Fascinating Origins Behind 71 Common Words

Establishing the true etymology of words can be tricky—scholars often disagree, misinformation circulates, and sometimes legends offer valuable insights, even if they don't reveal the full story. Instead of delving into the ultimate origin of each word on this list, let’s explore at least one captivating milestone each of these familiar words reached on its journey to where it stands today. This might include a dive into Latin roots, a theory on its proto-Indo-European ancestry, or a significant shift in meaning.

1. Vaccine

The term vaccine ultimately comes from the Latin word for cow, vacca. The story traces back to the late 18th century, when British doctor Edward Jenner noticed that milkmaids who had contracted cowpox, or variolae vaccinae, were far less likely to fall ill with smallpox, a disease capable of wiping out entire populations. Jenner decided to introduce the pus from a cowpox lesion into a small cut on the arm of an 8-year-old boy.

Fortunately for Dr. Jenner, the boy, and humanity as a whole, the cowpox pus provided effective protection against smallpox, and thus the smallpox vaccine was born. The link between vaccine and cow is evident in several Romance languages today, such as vacuna and vaca in Spanish, vaccino and vacca in Italian, and vacina and vaca in Portuguese.

Two centuries later, smallpox has been eradicated worldwide, and we continue to honor Jenner’s legacy when we talk about vaccines—even those that aren't made from cowpox pus.

Later genetic analysis revealed that the early vaccines may have actually used a virus more closely related to horsepox than cowpox. Perhaps we should be calling them equination campaigns today, but when it comes to the unpredictable evolution of language, it's not always easy to put the horse—or cow—back in the barn.

2. Clue

The word clue is derived from clew, which means a 'ball of thread or yarn,' as defined by Merriam-Webster. This term traces its roots to Middle and Old English, with the ball of yarn serving as a practical tool for finding your way out of a maze, much like Theseus did in Greek mythology after defeating the Minotaur.

3. Cop Out

In Louis Joseph Vance’s 1910 novel The Fortune Hunter, a line reads: 'He simply can’t lose, can’t fail to cop out the best-looking girl with the biggest bank-roll in town.' In this context, cop means to get or grab—this usage persists today in phrases like 'cop a feel'—and may trace back to the Latin capere, meaning 'to take,' or the Old Frisian capia, meaning 'to buy.' Old Frisian is a West Germanic language closely related to Old English.

Eventually, the main thing people were copping was out of further trouble by accepting something akin to a plea deal after committing a crime. Today, a 'cop-out' refers to any excuse or evasion used to avoid trouble or responsibility.

4. Shampoo

If you've ever experienced the tingling sensation during a salon shampoo, the origin of the word shampoo will make sense. It comes from a conjugation of the Hindi verb campna or champna, meaning 'to press or knead muscles.' A 1762 account by an officer of the East India Company recounts the process of being shampooed, which involved a vigorous full-body massage accompanied by hair washing. The term, though not the full practice, made its way to England, where its meaning narrowed to hair washing.

5. Nightlife

The term nightlife is fairly self-explanatory—it refers to activities that take place at night. However, it’s interesting to note that the first recorded use of the word in English appeared in Herman Melville's Pierre; or, The Ambiguities. In the novel, Melville describes his character, Pierre, searching for a cab late at night. He turns off a side street and 'find[s] himself suddenly precipitated into the not-yet-repressed noise and contention, and all the garish night-life of a vast thoroughfare.'

6. Chortle

In Lewis Carroll’s poem “Jabberwocky,” a character chortles with joy. It appears Carroll fused the words chuckling and snorting to create a new verb that is easily understood by readers.

7. Pandemonium

John Milton created the word pandemonium by combining the Greek root Pan-, meaning 'all,' and daemonium, which comes from the Latin for 'evil spirit.' In Paradise Lost, pandemonium refers to the 'place for all the demons,' which makes sense as the capital city of hell. It’s the antithesis of a pantheon, a place for all gods. The modern usage of pandemonium appeared in the Cheltenham Chronicle in 1819, when a writer invited readers to 'Let any man, in his senses, take a view of the riot—the confusion—the fury—the pandemonium of hatred, discord, and all bad feeling, let loose in the late contest for Westminster.'

8. Robot

The word robot also has its origins in literature, but this time, it's not an epic poem. Karel Čapek coined the term in his 1920 play RUR (Rossum's Universal Robots). Čapek needed a name for the mechanical beings who eventually take over the world in his story. Initially considering the Latin word labori (labor), Čapek’s brother suggested the word robota, which in Czech refers to serfdom. Interestingly, the word had already made its way into English decades earlier, linked to Central European serfdom. This connection is evident in a political discourse from 1855, long before the word was used for machines: 'The Austrian government has suppressed the robot.'

9. Factoid

Today, factoid typically refers to a brief, somewhat trivial piece of information—just the sort of thing shared on websites dedicated to fun facts. However, when Norman Mailer first introduced the term, he defined it as 'facts which have no existence before appearing in a magazine or newspaper … not so much lies as a product to manipulate emotion in the Silent Majority.'

10. Fact

If you’re in pursuit of the truth, you may find it interesting that the word fact originates from a verb meaning 'to do.' The past participle of the Latin verb facere is factus, meaning 'done.' As a noun, it evolves into factum, signifying 'an event, occurrence, deed, achievement.' In modern usage, a fact is something known to be true, contrasting with things that are merely claimed to have happened, referring to 'something that has actually occurred.'

11. Whiskey

This next word has a pretty well-known etymology, but it’s too good to leave off this list. Whiskey, the cause of (and solution to) at least some of life’s problems, originates from the Gaelic term uisge beatha, which translates to 'water of life.'

12. Quarantine

When ships docked in Venice during the 14th century, they were sometimes required to remain in port for 40 days to assess any possible cases of plague. In Italian, the term for 40 days is quaranta giorni, which evolved into the English word quarantine.

13. Malaria

Italians may have been close with their idea of quarantine, but they got it wrong when it came to malaria. The term itself translates directly to 'bad air,' a nod to the old belief that the disease was caused by toxic fumes rising from swamps. To be fair, air that's filled with parasite-carrying mosquitoes might qualify as some form of bad air.

14. Mortgage

Mortgage originates from the Old French term 'morgage,' which literally translates to something like 'dead pledge.' Contrary to what you may have heard, this doesn’t mean you’ll be chained to your mortgage for life. Sir Edward Coke, in his 1628 work 'Institutes of the Lawes of England,' offers a more fitting interpretation. He describes a mortgage as a sort of standoff that ends either when the borrower defaults, making the property 'dead to him,' or when the loan is fully paid off, thus making the debt 'dead to the lender.'

15. Checkmate

You might come across the idea that 'checkmate' stems from the Arabic phrase 'al-shāh māta,' meaning 'the king died,' but anyone who plays chess knows this doesn’t quite fit—the king doesn’t literally die at the end of a chess game, does he? A more fitting explanation was put forward in 1938 by M.E. Moghadam in the 'Journal of the American Oriental Society.' Moghadam suggests that the Persian term 'shāh-māt,' meaning something like 'the king is left (without a way to escape),' aligns better with both the mechanics of chess and the historical practice of capturing rather than killing a defeated monarch.

16., 17., and 18. Sinister, Dexterity, and Ambidextrous

'Sinister' derives from a Latin term that means 'on the left side,' a throwback to an old association between left-handedness and negative traits like wickedness. This bias against left-handed people might be traced back to simple statistics—most people are right-handed, both then and now. Religion also played a part; in the Book of Matthew, it is said that Jesus will separate the nations like a shepherd divides sheep from goats, with the 'blessed' sheep to the right and the cursed goats to the left.

The left-right divide appears in other word histories as well: 'Dexterity,' or skill in handling tasks with one's hands, comes from the Latin 'dexter,' meaning 'on the right side.'

The strong preference for right-handedness was so ingrained that when Sir Thomas Browne coined the term 'ambidextrous' for someone who can use both hands equally well, he combined 'dexter' with the prefix 'ambi-' meaning 'both.' In essence, he was describing someone as 'right-handed on both sides.'

19. Assassin

We have a general understanding of the time and place the term assassin originated, but there’s some debate about the reasoning behind it. Hassan-i Sabbah, who lived from approximately 1050 to 1124, established a secret religious order known as the Nizari sect, calling his followers Asāsiyyūn, or 'the faithful.' These followers did indeed carry out what we would now call political or religious murders. However, many sources, including Marco Polo, point to the possibility that the word assassin might be linked to the term hashashin, meaning 'hash eaters.' Polo described a story in which these followers were supposedly drugged with a hash-infused drink, persuading them to commit assassinations. While this theory may not be the most credible, even in modern times, there's no universal agreement on which origin story is correct.

20. Plumber

The origins of the word plumber can be traced to a clue within the periodic table of elements. The symbol Pb comes from the Latin word for lead, plumbum, which eventually gave rise to the term plumber. Initially, the word referred to someone who worked with lead in various applications, not specifically related to pipes. However, since pipes were often made of lead in the past, plumbers became synonymous with the professionals responsible for fixing and maintaining the pipes that regulate water in and out of buildings.

21. Butcher

While there are still many butchers around the world offering goat meat, in the United States and other English-speaking nations, you're just as likely to find beef, chicken, or pork. The word butcher appears to trace back to terms like the Old French bochier, meaning 'slaughterer of goats.' From there, it's a straightforward leap to describing anyone who prepares and sells meat, whether it’s goat or another animal.

22. Midwife

A midwife isn’t on her way to becoming your wife when she helps with the birth of your child. The term instead combines the prefix mid-, which likely comes from the Middle English term meaning 'together with,' and an older use of wife, which referred not only to a female spouse but to any woman. A midwife is, in fact, 'with' a woman while performing her duties, although this doesn’t fully explain the breadth of the support they provide during childbirth.

23. Obstetric

A similar sense of passive involvement can be traced to the etymology of obstetric, derived from the Latin word obstetrīx, essentially meaning a midwife. The Latin verb obstāre means 'to stand in front of,' suggesting the act of standing before the birthing mother, which captures one important aspect of a midwife's role. Today, obstetric is an adjective used to describe anything related to childbirth.

24. Pundit

The public opinion of pundits, as a profession, likely rivals that of telemarketers or people selling detox teas. Yet, the origin of the word points to the esteemed role that such individuals were once meant to hold. 'Pundit' comes from the Sanskrit word transliterated as pundit, pandit, or pandita (पण्डित), originally referring to someone who had memorized significant portions of the Hindu sacred texts, the Vedas. By the 19th century, it had come to mean 'a learned man' or 'philosopher.' Today, the term encompasses those who offer their opinions, often loudly, on platforms like cable news.

25. Astronaut

The term astronaut actually predates the profession itself. It was first used in Percy Greg's 1880 work Across the Zodiac to describe a spaceship rather than a person. When referring to a person exploring space, a similar word, astronautique, was coined in 1927 by science fiction writer Joseph Henri Honoré Boex, known by his pen name J.-H. Rosny aîné. The word’s Greek origins translate to something like 'star sailor,' which remains a poetic way to describe these explorers of the cosmos.

26. Juggernaut

You might assume juggernaut shares a Greek origin, but it actually derives from Hindi. The term combines Jagat for 'world' and nātha for 'lord or protector,' resulting in jagannāth, meaning 'lord of the world,' a reference to a Hindu deity. One story explaining how this term evolved into its current meaning involves the annual chariot procession at the Jagannāth Temple in Puri, India. Reports of pilgrims being crushed by the chariots led to the term 'juggernaut' being associated with a 'massive inexorable force.' However, these reports might have been influenced by a biased Western perspective rather than an accurate depiction of the events.

27. Tycoon

Tycoon entered the United States via the Japanese word taikun, which comes from Chinese roots meaning 'great ruler.' When Commodore Matthew Perry visited Japan in the 1850s, he sought to meet with 'a dignitary of the highest rank in the empire.' Perry assumed this meant the emperor, but in reality, the shogun held more power at the time. Japanese officials used the title taikun to reflect the shogun's dominance. The word gained popularity in the U.S., and its meaning expanded, as seen in the New Orleans Daily Crescent on May 28, 1860. Criticizing Senator William Henry Seward’s anti-slavery stance, the paper claimed he had 'appropriated to himself … the position of master and 'Tycoon' of the Black Republicans.' The term even found its way into Abraham Lincoln’s circle, with his aides referring to him as 'the Tycoon' in letters and diaries.

28. Jumbo

Around the same time that Honest Abe's aides were referring to him as the Tycoon, an African elephant was being showcased at France’s Jardin des Plantes, eventually becoming known as Jumbo. While Jumbo’s tumultuous life as a celebrity pachyderm may have contributed to the widespread use of the word jumbo to describe something very large, that wasn’t necessarily its origin. The term had already been used to describe clumsiness as early as 1823, and its slang usage likely dates back even further.

29. Nimrod

In the United States, calling someone a 'nimrod' is far from a compliment. However, the word originally referred to a hunter, specifically the Old Testament’s Nimrod. The term is still common as a name in Israel today. The shift in meaning to a synonym for doofus in English remains unclear. It could have been a case of irony, or perhaps the biblical Nimrod's association with the failed Tower of Babel attempt led to this new meaning. Some say Bugs Bunny played a role in popularizing the negative connotation by using the word to taunt Elmer Fudd. But the actual use of 'nimrod' to refer to Elmer appears in the 1948 cartoon What Makes Daffy Duck, not by Bugs, who used it for Yosemite Sam in Rabbit Every Monday three years later.

30. Maroon

Bugs wasn’t referring to shades of red when he called Elmer a maroon, nor was he mentioning a chestnut. The word maroon actually comes from the French couleur marron, meaning chestnut.

31. and 32. Crimson and Chartreuse

Many colors derive their names from real-world objects. Take crimson, for example, which can be traced back to the proto-Indo-European word krmis, meaning worm, a nod to the fact that crimson was once made by crushing a specific type of worm.

Chartreuse owes its identity as a color to a liqueur made by Carthusian monks.

33. Orange

The word orange comes from, well … oranges. Its linguistic ancestors include the Middle French orange and the Sanskrit naranga-s. What’s truly fascinating is that English lacked a specific word for this color for centuries. In Geoffrey Chaucer’s “Nun’s Priest's Tale,” the color of a fox is described as “bitwixe yelow and reed.” The Old English term giolureade, meaning yellow-red, served as a makeshift word for orange for almost a thousand years, as noted by David Scott Kastan and Stephen Farthing in an essay on LitHub. Only when oranges became widely available in Europe did the color’s name spread through European languages.

34. and 35. Dolphin and Porpoise

Dolphins are mammals, so it’s logical that the word dolphin derives from the ancient Greek delphys, meaning womb. However, it’s not entirely certain that the name dolphin originated because they appeared to be fish-like creatures with a womb. Some suggest that the shape of dolphins resembles a human womb, while others think the connection refers to the special bond between humans and dolphins, who were especially revered in ancient Greek culture.

Porpoise, by the way, literally means “pig-fish” (derived from porc, meaning “pig,” and peis, meaning “fish”).

36. Orangutan

Orangutan comes from the Malay term orang utan, which translates literally to “man of the woods.”

37. Dunce

Several words trace their roots back to specific individuals. A dunce originally referred to a follower of the Scottish theologian John Duns Scotus. As Duns’s teachings lost popularity, the term evolved into its modern, negative connotation—defined by Merriam-Webster as “a slow-witted or stupid person.”

38. Gerrymandering

Gerrymandering refers to the strategic drawing of political districts to favor a particular political party or group. The term originates from Governor Elbridge Gerry and a salamander, or more precisely, from a distorted district in Massachusetts during Gerry's governorship, which some thought resembled a salamander. One popular theory holds that poet Richard Alsop coined the term at a dinner party in 1812, although this remains unconfirmed. However, it is well-documented that Alsop's collaborator, Elkanah Tisdale, created a satirical illustration called 'The Gerry-Mander' in the 1812 edition of the Boston Gazette.

39. Boycott

You can boycott a company whose values you don't align with by simply refusing to do business with them, but the original instance of a boycott had elements of both a boycott and a strike. In the late 19th century in Ireland, retired British Army officer Captain Charles Boycott was managing an absentee landlord's estate. When a dispute over rent arose between Boycott and the local farmers, the tenants collectively stopped working the fields and intentionally avoided any interaction with the Englishman. Local businesses joined the movement, and Boycott, though wealthy in status, found himself deprived of basic resources like food, ultimately being driven out of town.

40. Saxophone

The saxophone gets its name from its inventor, Adolphe Sax. But Sax's musical contributions didn't stop there—he also invented the saxotromba, saxhorn, and saxtuba.

41. Nicotine

Nicotine, the addictive substance found in tobacco, gets its name from the French diplomat Jean Nicot, who is traditionally credited with introducing tobacco plants to France.

42. Silhouette

The word silhouette is widely believed to be derived from the French author and politician Étienne de Silhouette. However, the connection between him and the specific style of imagery is somewhat unclear. On his Word Histories website, the French teacher and linguist Pascal Tréguer outlines a variety of theories, ultimately finding the most convincing explanation in an 1869 issue of the Journal Officiel de l’Empire Français. This account suggests that Étienne de Silhouette himself developed the technique of creating portraits in the silhouette style. It’s said that he adorned the walls of his castle with these drawings, but as the castle was destroyed by fire in 1871, the claim cannot be confirmed.

43. Braille

In 1824, French inventor Louis Braille, then just a teenager, took an existing code and transformed it into the first braille system for reading and writing, driven by his own experience as a blind person. He had lost his sight in an accident at his father’s workshop when he was just 3 years old. A gifted musician, Braille later expanded the system to allow for musical notation as well.

44. and 45. Diesel and Uzi

German inventor Rudolf Diesel is credited with the development of the diesel engine, while Israeli Major Uziel Gal designed the Uzi submachine gun.

46. Chronology

Chronology is derived from the Greek word khronos, meaning “time.” Chronus, who is sometimes confused with Cronus, the leader of the Titans, was actually the Greek personification of time.

47. Echo

We are all familiar with the concept of an echo, and the myth of the nymph Echo illustrates its meaning. In Ovid’s Metamorphoses, the goddess Juno punished Echo by forcing her to only repeat the final words spoken to her.

48. Narcissism

Echo was rejected by the hunter Narcissus, who became infamously enamored with his own reflection. This myth inspired German psychiatrist Paul Näcke to coin the term narcissism, which he used to describe individuals who view their own bodies as sexual objects instead of desiring others. As noted by PsychologyToday.com, Näcke’s term was later expanded by figures such as Sigmund Freud. Nowadays, the word is often used to refer to someone exhibiting excessive egoism or a tendency toward megalomania.

49. Cigar

While a cigar might just be a cigar, some theories suggest it could also be a cicada—at least when it comes to the etymology of the word cigar. The Spanish term cigarro closely resembles cigarra, the word for cicada, leading some to speculate that cigars were named for their cylindrical resemblance to the insect. Another theory suggests that the word originates from the Mayan term sikar, meaning 'to smoke.'

50. Stogie

The term stogie for a cigar can be traced back to Conestoga, Pennsylvania. Some suggest the name comes from an early cigar factory built in the area, while others believe it stems from the smoking habits of the men who drove the famous Conestoga wagons.

51. Oregano

The Oxford English Dictionary explains that the Greek precursor to the word oregano—origanos—is likely a loanword, since the plant itself hails from Africa. However, Greek speakers created an interesting folk etymology based on the word's sounds: Orei means “mountain” and ganos means “brightness or joy,” resulting in the evocative meaning of “joy of the mountain,” though this may be more legend than fact.

52. Tulip

The name tulip comes through a Latinized version of the Turkish word for turban, Tülbend, according to the Amsterdam Tulip Museum. The flower’s shape is thought to resemble certain types of headgear.

53. Daisy

Daisy derives from the Old English term dægesege, meaning “day’s eye,” which refers to the flower’s tendency to close at night and bloom again at dawn.

54. Orchid

Orchids are undoubtedly stunning, but their etymology has a more utilitarian origin. The word stems from the Greek term orkhis, which means testicle, likely referencing the shape of the plant's underground storage organs. Interestingly, in Middle English, the orchid was known as ballockwort.

55. Universe

What is the origin of the universe, linguistically speaking? In John D. Barrow’s Book of Universes, the term is derived from the Latin universum, which combines unus (meaning 'one') and versus (a verb meaning 'to turn, rotate, roll, or change'). This gives a literal interpretation of something like 'rolled into one.' This could symbolize the universe as a singular, all-encompassing entity, or reflect an ancient cosmological belief that 'the outer crystalline sphere of the heavens rotated and communicated change and movement to the planetary spheres inside it.'

56. School

Somewhere between the Big Bang and today, someone had the brilliant idea to establish a school. Surprisingly, the word’s Greek origin, scholí, actually referred to 'leisure or spare time.' In ancient Athens and Rome, a common way to spend free time was by engaging in learned discussion, particularly among a select group of people.

57. Companion

If you swap sandwiches with a friend at lunchtime, you could call them your 'companion.' The term is derived from the Latin com, meaning 'together with,' and panis, which means 'bread' or 'food.' The original sense of the word is something akin to 'someone you share bread with.'

58. Window

Window comes from the Old Norse word vindauga, meaning 'wind eye.' Initially, it referred to an opening in the roof, but over time, it evolved to denote the glass panes we commonly see set into walls.

59. Eavesdrop

In terms of architectural origins, 'eavesdrop' comes from the Old English word yfesdrype, meaning 'the area around a house where rainwater drips off the roof,' according to the Online Etymology Dictionary. An 'eavesdropper' originally referred to someone standing by the walls or windows to listen in on conversations, which eventually gave rise to the verb 'eavesdrop.'

60. Gossip

Originally, a gossip was a godsibb in Old English, a godparent who acted as a sponsor during a baptism. By the 14th century, the word expanded to include close friends, especially women invited to a birth. Through centuries of chatter and, perhaps, some old-fashioned gender roles, it evolved to its modern meaning—meaningless rumor or idle talk.

61. Friday

After 60 words, we finally reach one that Rebecca Black would approve of. The name 'Friday' comes from the Old English Frigedæg, named after Frigg, a Germanic goddess of love.

62. Amateur

An amateur pursues something out of passion, not for money. This is reflected in its Latin origin, amare, which means 'to love.'

63. and 64. Flower and Flour

Flower shares its origin with flour through the French word fleur. The part of the plant used to make flour, specifically the grain that is milled, was once known as the “flower of the grain,” symbolizing the finest part.

65. Anthology

The word 'anthology' stems from a floral origin. The Greek word anthos, meaning 'flower,' and logia, meaning 'collection,' combine to form anthologia, which originally referred to a collection of flowers but later came to describe a collection of poems.

66. Bouquet

Bouquet is thought to have entered English via Lady Mary Montague, who introduced the French term. Montague also helped popularize the 'language of flowers' in England—teaching that, for instance, a lily represents purity. The word 'bouquet' can be traced back to the Medieval Latin boscus, meaning grove or a group of trees, and originally referred to a 'little wood.'

67. Walrus

Walruses have their own fascinating but somewhat murky etymology. Interestingly, a former Oxford English Dictionary staffer, J.R.R. Tolkien, handwrote multiple versions of the word’s origin—six of which are preserved in archives. Tolkien’s preferred explanation traced the word to the Old Norse rosmhvalr via Dutch.

68. Hobbit

Tolkien famously coined or reshaped many words to build his fantastical worlds. However, one of his most iconic creations, the word hobbit, may not have been entirely of his own making. Tolkien himself claimed to have invented it during a burst of inspiration, with his son Michael recalling his father using the term in stories told to him as a child.

Yet, later in life, Tolkien began to question whether he had indeed coined the term himself. He mused that he might have unknowingly encountered it before, thus integrating it into his personal lexicon. Evidence emerged of pre-Tolkien uses of the word, notably in The Denham Tracts, a 19th-century collection of British folklore, where hobbits were depicted as supernatural beings. Whether this was a case of parallel invention or external influence remains unclear, but true to his scholarly nature, Tolkien eventually formulated his own retroactive etymology for hobbit, tracing it back to Old English holbytla, meaning 'hole-dweller.'

69. Nice

Nice originally meant 'foolish,' derived from the Old French nice, meaning 'ignorant,' which in turn came from the Latin nescius. Over time, the word underwent a dramatic transformation, evolving through meanings such as 'timid,' 'fussy,' and 'dainty,' before finally arriving at its modern sense of 'pleasant or agreeable' by the 19th century.

70. Canary

Interestingly, canaries are named after dogs—sort of. The birds were first discovered on the Canary Islands, which were named for the Latin word canis, meaning 'dog.' The reason behind this is somewhat unclear. Some say it was because the islands were found to have a large population of dogs, while others suggest the dogs were actually monk seals, often called 'sea dogs.'

71. Science

The Latin word nescius is derived from the prefix ne-, meaning 'not,' and a form of the Latin verb scire, which means 'to know.' This verb later gave rise to the word science, which, even today, retains much of its 14th-century meaning, referring to 'what is known, knowledge acquired by study or information,' as noted by the Online Etymology Dictionary.

Are you a lover of words? Do you wish to learn quirky vocabulary and old-fashioned slang to spice up your conversations, or perhaps uncover fascinating stories behind everyday expressions? If so, check out our latest book, The Curious Compendium of Wonderful Words: A Miscellany of Obscure Terms, Bizarre Phrases, & Surprising Etymologies, coming June 6! Pre-order it now at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Books-A-Million, or Bookshop.org.