Welcome to Origin of the words
Thoughts, stories, and ideas from this author.
Recent posts
-
Origin of the word "Lady"
A polite word with a household past In current English, lady is first of all a word for an adult woman, usually with a shade of courtesy. Speakers use it in set addresses such as ladies and gentlemen,
Read more -
Origin of the word "Able"
Fitness in the hand In current English, able usually means having the power, skill, resources, or permission to get something done. We say a person is able to lift a crate, or able to vote, or simply
Read more -
Origin of the word "Blood"
In everyday English, blood is the red fluid that moves through veins and arteries, carrying oxygen and nutrients. The same noun also names kinship, temper, and violence: blood relatives, hot blood, a
Read more -
Origin of the word "Truth"
What speakers mean by it now In present-day English, truth is first of all correspondence with fact: the way things are, a report that matches them, or a proposition held to be so. People tell the tru
Read more -
Origin of the word "Behind"
A locator with several jobs In present-day English, behind marks what sits at the rear or on the far side of a reference point. A wall can hide a garden. A runner can finish last in the field. A clock
Read more -
Origin of the word "Child"
What the word covers now In present-day English, child does two jobs that speakers rarely bother to separate. It names a young human who has not yet reached adulthood, whether that line is drawn at pu
Read more -
Origin of the word "Sister"
A word that still means kin first In ordinary English, a sister is a female sibling: a daughter of the same parents, or of one parent in common. That household sense has never left the language, but i
Read more -
Origin of the word "Stand"
A verb that holds still and does many other jobs In modern English, to stand is first of all to be upright on the feet. The same verb also means to remain in place, to stay valid, to tolerate somethin
Read more -
Origin of the word "Side"
The long face of a thing In present-day English, side is the lateral surface of an object, the left or right half of a body, a party in an argument or a match, one aspect of a problem, and, in America
Read more -
Origin of the word "Nobody"
What speakers mean by it now In present-day English, nobody is first of all an indefinite pronoun: not any person, the negative counterpart of somebody. It fills the same grammatical slot as no one. S
Read more -
Origin of the word "Game"
Pleasure before points In present-day English, game most often names a pastime with rules: a match, a board, a video title, a round of cards. The same noun can mean wild animals hunted for food or spo
Read more -
Origin of the word "Fire"
English fire is the ordinary name for combustion: flame, heat, smoke, and the event of something burning. It is also the hearth or campfire you tend, the blaze that destroys a building, and, by extens
Read more -
Origin of the word "Married"
A status word with a borrowed spine In everyday English, married names a legal or customary state: a person who has a spouse. It is also the past tense and past participle of marry, so the same form c
Read more -
Origin of the word "Rest"
Anyone looking up the origin of the word rest will find two dictionary entries, not one. English uses the same spelling for a pause from work, a support under a chin, a silence in a bar of music, and
Read more -
Origin of the word "Husband"
A spouse, and a steward In current English a husband is a man named in relation to the person he has married. The same spelling still works as a verb: to husband time, money, or fuel is to spend it ca
Read more