25: Fahrenheit and Celsius Jan 2, 2015

With the temperature finally going down in the North East, today's words are in the theme of temperature. Fahrenheit is a temperature scale based on one proposed in 1724 by the German physicist Daniel Gabriel Fahrenheit, after whom the scale is named. Celsius is named after the Swedish astronomer Anders Celsius. The unit was known until 1948 as "centigrade" from the Latin 'centum' translated as 100 and 'gradus' translated as "steps".

24: resolution Jan 1, 2015

Hello everyone, and happy New Year's Day. Today's word is 'resolution'. The word comes from the Latin 'solvere' which means to ‘loosen or solve’, as we do plan to solve the problems of past year in 2015.

23: champagne Dec 31, 2014

Happy New Year's Eve everyone. In the theme of the holiday today's word is 'champagne'. This wine, like many other wines, is named after the area where it is produced originally. Champagne is a region and former province in northeastern France that now corresponds to the Champagne-Ardenne administrative region. It is noted for the white sparkling wine first produced here in about 1700.

22: jigsaw Dec 30, 2014

With many people being on winter break, the word today is of a fun, and family-oriented activity, 'jigsaw-puzzle'. A jigsaw itself is a machine saw with a fine blade enabling it to cut curved lines in a sheet of wood, metal, or plastic. This was the tool that was used to originally make the puzzle we all know and love today.

21: 25 states Dec 29, 2014

Today there will be more than just one word, but 25. The states:
Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Connecticut, Hawaii, Illinois, Iowa, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, (New) Mexico, (North/South) Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Wisconsin, Wyoming.
all come from Native American tribes that had lived in the area. However, some of the names were not taken exactly, for instance the Lakota tribe is where the state "Dakota" comes from.

20: ok Dec 28, 2014

Today's word is 'ok'. For this there are two theories. Started by president Van Buren's reelection campaign of 1840, his nickname Old Kinderhook (derived from his birthplace in upstate New York) provided the initials. And if someone was within Van Buren's circle, he was 'OK'. The next theory is that 'ok' comes from the abbreviation of the phrase 'orl korrect', which was a humorous way of saying 'all correct'.

19: etymology Dec 27, 2014

To move on from all of the holiday themed words, today's word is 'etymology', as that is most of the substance of this page's posts. ‘Etymology’ comes from Greek, 'etymos' meaning 'true, real' and 'logos'- translating to 'meaning'.

18: kwanza Dec 26, 2014

Happy Kwanzaa everyone. Today is the first day of Kwanzaa, and so it will be today's word. Kwanzaa comes from modern Kiswahili (the holiday was invented in the mid 1960's), meaning 'first'. The word comes from the phrase 'matunda ya kwanzaa' meaning 'first of the fruits of the harvest'

17: christmas Dec 25, 2014

Merry Christmas everyone! The word Christmas comes from the Old English 'crītes mæsse' (literally Christ's mass) and 'merry' comes from the Old English 'myrige'. So to you all, myrige crītes mæsse

16: hanukkah Dec 24, 2014

Although last night was the last night of Hanukkah, today is the last day. For this reason the word today is 'Hanukkah'. This word is from from the Hebrew ḥănukkāh, meaning ‘consecration'. In some way, it seems rather superfluous to name a holiday by the word 'consecration', but there you go.

15: lesbian Dec 23, 2014

Today's word, as promised, is the story of the island of Lesbos. Sappho was a Greek poet who lived on the island of Lesbos. For anyone not familiar with Sappho, she is known to be very dramatic, in particular, about love. More importantly, for today's word anyway, her poetry expressed affection for women. And that is how we today get the word lesbian.

14: Demonym Dec 22, 2014

There are minimal technical words that Word Facts uses. Still,there are some that are important to know. It is with this in mind that today's word is "demonym". A demonym is a noun meaning "proper adjective of". For example, the demonym of Greece is Greek, and the two demonyms for UK are British and Briton. The word "demonym"comes from greek, demos meaning "populace", and "onym" meaning 'name'.

13: mortgage Dec 21, 2014

The word "mortgage", very appropriately, comes from Latin. "Mortuus" meaning "dead" and "gage" meaning "pledge", as it is that one pays a mortgage until death.

12: fact Dec 20, 2014

With the theme from yesterday's word, today's word is "origin". There is no one answer. One understanding is that the word comes from the Latin "origo, origin-, f". The other is the Latin "genus, generis, n". Both translated mean "origin". The origin of "origin" is certainly not black-and-white, but whose origins are?

11: word Dec 19, 2014

Realizing that it is not exactly Word Facts without covering the word "word", that is today's focus. The word "word" is of Germanic origin; related to Dutch "woord" and German "wort". Not to be confused the Modern English word "wort" which comes from the Old English "wyrt", of Germanic origin; related to "root".

10: Germanist, Latinist, Frenchist Dec 18, 2014

There exists the word "germanist" is an expert in or student of the language, literature, and civilization of Germany, or of Germanic languages. There is a word "francophile" which is a person who is fond of or greatly admires France. This is the closest word, even though in meaning it is not the same, to the french equivalent to a germanist. If one were to say "frenchist", which is not recognized as a word, it would mean, informally, someone that is discriminatory of the French or France.

9: deadline Dec 17, 2014

The word "deadline", when thought about does not make a whole lot of sense. A similar phrase, "due date", has the meaning implied, the date something is due. Deadline however, is 1920's American newspaper jargon, and as we know, jargon seldom makes sense to outsiders, such as we today are.

8: his Dec 16, 2014

The word "his" can certainly be confusing is use. It is a possessive pronoun, and a possessive adjective, and can be used to express possession by the subject, or an object. In this way, in the sentence "Mr. Jones reads his book", it is unclear whose book this is. Is it "Mr. Jones reads his own book", expressing that it is his book, not just the book he is reading. Or could the sentence mean "Mr, Jones reads Mr Smith's book"? Thanks to English, we have no clue either way.

7: catty Dec 15, 2014

Catty is a word of several meanings. Catty means cat-like, but it also means spiteful. Is this to say cats are spiteful? The dictionary certainly seems thinks so.

6: Beside versus Besides Dec 14, 2014

The words beside and besides are commonly misused. "Beside" is a preposition. Where this becomes confusing is that "besides" is also a preposition, an adverb as well but that is not where the confusion lies.