Word Origins trivia
More Word Origins Trivia
Etymology, loanwords, and how language evolves.
Word Origins Mini Quiz
Test your knowledge with these top questions!
In Old English, 'dēor' (ancestor of 'deer') had a broader meaning. What was it?
Related words in German ('Tier') and Dutch ('dier') still keep the original broad meaning of 'animal' today.
Who popularized 'portmanteau' for blended words in Through the Looking-Glass?
The word 'portmanteau' itself originally meant a traveling bag with two compartments. Lewis Carroll cleverly applied it to words packing two meanings.
The portmanteau 'smog' originally combined which two words?
The term 'smog' was coined by a physician back in 1905 to describe the specific type of smoky fog then common over London.
The word 'silly' degraded over time. What did its Old English ancestor 'sælig' mean?
The Old English word 'sælig' is related to the modern German word 'selig', which still means blessed or blissful.
Derived from Latin 'nescius', what did 'nice' originally mean in Middle English?
It took centuries for 'nice' to shift from its original 'ignorant' meaning (from Latin 'nescius') through senses like 'shy' or 'precise' to the positive one we use today.