin of the word "Friend"
A chosen companion, and an older job for the noun In present-day English a friend is someone you like, trust, and keep by choice, usually outside the innermost family circle. The noun also stretches w
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Origin of the word "Mind"
What the word covers now In present-day English, mind names the inner life of a person: thought, feeling, will, memory, and attention. We speak of a sharp mind, a change of mind, a frame of mind, and
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Origin of the word "Dead"
A small word for a final state In current English, dead is the plain adjective for what has stopped living. It names people, animals, and plants, and it also names things that only behave as if life h
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Origin of the word "Woman"
What speakers mean by it now In present-day English, woman is the ordinary word for an adult female human. It also names women as a class, and it is the second half of many role and nationality compou
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Origin of the word "Care"
A word that still sounds like worry English speakers use care for several things that feel related but are not the same job. As a noun it can mean close attention, the work of looking after someone, a
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Origin of the word "Found"
Three histories, one spelling In modern English, found is the ordinary past tense of find. It is also a separate verb meaning to establish a city, a charity, or a company, and a rarer industrial verb
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Origin of the word "Show"
What speakers do with it now In present-day English, show is the everyday verb for making something visible to someone else. A person can show a photograph, show a visitor to a seat, show that a claim
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Origin of the word "Today"
This calendar day, and this age English uses today for the date of speaking and, just as often, for the age the speaker inhabits. The adverb still answers a simple when-question. The noun can mean thi
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