Posts in Origin of the word
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Origin of the word "Watch"
Looking, guarding, and keeping time In present-day English, watch does several jobs that feel only loosely related. As a verb it means to look at something over a stretch of time, to stay alert, or to
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Origin of the word "Year"
What English speakers count A year is the everyday unit for a full circuit of seasons and, on the civil calendar, three hundred and sixty-five or three hundred and sixty-six days. Speakers also stretc
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Origin of the word "Later"
A comparative that now stands on its own In present-day English, later is the ordinary comparative of late: a later train, a later date, arriving later than planned. As an adverb it also works without
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Origin of the word "Heart"
What the word covers now In current English, heart is first the hollow muscle that keeps blood moving. The same noun also stands for courage, affection, private feeling, and the middle of a place, a p
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Origin of the word "True"
Loyalty before fact In modern English, true is first of all the opposite of false. A claim is true when it matches the world. The same adjective still means loyal, as in a true friend; genuine, as in
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Origin of the word "Case"
Two spellings that are really two words In present-day English, case can name a situation, a lawsuit, a medical instance, a grammatical form, and also a box or covering. Those jobs sit together in one
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Origin of the word "Business"
Today business names a firm, a trade, a field of study, and the private affairs that are none of anyone else's. People do business, go into business, and mind their own business. The commercial sense
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Origin of the word "Turn"
A short word with a long reach English speakers ask turn to do almost too much work. A key turns in a lock. A driver turns left. Leaves turn colour. Milk turns sour. In a queue it is your turn. A favo
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Origin of the word "Excuse"
What speakers mean by it now In modern English, excuse works as both a verb and a noun, and the two are told apart by sound as well as by grammar. The verb, with a voiced ending, covers several relate
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Origin of the word "Police"
A civic word, not a badge In present-day English, police names the civil authority that keeps public order, prevents and investigates crime, and enforces the law. The same form can stand for the organ
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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