Posts in Origin of the word
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Origin of the word "Body"
Flesh, a person, and a mass In present-day English, body names the physical frame of a human or animal, the trunk as opposed to the head and limbs, and a dead body. It also names a person, as in someb
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Origin of the word "Making"
What the word does in English now In current English, making is both a verb form and a noun. As a participle it marks action still underway: someone is making dinner, making a case, making trouble. As
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Origin of the word "Mine"
Two histories behind one spelling English uses mine for what belongs to the speaker, for a working that takes ore from the ground, and for a hidden explosive. Those senses share a spelling and a sound
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Origin of the word "Inside"
What the word does now In present-day English, inside is the ordinary name for an interior: the space within a building, the inner face of a wall, the hollow of a vessel. The same form works as an adv
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Origin of the word "Point"
English speakers lean on this short word for almost everything that can be small, sharp, or decisive. A needle has one. A coastline can end in one. A debate has one. A game is won by them. In geometry
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Origin of the word "Means"
What the word does in English now In ordinary English, means is the name for the method, instrument, or condition that gets something done. A bus is a means of transport. Diplomacy can be a means to a
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Origin of the word "Different"
What speakers mean now Call two things different and the claim is usually modest: they are not the same. The adjective covers unlikeness in kind, quality, amount, or identity. It also marks things as
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Origin of the word "Deal"
Splitting, sharing, and striking a bargain In current English, deal does more than one job. As a verb it can mean to distribute, to trade, to handle a difficulty, or to give someone a blow. As a noun
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Origin of the word "Check"
A verb that inspects, a noun that stops In everyday English, check is a crowded word. You check a lock, a figure, or a story. You write a check to a bank, or ask for the check after a meal. On a chess
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Origin of the word "Easy"
Comfort before difficulty Today easy is the ordinary opposite of hard: a task that asks for little skill or strain. Speakers also still rest easy, sit in an easy chair, or take it easy, where comfort
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Origin of the word "Drink"
What English still means by drink English drink covers two tightly related ideas. As a verb it names the act of taking liquid into the mouth and swallowing it. As a noun it names the liquid itself, a
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Origin of the word "Five"
A number that barely moved Five is the English name for the integer after four. Speakers use it as a cardinal (five days), as a label for a set of that size (a basketball five), and, in North American
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Origin of the word "Damn"
A curse that used to be a verdict In modern English, damn works as a verb, a noun, an intensifier, and a blurt of irritation. Speakers use it to consign someone to hell, to pan a bad play, or simply t
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Origin of the word "Change"
A word for difference itself English speakers put a heavy load on change. The verb can mean to make something different, to put one thing in another’s place, or simply to become other than it was. The
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Origin of the word "Crazy"
The origin of the word crazy is less a story about minds than about breakage. In present-day English the adjective is unusually stretchy. It can still name real mental distress, and dictionaries still
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