45: crap Jan 22, 2015

Today's word is 'crap'. As with almost all non-acronym derived curse words such as 'snafu', the word 'crap' did not mean originally what the modern connotation suggests. It comes from the Anglo-Latin 'crappa' meaning ‘chaff.’ The original sense was chaff, later "residue from rendering fat," also "dregs of beer". The first use of the word in the modern sense of it was in the late 1800's.

44: fuck Jan, 21, 2015

The word of today is 'fuck', and acts as many parts of speech. The word can be a noun, adjective, adverb, exclamation, and is often placed between words in a phrase for the purpose accentuation. The word comes from the German for 'to strike' and "to move back and forth." The first written record using 'fuck' was by a monk in 1528.

43: shit Jan 20, 2015

Today's word is 'shit'. As with the case with most of English's curse words, it is of Germanic origin. It is from the Old English 'scitte' which literally meant 'diarrhea'. The term was originally neutral and used without vulgar connotation.

42: right Jan 19, 2015

Happy Martin Luther King Jr day. Today's word is 'right'. Old English 'riht', (noun and adjective) rihtan (verb), rihte (adverb), of Germanic origin; related to Latin 'rectus' meaning ‘ruled,’ from an Indo-European root denoting movement in a straight line.

41: Phonological Rules in KiSwahili Jan 18, 2015

In English, as with every language, there are certain sounds that will not go together. In Kiswahili, the word for cow is "ng'ombe". In English there would never be an 'n' and a 'g' would never go together without a vowel.

40: quacks Jan 17, 2015

As he bubonic plague, for which there was no cure, decimated Europe, swarms of bogus healers preyed on the desperate populace. Some offered ointments or 'salves' from the Latin 'salve'. Their noisy sales talk, like those of carnival bakers, reminded the Dutch of ducks quacking 'kwakken'. So in Holland they became known as 'quacksalvers' and later 'quacks'.

39: hun Jan 16, 2016

The word 'hun' can refer to nomadic Asiatic people, the Mongols. As well, it can refer to Germans in the word wars. This is not a term to describe a people one is at war with or even simply an enemy. It derogates selective, and comes from Old English "Hūne" from late of Middle Iranian origin. The Iranian origin makes sense for the reason that the term used to mean 'Mongol' was when the Mongols were ravaging Northern Asia, and contact between Europe and Asia was though Persia largely.

38: 'germ' Jan 15, 2015

Jan 1, 1870 Germ Theory is established by Pasteur & Koch. The word 'germ' had been used for a long time before then. In a text by Giovanni Pico della Mirandola (1463-1494) it states, "On man when he came into life the father conferred the seeds of all kinds and the germs of every way of life". However in this case, a 'germ' is an initial stage from which something may develop.

37: goatee Jan 14, 2015

Today's word is 'goatee'. The word, meaning a kind of beard so named because of its resemblance to the tuft on a goat's chin.

36: jubilee Jan 13, 2015

Hello everyone. Today's word is 'jubilee'. the word comes from from late Latin, "jubilaeus annus" "(year) of jubilee," That word is based on Hebrew "yō b ēl", originally ‘ram's-horn trumpet,’ with which the jubilee year was proclaimed. Although today we do not use rams' horns, we still do like to celebrate everything with lots of noise.

35: pharmacy Jan 12, 2015

Happy national pharmacist day (also national clean off you desk day, but we don't need to pay attention to that). Today's word is 'pharmacy'. It comes late Middle English (denoting the administration of drugs): from Old French 'farmacie', via medieval Latin from Greek 'pharmakeia' meaning "practice of the druggist," based on 'pharmakon' meaning ‘drug'. This word entered English centuries after the first pharmacies in the Islamic world, the first being founded in Baghdad in 754ce.

34: postman Jan 11, 2015

Today's word is 'postman'. The term post to describe messenger relay stations originated in the 13th century with Marco Polo. He described Kublai Khan's network of more than 10,000 relay stations, calling them, in Italian, 'poste' meaning 'posts'. They were located every 25-45 miles on the principle roads throughout the empire.

33: That versus Which Jan 10, 2015

Hello everyone. Today Word Facts is covering the difference between 'that' and 'which'. 'That' is used for specification, and limits what ever is being talked about. 'Which' is used to add further information, and is why it should be surrounded by a comma.
the reason why there is confusion if because of sentences like these:
"The books, which have red covers, are new."
"The books that have red covers are new."

However, in other sentences such as:
"Leap years, which have 366 days, contain an extra day in February", it would not makes sense to ave the word 'that'. Likewise, in a sentence such as:
"Classes that are held on Wednesdays are in building 206",
would not be correct if 'which' was used.

32: misadventure Jan 9, 2015

Usually words that have prefixes such as "mis-", "dis-" "un-", are derivatives, and do not have their own origins. However, as is always the case in English, there is an exception. 'Misadventure' comes from Old French 'mesaventure', from 'mesavenir' meaning ‘turn out badly.’ 'Adventure', comes from the Latin 'adventurus' "about to happen," from advenire ‘arrive’ via Old French.

31: linguistics Jan 8, 2015

The study of life is biology. The study of celestial bodies is astrology. The study of insects is entomology. The study of language, however, is linguistics. It seems somewhat ironic to have the study of language lacking the suffix most other noun meaning "study of..." have, but English seldom makes much sense.

30: bridal Jan 7, 2015

A 'bridal' party is supposed to drink a lot. The word comes from from the Old English, "bride-ale" that was drunk at marriages before champagne became the custom.

29: Brief Talk on Roots Jan 6, 2015

Many of you may have noticed that lots of the origins of the words posted about on Word Facts have come from a Germanic language or from Latin and Greek. There are reasons for this. English is quick to borrow words from other languages, primarily from its conquerors, the Romans and the Normans. English has very few borrowed words from such languages as Chinese languages. This is due to the lack of interactions until fairly recently. What words are borrowed are borrowed through transliteration. Certain words such as 'kung fu' English has borrowed but has not retained any of its meaning, "achievement of man".

28: First Words Jan 5, 2015

Today Word Facts is doing something different to word origins: original words. Here is a list of the top 15 most common first words a baby might say:
1. Dad (or Dada, Daddy, Papa, etc.)
2. Mom (or Mama, Mommy, Mum, etc.)
3. Hi (or Hiya, Hey, Heya, Hello)
4. Buba (or Bub or Baba)
5. Dog (or Doggy, Puppy)
6. Ball
7. No
8. Cat (or Kitty)
9. Nana
10. Bye
11. Duck
12. Ta (or Tata)
13. Baby
14. Uh oh
15. Car

Not surprisingly, variations of dad and mom top the list, with 52 percent of surveyed respondents citing a first word related to dad (#1), and 35 percent of respondents offering up mom (#2).
Why do dads seem to get the first word honor more often? One reason is that the d sound is easier for babies to utter than the m sound. Animal words starting with a hard consonant are also common first words, so there is a reason the baby might say duck (#11), dog (#5), or cat (#8) before mom(#2).
Other high-frequency first words are the ones baby hear us say a lot for instance "uh oh" or "no".

27: gala Jan 4, 2015

Hello, today's word is 'gala'. This word comes to English via Italian and Spanish from Old French 'gale', meaning ‘rejoicing.’ This word meaning "a social occasion with special entertainments or performances", is not to be confused with 'galla', an Ethiopian people and language, nor 'galah', a small Australian cockatoo with a gray back and rosy pink head and underparts, which is abundant and regarded as a pest.

26: Enough Jan 3, 2015

Today's word, 'enough' is a very versatile. It can be used as a pronoun, adjective, adverb, and exclamation. Here's a Word Facts original paragraph using all the functions of 'enough':
"Enough! I've had enough of all this. I've given you enough responsibility, and I though you were old enough to make good decisions."