Welcome to Origin of the words
Thoughts, stories, and ideas from this author.
Recent posts
-
Origin of the word "Lost"
What English uses the word for In current English, lost covers more than a missing object. A traveler who cannot find the road is lost. So is a letter that never arrives, an hour given to delay, a mat
Read more -
Origin of the word "Face"
What English means by it now In ordinary speech, face is the front of a human head: features, skin, the look that changes when someone smiles or winces. From that center the word fans out. It names a
Read more -
Origin of the word "Hope"
A wish with a foothold In modern English, hope is both a verb and a noun. The verb means to want something to happen while treating it as possible. The noun is that wish plus the belief that the thing
Read more -
Origin of the word "Open"
English uses open for a door that is not shut, ground without cover, a speaker who hides nothing, a shop that is taking customers, and a contest that does not bar a class of players. The verb covers t
Read more -
Origin of the word "Problem"
What the word names now In everyday English a problem is usually trouble: a leak, a dispute, a habit that has gotten out of hand. The same noun also names a task set on purpose, the kind of question a
Read more -
Origin of the word "Play"
Games, stages, and a loose joint In current English, play covers recreation, taking part in a sport, performing music, acting a role, and the slack in a machine or a joint. The same verb also means to
Read more -
Origin of the word "Phone"
What the short word covers In ordinary English, phone is the everyday name for a telephone: the wired set on a desk, the public booth, and now the handheld computer that also places a call. As a verb
Read more -
Origin of the word "School"
What speakers mean now In everyday English, school names an institution for teaching, the hours spent there, and often the building itself. It can also name a faculty inside a university, a circle of
Read more -
Origin of the word "Alone"
What speakers mean by it now In present-day English, alone is first a fact of company. A person can walk home alone, sleep alone, or finish a task alone. A building can stand alone on a ridge. The wor
Read more -
Origin of the word "Hard"
What English uses it for now In everyday English, hard names whatever resists a push: stone, ice, a locked door. The same word also names what resists the mind or the will: a hard problem, a hard wint
Read more -
Origin of the word "Tonight"
The night that belongs to this day English speakers use tonight as both an adverb and a noun. As an adverb it points to the evening or the hours of darkness that follow the current day: a meeting afte
Read more -
Origin of the word "Matter"
What English uses it for In everyday English, matter covers more than one job. As a noun it can mean physical stuff: anything that occupies space and has mass, or a particular kind of material, as in
Read more -
Origin of the word "Tomorrow"
The next day, in one word English uses tomorrow for the day after this one, both as an adverb and as a noun. You can promise to finish a task then, or treat the word itself as the name of that day. In
Read more -
Origin of the word "Guess"
A verb for incomplete knowledge To guess is to reach a conclusion without enough evidence to be sure of it. English uses the verb for a stab at a riddle, a rough count, and the everyday hedge I guess,
Read more -
Origin of the word "Wife"
What speakers mean now In present-day English, wife is first of all a married woman considered in relation to her spouse. That is the unmarked reading in ordinary speech, in law, and in most forms. Th
Read more